Advisory Board
Nora Baladerian, Ph.D.
Nora J Baladerian, Ph.D is the Director of Disability Without Abuse, an organization that provides information, resources and expertise to help manage and decrease risk of abuse in those with disabilities. For over 40 years, Dr Baladerian has been a leader in the field of abuse treatment and abuse risk mitigation for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). In 2018, The American Psychological Association presented Dr. Baladerian with its Distinguished Contributions to the Advancement of Disability Issues in Psychology Award in recognition of her contributions and commitment to eliminating sexual abuse against individuals with disabilities. Her work with sexual abuse victims with IDD was featured in investigative reporter Joe Shapiro’s National Public Radio series, “Abused and Betrayed.” She was the Project Director for the Disability and Abuse Project (an independent project) and from 2000 to 2006 was Director of the CAN Do! Project for the Arc of Riverside County, as well as the Child Abuse & Neglect Disability Outreach. Under this project she wrote and received grants totaling over $1,000,000 to fund national conferences, develop a statewide Think Tank on abuse of children with disabilities, and she initiated the first internetbased listserv on the topic. Dr Baladerian is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Certified Sex Therapist and Board Certified Crisis Responder, and she continues to care for abuse victims with IDD in her Los Angeles practice.
Julie Bershadsky, Ph.D.
Dr. Bershadsky is the Director of Community Living and Employment at the University of Minnesota Institute on Community Integration. Dr. Bershadsky has more than a decade of professional experience in the design of research and analysis of demonstration projects of national significance in support of people with disabilities. Her professional background and training include health services research, public health, and statistics. Dr. Bershadsky has expertise in supporting organizations to analyze, improve, and monitor the delivery and outcomes of services and supports for people with intellectual, developmental, and other disabilities. Prior to joining ICI, she served as the senior director, lead methodologist and analyst for the National Core Indicators– Aging and Disabilities (NCI-AD) program, a multi-state, multi-partner collaboration that measures performance of publicly-funded programs for older adults and adults with disabilities across participating states, as well as lead methodologist and analyst for the National Core Indicators (NCI) program.
Alixe Bonardi, M.A.
Ms. Bonardi is the National Core Indicators Project Director for Human Services Research Institute in Cambridge, MA. She is also a clinical assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) and is a faculty member in the MCHB-funded Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disability (LEND) program at the UMMS EK Shriver Center. Until 2014, she directed the Center for Developmental Disabilities Evaluation and Research (CDDER) at the Shriver Center where she developed quality improvement projects to support state developmental disabilities systems. Dr. Bonardi is a licensed occupational therapist and completed a LEND policy fellowship at the EK Shriver Center and a Fulbright fellowship, examining risk management and supports for people with intellectual disability in New Zealand. She has served as principal investigator for several AHRQ-funded and CDC-funded research projects. Her research interests include the promotion of health and wellness in people with intellectual disability, health surveillance, and support systems that promote good outcomes for people with intellectual and developmental disability.
David Fray, D.D.S., M.B.A.
Dr. Fray has been an associate professor in the Department of General Practice and Dental Public Health at the University of Texas Health Science Center School of Dentistry since July 2015. He graduated with a DDS from UTSD Houston in 1979 and earned an MBA with an emphasis in health care administration from Oklahoma City University in 1997. After 15 years in private practice, Dr. Fray was a public health administrator in Arkansas and Hawaii for 16 years. He is certified in long-term care by the National Association of Boards and he is a licensed nursing facility administrator with more than 25 years of experience as a special-needs and geriatric dentist.
Susan Havercamp, Ph.D.
Dr. Havercamp’s current research and clinical interests focus on physical and mental health issues in people with disabilities, especially developmental disabilities. She has contributed to health surveillance activities, health promotion programs, and healthcare provider education to improve the health and healthcare for children and adults with disabilities. Believing that the solution to the problem of health disparities for people with disabilities lies in education, Dr. Havercamp provides disability training to healthcare providers. She served as the disability issue representative to the Group on Diversity and Inclusion at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). Dr. Havercamp is the Principal Investigator of the rehabilitation research and training center to improve the health and function of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). She is also the Principal Investigator of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded Ohio Disability and Health Program (ODHP). A partnership with the Ohio Department of Health, ODHP is a state capacity building project to improve the health of Ohioans with disabilities. Dr. Havercamp is a consulting editor for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, the Disability and Health Journal, and Inclusion. Dr. Havercamp is a founding member of the Student and Early Career Professional Committee and is past president of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Board of Directors.
