Supporting Healthcare Access for Youth with Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Webinar

Marilyn Augustyn, MD

Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center

Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Division of Developmental‐Behavioral Pediatrics

Marilyn C. Augustyn, MD, is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician at Boston Medical Center (BMC), a professor of Pediatrics, and Director of the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. Dr. Augustyn has over 30 years of experience conducting developmental and behavioral evaluations of children, as well as providing ongoing care for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), ADHD, intellectual and learning disabilities, and anxiety — all through the lens of trauma-informed care. Dr. Augustyn partners with many community organizations as well as local, state and federal systems to improve care for all youth with disabilities.

Ellen Bannister

Center for Learning and Leadership at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC)

Academic Programs Coordinator

Ellen Bannister is the academic programs coordinator of the Center for Learning and Leadership at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC). She is the Secretary of the Alliance for Disability in Healthcare Education (ADCHE). Ellen worked with a group of self-advocates, family advocates, faculty, and students to develop the Self-Advocates/Family Advocates as Medical Educators (SAME/FAME) program,  a simulation/role play-based training for healthcare students. Ellen has two children with intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD).  They spend a lot of time in doctors’ offices and hospitals. Her goal is to make sure that healthcare students have the knowledge, skills, and positive attitudes they need to provide good care to people with IDD.

 

Gyasi Burks-Abbott

Boston Children’s Hospital/UMass Boston LEND

Self-Advocate Faculty Member

Gyasi Burks-Abbott, MS, is on the faculty of the LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities) Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and UMass Boston’s Institute for Community Inclusion. He serves on the boards, committees, and commissions of many autism and disability organizations; and he’s written for several autism and disability-related publications. Gyasi graduated from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN with a BA in English and psychology, and he has an M.S. in Library and Information Science from Simmons University in Boston. Gyasi tells the story of how he became an autism self-advocate in his autobiography/memoir titled My Mother’s Apprentice: An Autistic’s Rites of Passage.

Patrick Forgey

Indiana University School of Medicine, Divisions of Developmental Medicine and Children’s Health Services Research

Research Data Assistant

Patrick Forgey is a research data assistant at Indiana University School of Medicine, Divisions of Developmental Medicine and Children’s Health Services Research. He serves as the self-advocacy discipline coordinator for Indiana’s Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) program, in which he completed two years as an autistic self-advocate trainee. In these roles, he participates on research and clinic QI projects, recruits and supervises self-advocate trainees, contributes to LEND curriculum, and teaches didactics. Patrick is also the Neurodiversity Representative on the board of the Purdue Autism Research Center.

Cy Nadler, PhD

Children's Mercy Kansas City

Josh Barnds and Stella Carlson Endowed Professor for Autism

Cy Nadler, PhD is the Josh Barnds and Stella Carlson Endowed Professor for Autism, as well as a Professor of Pediatrics for the UMKC School of Medicine. He completed his doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Idaho State University, followed by an internship at the Munroe-Meyer Institute/University of Nebraska Medical Center and a fellowship at Children’s Mercy. He currently serves as the Site PI for the combined Children’s Mercy/University of Kansas Medical Center membership in the Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Research Network (DBPNet), as well as Co-PI for Missouri’s administration of the CDC Study to Explore Early Development. Dr. Nadler routinely serves as a research mentor for psychology and medical trainees, and supports numerous other regional and national research collaborations. Dr. Nadler also directs the Children’s Mercy Autism Clinic.

Carol Weitzman, MD

Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard School of Medicine

Developmental Behavioral Pediatrician and Co-Director of the Autism Spectrum Center

Dr. Carol Weitzman is a Developmental Behavioral Pediatrician and the Co-Director of the Autism Spectrum Center at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard School of Medicine and Director of the CT Center for Developmental Pediatrics. She is a Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine and while at Yale was the Director of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics (DBP) and oversaw the fellowship training in DBP. Nationally, she is the president of the Society for Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics, (SDBP), the past-chair of the SDBP program committee, and the immediate past chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics.