Olivia Raynor, is the Co-Director of the Tarjan Center and Director of the National Arts and Disability Center at the Semel Institute, University of California Los Angeles. Dr. Raynor holds degrees from Boston University and the University of Southern California in Occupational Therapy and a doctorate from the University of California Los Angeles in Educational Psychology. For over 25 years Dr. Raynor has been engaged in projects addressing the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in employment, volunteerism and service, post secondary education, and the arts. Dr. Raynor has a particular interest in how federal and state policies actually play out in practice and their impact on individuals with disabilities and their families.

Dr. Raynor is also the founding Director of the National Arts and Disability Center (NADC) at the University of California Los Angeles. Under her direction, the NADC produces a highly trafficked Internet based information, resource and conference center for artists with disabilities, arts administrators, educators and policy makers. Recently she revised and updated The Accessibility Planning and Resource Guide for Cultural Administrators for the National Endowment for the Arts. Since 2002, Dr. Raynor has administered the Statewide Forums on Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities initiative for the NEA and VSA arts. Now in its 5th year, twenty states will have conducted statewide forums by the end of 2006. Dr. Raynor educates a wide range of constituencies in the arts regarding audience outreach, accessibility to the arts, and the career development of emerging artists with disabilities.

Dr. Raynor is a governor appointed member of the State Council on Developmental Disabilities and sit on the Executive and Program Planning Committees of the Council. She chairs the Strategic Planning Committee for the Council.

In 2000 she received an award from the Corporation on Disabilities and Telecommunication, and the World Institute on Disability for providing opportunities for people with disabilities in the arts.

Dr. Russell is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at UCLA's Semel Institute and serves as Chief of Clinical Services for the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He has a long-standing interest in developmental disabilities, which was nurtured during his training at UCLA by the late George Tarjan, M.D. Dr. Russell is the author of numerous scientific articles and chapters examining the co-occurrence of mental retardation and mental illness. He is a strong advocate for increasing the quality and accessibility of mental health services for persons with disabilities.

Dr. Russell currently serves as a psychiatric consultant to Lanterman Developmental Center and Lanterman and Westside Regional Centers. Dr. Russell has been active in a variety of national roles in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. These include serving as Chair of the Child Psychiatry Sub-Committee of the Psychiatry Review Committee of the ACGME. This body accredits all the child and adolescent psychiatry training programs in the country. Dr. Russell is also active in the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, where he serves as a member of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Committee.

Dr. Fowler is the co-Principal Investigator for a grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) on osteoporosis in adults with long-term disability. She is also a member of the UCLA Duchennes Muscular Dystrophy Research Center. She is the Associate Director for research and education in the UCLA Center for Cerebral Palsy and the Director of the Gait Analysis Laboratory. Her additional research areas include the effect of exercise and pharmacological agents on spasticity in persons with cerebral palsy and prosthetic gait in persons with congenital disabilities.

Dr. Eileen Fowler has more than twenty years of experience working in the area of developmental disabilities. She completed her physical therapy degree at Northeastern University in Boston in 1979. She worked as a physical therapist at Orthopaedic Hospital, Los Angeles for five years. Dr. Fowler received her Ph.D. in the Kinesiology Department with a major in Biomechanics and a minor in Motor Control at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1990. She was the Director of the Functional Assessment Laboratory in UCLA Rehabilitation Department from 1990-1994. She joined the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery as an Assistant Professor in 1994 and developed the Gait Analysis Laboratory which she continues to direct.

Dr. Fowler assisted in the development of the UCLA/Orthopaedic Hospital Center for Cerebral Palsy in 1995, a center of excellence for medical treatment, education, and research. She is currently the Associate Director for Research and Education in the center. Evaluations of children and adults are performed in these weekly clinics and in the Gait Analysis Laboratory. New treatments aimed at diminishing spasticity and other movement disorders such as BOTOX and interthecal baclofen are provided through this clinic.

She is a member of the Duchennes Muscular Dystrophy Research and Treatment Center, a joint program with Physiological Science and Pediatrics. She is a co-investigator of a research grant investigating the use of albuterol in preserving muscle strength in young boys with Duchennes and is responsible for collecting all outcome measures for the studies. Dr. Fowler is also a member of the UCLA Spina Bifida Clinic Team, an interdisciplinary clinic.

Dr. McCracken conducts research on dual diagnosis in individuals with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. His research investigates biological aspects of major psychiatric illnesses and conditions, such as schizophrenia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Dr. McCracken also carries out research in the area of pediatric psychopharmacology.

The general aim of McCracken’s research is the investigation of the biological aspects of major psychiatric illnesses in children and adolescents. One approach is the application of brain imaging techniques to examine changes in brain structure and function in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Recently, McCracken’s laboratory found decreased levels of n-acetylaspartic acid (NAA) in regions of frontal lobe in children with ADHD vs. controls, as well as similar disruptions in NAA in childhood onset schizophrenic subjects.

Dr. McCracken is Professor in Residence and Director, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital in Los Angeles. His current areas of research include the testing of new pharmacological treatments for a variety of child neuropsychiatric disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, obsessive compulsive disorder, and anxiety disorders. Dr. McCracken has published widely in the area of child psychiatry and recently served an Associate Editor for the Textbook of Pediatric Neuropsychiatry. He is the recipient of several honors and awards including the 1992 American Psychiatric Association Young Psychiatrist Research Award and is listed in Best Doctors in America, 1999. Dr. McCracken received medical and post-graduate training at Baylor College of Medicine, Duke University, and UCLA before joining the faculty at UCLA in 1987.

Mary J. O'Connor, Ph.D., ABPP, is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. O'Connor has been on the faculty since 1981. She is the Director of the UCLA Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Clinic and holds a Board Certification in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology. She is Training Director for the Tarjan Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and is the principal investigator on a state funded grant designed to train clinical psychology interns and post doctoral fellows in developmental disabilities. She is the Program Director for the UCLA Program for the Enhancement of Achievement, Behavior, and Cognition, a day treatment program for children with behavioral and psychiatric disorders.

Dr. Mary O’Connor has had over twenty years of experience working in the area of developmental disabilities. She completed her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1977. She then worked in the Department of Pediatrics, UCLA on an NIMH Postdoctoral Fellowship in Neuroscience where she worked with chronically hospitalized infants and their families. She left the Department of Pediatrics in 1979 to take a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the UCLA Semel Institute. Since 1981, Dr. O’Connor has served as the ward psychologist on the child inpatient unit that is designed to treat children between the ages of two to twelve many of whom have dual diagnoses of major psychiatric disorders and developmental disabilities. In 1991, Dr. O’Connor started the UCLA Infant and Preschool Clinic, which is designed to provide assessment, diagnosis and brief treatment of children between the ages of birth and 6 years. Because of her continuing interest in high-risk pregnancies, in 1998, Dr. O’Connor started the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Clinic to provide comprehensive assessment and treatment recommendations for children exposed to alcohol prenatally.

Dr. O'Connor has been conducting research on the impact of prenatal alcohol exposure for over 20 years, with a focus on the relation between prenatal exposure and socioemotional functioning in children. Dr. O'Connor is internationally recognized for her work in prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Most recently, she has been involved in developing medical and other allied health education programs for students and professionals in the area of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Dr. O'Connor has considerable experience in collaborative national initiatives and all of her funded studies are designed with the long-term goal of developing best practice models to train others in the prevention and treatment of prenatal alcohol exposure. She is currently a member of the National Task Force on FAS/FAE, which provides recommendations to Congress and other governmental agencies regarding this significant developmental disability.

Dr. Joan Earle Hahn is Associate Adjunct Professor of the School of Nursing, at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). She is an ANCC board-certified Clinical Nurse Specialist in gerontological nursing, a gerontological nurse practitioner, and holds certification from the Developmental Disabilities Nurses Association in the specialty of developmental disabilities nursing. Dr. Hahn is a leading authority on the lifespan health and aging issues of persons living with disabilities. Dr. Hahn is working on projects with the Tarjan Center that address the aging needs of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Dr. Hahn is 2007-2008 Chair of the UCLA Committee on Disability, formerly the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Disability.

For the past six years, she has been funded to conduct several intervention projects addressing the health and aging needs of adults with lifelong intellectual and developmental disabilities including an advanced practice nurse in-home intervention model called Stay Well and Healthy! conducted in collaboration with Casa Colina Centers for Rehabilitation and the University of La Verne (H.A. Aronow, PI) that shows promise in reducing health risks. Dr. Hahn has held lead roles in curriculum development and continuing education for nurses, families, and caregivers including workshop-based continuing education programs, computer-assisted-instruction, and Internet web-based nursing continuing education programs for nurses. She was the lead consultant on the 75-hour web-based Developmental Disabilities Nursing Courses (Grant # R43 NR04738-03; Mary Alice Willis, HealthSoft, Inc, PI) funded by National Institute of Nursing Research. Dr. Hahn led the development of a 150 page Handbook for Trainers used in five one-day training programs on palliative and end of life care for persons with developmental disabilities which was funded by the California Department of Developmental Services. She is a certified Trainer of the End of Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) graduate curriculum for nursing.

Wilbert Francis, as the Project Director of the Tarjan Center Open the Doors to College Project will provide awareness, information and resources on transition to Post Secondary Education (PSE) for students with Developmental Disabilities (DD); increase the available PSE options in California; and expand and promote access to PSE for students with DD. He has seven years of experience working in the area of developmental disabilities and most recently served as an Assistant Director of the Virgin Islands’ Center on Disabilities, where he was responsible for project administration, implementation and management. He collaborated across a broad cross-section of state and local agencies, introduced and implemented new programs, including the State Plan for Assistive Technology. Wilbert was responsible for organizing advocacy conferences designed to research and recommend appropriate actions that impacted service delivery across Education, Employment, Health/Mental Health and Transportation working through government agencies, public health organizations, and non-profit organizations. He conducted sensitivity and awareness training to a wide range of audiences across interdisciplinary boundaries designed to increase awareness on disabilities, disability rights laws, accommodations and strategies to enable success for individuals with disabilities. Wilbert holds a Bachelor of Arts and an M.A. degree in Management from the University of the Virgin Islands and is a member of the Association on Higher Education and Disability.

Karen is the Director of the Tarjan Center Service Inclusion Project. Karen holds a Master's degree in Community Development from the University of California at Davis and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Rochester. She is passionate about service and is an AmeriCorps*VISTA alumnus and former AmeriCorps outreach consultant. She has a background in training and program management and holds research interests in faith-based organizations and the phenomenology of meaning. The Service Inclusion Project combines her three major interests: inclusive communities, service, and the collaborative process.

Bethany Stark is the Parent Coordinator and Program Representative for the Family Resource Center and Tarjan Center at UCLA. Raising her twin 9 year-old sons, who have multiple disabilities, has introduced her to many aspects of disability and advocacy work. At the Family Resource Center she creates parent workshops on a variety of salient topics. At the Tarjan Center she coordinates the Tarjan Advisory Committee. Nationally, she serves on the Steering Committee and is Co-Chair of the Planning Committee for the Council on Consumer Affairs within the Association of University Centers on Disabilities. On a State level, she represents the Tarjan Center on the Systemic Advocacy and Quality sub-committee of the State Council on Developmental Disabilities. In the past year, she served as Co-Chair of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Modified Consent Decree Parent Committee and currently serves as Board Member of World Access for the Blind and Member of the Family Resource Center Network of Los Angeles County. She holds a B.A. with honors in Psychology from Swarthmore College and an M.A. in Cultural Anthropology from New York University.

Beth Stoffmacher is responsible for the data collection for Tarjan Center faculty activities, as well as maintaining and updating Tarjan Center databases used in our technical assistance activities. She is also the Technical Assistance Coordinator for the National Arts and Disability Center.

Katharine Hayward, as the Research and Evaluation Coordinator, conducts research and assists in the development of evaluation plans and tools for the various projects undertaken by the Tarjan Center. The focus of recent projects has been to assess and develop recommendations regarding the employment of individuals with disabilities, particularly within the arts. This includes a review of the Statewide Forums in Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities, a program that has been administered by the National arts and Disability Center since 2002.

Sumudu Weerasuriya is a Program Representative with the Tarjan Center Service Inclusion Project. Her area of focus is Youth Development and Leadership. Sumudu holds a Bachelor's degree in English and a Minor emphasis in Disability Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Born in East Africa, of Sri-Lankan ethnicity, and having lived on the island of Cyprus, before coming to the U.S.A., she offers a culturally diverse and sensitive approach to her work. She is passionate about education. Her goal is to empower youth with disabilities; equip them with the leadership tools which will allow them to play an inclusive role in society, and be part of the next generation of leaders. Her initiatives promote a mentality of sociability and interdependence, rather than exclusivity and fear. In working on the Youth Development and Leadership Project, she endeavors to reinforce her belief that service work is personally rewarding and for individuals with learning disabilities, it will offer something concrete to reflect and be proud of. Service and Leadership builds self-esteem & confidence, by focusing on strengths over weaknesses. By encouraging and creating opportunities for youth/young adults with disabilities to assume the role of service 'provider' over 'recipient,' she strives to remove the stigma concerning 'dis-ability,' and focus on ABILITY.