Conference Faculty


Jarrett Barnhill, MD, DFAPA, FAACAP

Dr. Barnhill is a Professor and Director of the University of North Carolina's Developmental Neuropharmacology Clinic. [ more ]

Terry Broda, RN, BScN, NP-PHC, CDDN

Ms. Broda is a Nurse Practitioner (NP) consultant in dual diagnosis for two teams in Ottawa, Canada: Solutions-s and the Canadian Mental Health Association. [ more ]

Kathleen A. Brown, RN, CDDN

Ms. Brown started working with individuals with I/DD more than 30 years ago, initially as a Social Worker, then as a Psychiatric Nurse, as well as a Director of Nurses and an Administrator. [ more ]

Doreen Canton, BS, RN, CDDN

Ms. Canton, RN, CDDN, has more than 30 years experience in various clinical settings, with the past 14 years devoted to providing services to the I/DD population. She has developed a series [ more ]

Lucien Canton, CEM

Mr. Canton is a consultant specializing in strategic planning for crisis. He is the former Director of Emergency Services for San Francisco, where he coordinated the emergency management program and served as policy advisor to the Mayor on emergency management and homeland security issues. [ more ]

Hank Chambers, MD

Dr. Chambers is a Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeon who specializes in pediatric orthopedic surgery. He is the immediate past President of the Board of Directors for the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and [ more ]

Tom Cheetham, MD, CCFP

Dr. Cheetham is a Board Certified Family Physician with more than 30 years serving people with I/DD. He has held academic appointments in the Department of Family Medicine of two university schools of medicine and was a member of the Planning Committee for the Colloquium on Primary Health Care for Adults with [ more ]

Gerri Collins-Bride, RN, MS, ANP

Ms. Collins-Bride is a Clinical Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Community Health Systems in the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing. She has held a faculty position with the Adult Nurse Practitioner Program and the Advanced Practice Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Program at UCSF since 1992. [ more ]

Jack Dillenberg, DDS, MPH

Dr. Dillenberg currently is the inaugural Dean of A.T. Still University's Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health. This is Arizona's first dental school and is pioneering an innovative integrated biomedical curriculum, utilizing technology, and fourth year community-based clinical training to educate the next generation of community minded general dentists. [ more ]

Steven M. Eidelman, MBA, MSW

Mr. Eidelman is the University of Delaware's H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Human Services Policy and Leadership. He holds joint faculty appointments in the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy and the Department of Individual and Family Studies and is a Senior Fellow in the Center for Disabilities Studies. [ more ]

Leonard S. Fischer, MD

Dr. Fischer is a Board Certified Internist and Gastroenterologist who has been practicing as a consultant in a group setting in Northern Virginia since 1986. [ more ]

Ginny Focht-New, PhD, PMH-CNS, BC, CDDN

Dr. Focht-New has worked in I/DD nursing for 35 years, beginning as direct care staff in a developmental center in Pennsylvania. She then worked for a large community-based residential agency as a staff nurse, nursing coordinator, and division director. [ more ]

Janean Fossum, BSN, RN, CDDN

Ms. Fossum is a Registered Nurse who works in Community Health Nursing serving individuals with mental and physical challenges, as well as clients institutionalized or victimized who exhibit severe PTSD symptoms. [ more ]

Robert Gettings, MPA

The former, long-time Executive Director of the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services, Mr. Gettings is widely recognized as a leading expert on national disability policy. [ more ]

J. Carolyn Graff, PhD, RN

Dr. Graff is a member of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, Research Group and the National Association for the Dually Diagnosed, Mental Health/Environmental Health Work Group. [ more ]

Adadot Hayes, MD

Dr. Hayes is Board Certified in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities with 30 years of practice exclusively with the I/DD population in private practice, [ more ]

Sherrill Hayter, RN, CDDN

Ms. Hayter has worked in the specialty of I/DD nursing for 23 years. She is currently the Metro North area office Nurse Consultant for the Department of Developmental Disabilities in Massachusetts. [ more ]

Lisa Itaya, DDS, FAGD

Dr. Itaya is a graduate of the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry completing a two-year Advanced Education in General Dentistry Residency. She has been teaching post doctoral and predoctoral dental students and residents for more than 10 ten years in the area of advanced dental care and patients with special health care needs. [ more ]

George Jesien, PhD

Dr. Jesien is the Executive Director of the Association of University Centers on Disability (www.aucd.org). His experience includes extensive administrative and supervisory responsibility, most recently as the Executive Director of the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation since 1997. [ more ]

Seth Keller, MD

Dr. Keller is a Developmental Neurologist with many years of experience in treating adults with I/DD. He provides consultative services for both community and state facilities. [ more ]

Gloria Krahn, PhD, MPH

Dr. Krahn, Director of the Division of Human Development and Disability at the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD), joined the CDC after 25 years as an academic clinician, researcher, teacher and administrator. [ more ]

Wes Matthias, RPh, CGP, BCPP

Wes Matthias has worked in the field of geriatrics and developmental disabilities for the last 18 years. He is one of the few pharmacists to be certified in both geriatric pharmacy and psychiatric pharmacy. [ more ]

Phillip May, MD

Dr. Phillip Mays is Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at UMDNJ/RWJ Medical School (New Brunswick, NJ) and Assistant Medical Director at the Hunterdon Developmental Center in Clinton, NJ. [ more ]

Robin May, RN, MSN, ANP-C, CDDN

Robin May has worked in I/DD nursing for more than 26 years. She currently is the Director of Nursing of a large state-operated intermediate care facility in northern New Jersey and is the Nurse Consultant for [ more ]

Jean McMaster, MFT

Ms. McMaster is a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist who has provided individual and group psychotherapy for people with I/DD for 5 years through Golden Gate Regional Center and San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services in San Mateo. [ more ]

Shirley McMillan, RN, BScN, MN, CDDN

Ms. McMillan is an Advanced Practice Nurse in the Mental Health Program at Surrey Place Centre, a large I/DD community agency in Toronto, Canada. She holds a clinical appointment in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto. [ more ]

S. Diane Moore, BSN, RN, CDDN

Ms. Moore is the co-owner of Innovative Outcomes, Inc., a company that provides a comprehensive array of services to individuals with I/DD in residential and natural home settings. A Registered Nurse for over 25 years, she has worked in I/DD nursing for more than 20 years. [ more ]

Celia Moreno, MD

Dr. Moreno is the Cofounder of Puente Clinic San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Medical Director for over eight years. [ more ]

Sharon Oxx, RN CDDN

Ms. Oxx is the Director of Health Services for the Office of Quality Management in the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation. A Registered Nurse for 33 years, she has worked in I/DD nursing for 22 years, [ more ]

Rita Pobanz, MSN, RN

Ms. Pobanz has a diverse nursing history of direct patient care, administration, staff development, clinical systems re-design, and regulatory compliance. Currently, she develops online CE courses in I/DD nursing. [ more ]

James Powell, MD

Dr. Powell is a Board Certified Internist practicing in Long Island, NY. He is the Medical Director of the Developmental Disabilities Institute and Opti-Healthcare. He provides primary care [ more ]

Rick Rader, MD

Dr. Rader is the Director of the Morton J. Kent Habilitation, Orange Grove Center, Chattanooga, Tennessee, a community-based agency that provides services for people with complex I/DD. [ more ]

Karen A. Raposa, RDH, MBA

Ms. Raposa is Senior Manager of Professional Relations at Colgate-Palmolive. She has spent recent years lecturing to dental professionals and writing journal articles. Her work was recently published [ more ]

Denise Schuffman, RN, RD, LD

Ms. Schuffman, a Registered Nurse and Registered Dietitian, has more than 20 years of experience dealing with the nutritional and nursing needs of persons with I/DD. [ more ]

Nancy Thaler, MS, HOS

Ms. Thaler is the Executive Director of NASDDDS, which provides member state agencies with analyses of federal statutory and regulatory policies that affect people with disabilities; disseminates information on state-of-the-art programs and service delivery practices [ more ]

H. Barry Waldman, DDS, MPH, PhD

Dr. Waldman is a Distinguished Teaching Professor of the State University of New York. He was the first faculty member of the School of Dental Medicine at Stony Brook, where he has served for more 39 in numerous roles, including Department Chair and Assistant Dean, as well as participating in teaching programs throughout the Health Sciences Center and the undergraduate college. [ more ]

Jennifer R. Wilhelmy, RN, DCN, CNP

Ms. Wilhelmy is an Adult Nurse Practitioner certified in wound care who works in specialty care, treating patients with childhood onset disabilities. She has also been working with group home residents for more than 15 years. [ more ]

Michael Wilkins, MD

Dr. Wilkins was a physician at Willowbrook in the 1970s. He was involved in organizing a group of family members of the "inmates", professional and nonprofessional employees, and community members. [ more ]

Michael R. Willis, RN, MBA, JD, LLM

Mr. Willis has experience as a community-based psychiatric nurse consultant, a nursing supervisor in a large I/DD facility, a home care nurse, a nursing home charge nurse, a hospital association executive responsible for handling nursing regulatory issues, and a trial attorney defending medical malpractice claims and long term care facility negligence suits. [ more ]

Stephanie Wincik, RN, CDDN

Ms. Wincik is the Associate Director of Nursing/Health Services at Erie Homes for Children and Adults, a residential facility serving medically fragile individuals with I/DD throughout the lifespan. [ more ]

Allen Wong, MD

Dr. Wong has extensive experience in hospital dentistry for over 20 years, providing care and teaching dental residents and dental students. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry where he directs the Hospital Dentistry Program and teaches in the Cariology course. [ more ]

Nanette Wrobel, BS, RPH

Ms. Wrobel has worked as a consultant pharmacist to facilities that care for persons with I/DD for more than 20 years. She is currently the Director of Development for Pharmacy Alternatives and owns her own consulting firm, The Pharmaceutical Advisor. [ more ]