Executive & Committees 2017 – 2019

Executive Members

Philip W. Davidson – President
United States of America
Professor of Paediatrics, Environmental Medicine and Psychiatry
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
10 Ellis Court, Hilton Head, SC 29926

president@iassidd.org

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About Phil

Philip W. Davidson is Professor of Pediatrics, Environmental Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. From 1975 until 2007, Dr. Davidson directed the Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities (a University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research and Service). For the past 21 years, Dr Davidson has been a senior investigator on the Seychelles Child Development Study examining the developmental neurotoxicity of methylmercury. His research interests also include lifespan and aging effects on health and mental health outcomes in older adults with developmental disabilities. He has over 140 peer-reviewed publications and 60 book chapters and is the editor or co-editor of three books. Dr. Davidson has served as President of the Psychology Division of the American Association on Mental Retardation. He was Secretary-Treasurer of APA Division 12, Section 5 (the Society of Pediatric Psychology), and held the same office on the Association of University Centers on Disabilities. He is Past President of Division 33 (Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities) of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Davidson has served as Member of Council and Treasurer of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD). He is the Past Co-chair of IASSIDD’s Special Interest Research Group on Aging and Intellectual Disability. He is a member of the Society of Pediatric Research.

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Colleen Adnams-President Elect, Vice President Africa/Eastern Mediterranean
South Africa
Vera Grover Professor of Intellectual Disability
Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town
Groote Schuur Hospital J-Block, Anzio Road, Observatory 7925, South Africa

vp-africa@iassidd.org
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About Colleen

Colleen Adnams is the Vera Grover Professor of Intellectual Disability, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town and is a Chief Specialist in the Intellectual Disability Services, Western Cape Government Psychiatric Hospitals.

Dr Adnams completed her medical and specialist training in Paediatrics at the University of Cape Town. From 1994 to 2007 she was head of the Neurodevelopmental Paediatric Clinical Service and teaching unit at the School of Child and Adolescent Health, University of Cape Town and Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. During this time she was instrumental in establishing Neurodevelopmental Paediatrics as a sub-speciality in South Africa. She has contributed to numerous provincial, national and international committees and task groups related to service provision, training, policy and the study of neurodevelopmental disabilities. She has served on the World Health Organization Working Group for the ICD-11 classification of intellectual disability. Her research interests include neurodevelopmental disabilities, health and mental health aspects of intellectual disabilities and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. She has been active in several National Institutes of Health funded international collaborations examining epidemiological and neurobehavioural aspects of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. She has published in the areas of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and developmental and intellectual disabilities in South Africa. In her present capacity, she holds the only chair of intellectual disability in Africa.

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Vianne Timmons – Past President
Canada
President and Vice-Chancellor
University of Regina, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, Sask., S4S 0A2

past_president@iassidd.org
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About Vianne

Dr. Vianne Timmons, who currently serves as President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Regina, Canada, was elected President of IASSIDD in 2012. Prior to that, she served the organization in four-year terms as Secretary and then President-Elect.

Dr. Timmons maintains an active research program which over her 30-year career in the field of intellectual disability studies has included projects focused on:

  • improving the educational environment for children with disabilities in India;
  • exploring connections between inclusive education and children’s health in Canada;
  • analyzing the effectiveness of programming and services for children with autism; and
  • examining the degree to which educational policies across Canada encourage inclusive practices for students with intellectual disabilities.

During the course of her career, Dr. Timmons has authored or edited nine books, written more than a dozen book chapters, and authored more than 40 peer-reviewed articles in leading academic journals. She has been either the principal investigator or a co-investigator on more than 30 funded research projects, and has also presented more than 150 invited lectures about her work.

Dr. Timmons received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Mt. Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada with a combined major in Psychology and English. She obtained her Bachelor of Education in Special Education from Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, and her Master of Education in Special Education from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, USA. She obtained her PhD in Education Psychology from the University of Calgary.

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Keith McVilly-Treasurer
Australia
Deakin University
School of Psychology
221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, VICTORIA, Australia, 3125

treasurer@iassidd.org 

Malin Broberg-Secretary
Sweden
Professor in Psychology at the University of Gothenburg

secretary@iassidd.org
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About Malin

Malin Broberg is an Professor in Psychology at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Malin’s research focuses on the psychological well-being of children with disabilities or chronic illnesses and their families. She is especially interested in the importance of risk and protective factors for the development of psychological health in parents and young individuals with IDD.

www.psy.gu.se

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Tamar Heller-Vice-President, Americas
United States of America
PH.D. Distinguished Professor,
Heads of Department – Disability and Human Development,
University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and its University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities.

vp-americas@iassidd.org
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About Tamar

Heller, PH.D. Distinguished Professor, heads the Department of Disability and Human Development, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and its University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. She also directs the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Developmental Disabilities and Health, and is Co-PI of the RRTC on Community Living Disability Policy and the Family Support RTC. Her research focuses on health and long-term services and supports for individuals with disabilities and their families. She was President of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) board, a delegate to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging, and co-founder of the national Sibling Leadership Network. Her awards include the 2009 Arc of Illinois Autism Ally for Public Policy Award; the 2008 Lifetime Research Achievement Award, International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities, Interest Group on Aging; the 2009 Community Support Services Community Partner Award, the 2010 College of Applied Health Sciences, UIC Outstanding Researcher Award, the AUCD 2012 International Award, and 2015 G. Lawrence Rarick Memorial Scholar Award of the International Federation of Adapted Physical Activity.Since 2009, Alice Schippers, Msc, PhD (interdisciplinary social sciences), has been general director of Disability Studies in the Netherlands, and has worked for twenty years in policy, management, research and higher education in the disabilities field.