Seth Keller, M.D.
Dr. Keller is a board-certified neurologist in private practice with Advocare Neurology of South Jersey. he specializes in the evaluation and care of adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) with neurologic complications. He cares for individuals with I/DD both in the community as well in New Jersey’s ICF/DD centers. Dr Keller is on the Executive Board of the Arc of Burlington County as well as on the board for The Arc of New Jersey Mainstreaming Medical Care Board. Dr Keller is the Past President of the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD). He is actively involved in national and international I/DD health education as a speaker and webinar and workshop participant. Dr Keller is the co-chair of the National Task Group on Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia Practices (NTG). Dr. Keller is also the director of the Adult IDD Special Interest Group with the American Academy of Neurology. Raised in Philadelphia, PA, Keller received his bachelor’s degree from Temple University, earned his medical degree from The George Washington University School of Medicine in 1989, and completed his neurology internship and residency at Bethesda Naval Hospital. He also served as a neurologist at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Okinawa, Japan.
Henry Hood, D.M.D.
Since 1998, Dr. Hood has dedicated his entire professional life to the care of patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). As Chief Clinical Officer of Advantage Medical Corporation, his principal focus is the creation and management of patient care, teaching and research programs serving patients with IDD. Dr. Hood is co-creator of the Lee Specialty Clinic model, an innovative patient care, teaching and research program, providing collaborative interdisciplinary health services to approximately 1200 patients with IDD from sixty counties across the Commonwealth of Kentucky, who live in a variety of residential settings. Dr. Hood has created multiple predoctoral and postgraduate developmental dentistry clinical and didactic teaching programs. He has authored book chapters and scientific manuscripts published in the United States, Germany, Great Britain, Poland and Japan. Dentists and dental students have come from around the world to study under him. In 2011, in recognition of his leadership, the Kentucky Board of Dentistry designated the Lee Specialty Clinic as an independent teaching program. Dr. Hood is the co-founder and Past President of the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry, the nation’s first and only interdisciplinary professional advocacy organization of physicians and dentists with expertise in the care of patients with IDD. Dr. Hood has served as a consultant to national managed care organizations, assisting in the development of risk stratification and design of health-home program models focused on individuals with IDD.
Monica Mitra, Ph.D.
Monika Mitra is the Nancy Lurie Marks Associate Professor of Disability Policy, and Director of the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management. Her research focuses on the health and wellbeing of people with disabilities and their families. She co-leads the Community Living Policy Center which is aimed at improving policies and practices that advance community living outcomes for people with disabilities and the National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities which is focused on addressing knowledge gaps regarding the needs of parents with diverse disabilities and their families. Dr. Mitra is a member of the Disability and Health Journal editorial board and a board member of the American Association of Health and Disability. Prior to joining Brandeis, she was Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She received her PhD and MA from Boston University, and her MS from Calcutta University, Kolkata, India.
Jared Mushrush
Jared works as an Office Assistant going on 6 years for the Community Strategies division of Community Resources for Justice. He has been a participating resident of Community Resources for Justice in Leominster, MA for 9 years. In his spare time he likes to play video games and socialize with friends.
Julie Neward, M.B.A.
Ms. Neward is President and co-founder of, The California Sibling Leadership Network and was recently appointed by Governor Brown to the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities. She is the founder of Natalie’s Voice, a family-driven, sexual-assault prevention advocacy organization whose mission is to raise awareness and empower caregivers to protect individuals with D/ID from sexual abuse. Ms. Neward has had more than 10 years of experience in shopping center management and has recently moved to San Diego to manage a ground-up, mixed-use Development from The San Francisco Bay Area. Ms. Neward grew up in Walnut Creek, California and graduated with an International MBA from the University of San Diego in 2007, where she studied abroad in Brazil, Argentina and Spain. She is a mother to two young girls who like to rock out to “Baby Shark Do-Do-Do”. In her downtime, she enjoys binging on Netflix with her husband and looks forward to getting back to the San Diego surf scene
Cynthia Peacock, M.D.
Dr. Peacock is Associate Professor of Medicine and Section Chief, Center for Transition Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, as well as Medical Director of Texas Children’s Hospital -Baylor College of Medicine Transition Medicine Clinic. In 2005, Dr. Cynthia Peacock started the Texas Children’s Hospital - Baylor Transition Medicine Clinic in Houston, Texas serving adolescents/young adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities such as spina bifida, Down syndrome, autism and cerebral palsy who are aging out of the pediatric health care system. Additionally, the clinic is one of a very few clinics in the U.S. that specifically offers a medical home specifically for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Dr. Peacock’s experience with the Transition Medicine Clinic has helped her to identified and define the numerous barriers that adolescents/young adults with significant chronic childhood conditions encounter. She has worked with The Arc of Texas, Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities, Disability Rights and with Texas Department of State Health Services on several initiatives to address numerous health care issues that individuals with IDD face on a daily basis. Because of the advocacy work she has done, she was awarded the 2010 Houston Mayor’s Disability Advocate of the Year Award.
Steven Perlman, D.D.S., MSc.D., D.O.H.L. (Hon)
Dr. Perlman is Adjunct Clinical Professor of Pediatric Dentistry at The Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine. For the past 35 years, he has devoted much of his private practice as well as his teaching, to the treatment of children and adults with physical and intellectual disabilities. Dr. Perlman is a past president of both the Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities and The Massachusetts Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. He is a Fellow of The Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities, a Fellow of The American College of Dentists and a Diplomate of the American Board of Special Care Dentistry. Dr. Perlman was the first dentist in Massachusetts to receive the Exceptional Physician Award. He is a Distinguished Alumnus of The Boston University School of Dental Medicine and the first graduate in the history of the Dental School to also be recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of Boston University. He is the recipient of the Harold Berk Award from the Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities and the Manny Album Award from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry Dr. Perlman has also been honored by The Pierre Fauchard Academy and in 2002, the American Dental Association presented him with their Access Recognition Award. In May 2002 the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry Foundation named Dr. Perlman Dentist of the Year for his significant contributions to the dental profession and the specialty of pediatric dentistry over an entire career of distinguished service. He has published over 200 articles and was a contributor to the Surgeon General’s Report on Oral Health. Dr. Perlman has received The Exceptional Parent Maxwell J. Schileifer Distinguished Service Award for dedication to improving the lives of individuals with special needs and disabilities as well as The Trudi Birger Community Service Award from Alpha Omega for extraordinary contribution to children with special needs all over the world. In 1993, Dr. Perlman founded Special Olympics Special Smiles, an Oral Health Initiative for the athletes of Special Olympics International. It now has over 215 events each year taking place in every state in the United States and in over 80 countries. He currently serves as their Senior Global Clinical Advisor. Dr. Perlman is a cofounder and past president of the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD) and in 2005 and 2006 served as an advisor to the President’s Committee for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities.
Rick Rader, M.D., F.A.A.I.D.D., F.A.I.S., D.H.L. (Hon)
Dr. Rader is the Director of the Habilitation Center at the Orange Grove Center, Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is responsible for the creation, implementation and evaluation of novel and innovative healthcare delivery programs for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities across the lifespan. He is the Director of Public Policy and Advocacy at the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and served as the Past President and co-founder. He is President of the Board of the American Association on Health and Disability and is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board at the Journal of Health and Disability. He is a Member of the Editorial Advisory
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Committee at the Journal of Medicine. Dr. Rader is the Editor in chief of Exceptional Parent Magazine and has published over 300 articles, book chapters, monographs and guidelines in the area of health and disability. Dr. Rader was the first appointed Special Liaison for Family Healthcare Concerns at the Presidents Committee for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. He is an Emeritus Advisor in Health Innovations at the Agency for Health Research and Quality at the United States Department of Health and Human Services. He is a Fellow of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and was appointed to the National Academies of Practice in Medicine and a Distinguished Practitioner. Dr. Rader is the Senior Global Advisor for Inclusive Health Innovation for Special Olympics International, Washington, D.C. Dr. Rader is an Adjunct Professor in Human Development at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. He is a member of the Steering Committee at the National Task Group on Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia Practices.