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Alice Schippers-Vice-President, Europe
Netherlands

vp-europe@iassidd.org

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About Alice

Since 2009, Alice Schippers, Msc, PhD (interdisciplinary social sciences), has been general director of Disability Studies in the Netherlands, and has worked for twenty years in policy, management, research and higher education in the disabilities field.

She also holds a coordinating senior research position at the Disability Studies unit of the Medical Humanities department at the VU University medical centre in Amsterdam. Her research focus is on (family) quality of life, community development and co-creating knowledge.

She is chairing the Special Interest Research Group on Quality of Life and Vice President for Europe of IASSIDD. Disability Studies in the Netherlands is a partner organization of the IASSIDD Academy, striving to further the knowledge of disability professionals around the world.

More information at www.disabilitystudies.nl

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Ivan Brown – Vice President, Academy
Canada

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About Ivan

Overview
Ivan Brown, Ph.D. (Special Education) is Director of IASSIDD’s Academy for Education, Teaching and Research, and an Adjunct Professor of Disability Studies at Brock University, Canada. He is an internationally recognized expert in numerous sub-fields of intellectual disability, with a particular focus on quality of life and family issues. Currently, he coordinates more than 25 family quality of life projects in various countries around the world, and is co-chair of IASSIDD’s Quality of Life SIRG. Professor Brown has published widely in the academic literature and has written or edited eleven scholarly books. He was the founding editor of the Journal on Developmental Disabilities, and continued to serve for many years as its editor. He has been active in local disability organizations, and his work there has been recognized by several awards. Professor Brown has been an active presenter at scientific conferences, with more than 150 presentations and keynotes to his credit in the past 20 years. He has also presented several IASSIDD Academy workshops since 2009 (Ipoh, Malaysia; Singapore; St. Petersburg, Russia; Mexico City, Mexico; Tokyo, Japan; Hong Kong, China; and Vienna, Austria).

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Angus Buchanan – Vice President, Asia elect
Australia

Associate Professor/Head of School at the School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work,
Curtin University, Australia

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About Angus

Overview
Angus Buchanan (DBA, DSM, BScOT), is an Associate Professor and Head of School at the School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University. Working an occupational therapist for the past 32 year Angus is passionate about people being given authentic opportunities to reach their potential and participate fully in all aspects of their lives. For the 16 years, prior to commencing at Curtin in 2008, Angus held senior management and leadership roles at the Disability Services Commission of Western Australia. Angus is an active and published researcher focussing on inclusion and participation of adults with disabilities with the committees. Angus is an active member of the Australasian Society of Intellectual Disability (ASID) currently holding the position of Australasian President. As well has having a research background in contemporary disability practice he brings an extensive senior executive experience of working within the disability sector in Western Australia across policy, program and operational areas.

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Special Interest Research Group Representatives

Philip McCallion – Aging and Intellectual Disabilities
United States of America
mcclion@albany.edu

Co-Chair Jan Blacher – Autism Spectrum Disorders
United States
jan.blacher@ucr.edu

Co-Chair Chris Oliver– Autism Spectrum Disorders
United Kingdom
C.oliver@bham.ac.uk

Co-Chair Tobias Buchner – Inclusive Education
Austria
tobias.buchner@univie.ac.at

Co Chair Scott Thompson– Inclusive Education
Canada
Scott.Thompson@uregina.ca

Michael Brown – Comparative Policy and Practice
United Kingdom
m.j.brown@qub.ac.uk

Peter Langdon – Challenging Behaviour and Mental Health
United Kingdom
P.E.Langdon@kent.ac.uk

Rhonda Faragher – Down Syndrome
Australia
r.faragher@uq.edu.au

Marjorie Aunos – Parenting with Intellectual Disability
Canada
maunos.crom@ssss.gouv.qc.ca

Juliet Goldbart – Profound Multiple Disabilities
United Kingdom
j.goldbart@mmu.ac.uk

Jayne Clapton – Ethics & Intellectual Disability
Australia
jayneclapton@gmail.com

Sandy Magana – Families
United States
maganas@uic.edu

Laurence Taggart – Health Issues
Ireland
l.taggart@ulster.ac.uk

Alice Schippers – Quality of Life
The Netherlands
alice.schippers@tiscali.nl

Others

Ivan Brown – Director, IASSIDD Academy
Canada
ivan.brown@utoronto.ca

Matthew Janicki – JPPID Editor
United States of America
mjanicki@uic.edu

Chris Oliver – JIDR Editor
United Kingdom
C.oliver@bham.ac.uk

International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD) 

The International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD) is the first and only world-wide group dedicated to the scientific study of intellectual disability.

Founded in 1964 as the International Association for the Scientific Study of Mental Deficiency, IASSIDD is an international, interdisciplinary and scientific non-governmental organization which promotes worldwide research and exchange of information on intellectual disabilities.