Interdisciplinary Technical Assistance Center on Autism and Developmental Disabilities

gjesien@aucd.org

Executive Director

George S. Jesien, PhD

Dr. Jesien began his appointment as Executive Director of AUCD on July 1, 1999. His experience includes extensive administrative and supervisory responsibility, most recently as the Executive Director of the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation since 1997. In this role, he directed and managed Foundation activities, including national grants management, the public policy fellowship program, the associate trustee program and fiscal management of an annual budget of approximately $2.6 million.

He served as a Principal Investigator for a series of federal, state and locally funded projects in personnel preparation, research, materials development, outreach, direct services and information dissemination via the Internet at the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison between 1989 and 1997. In addition, Dr. Jesien was awarded a one-year Kennedy Foundation Public Policy Fellowship in 1994 to work with the Senate Subcommittee on Disability Policy with Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa.

Dr. Jesien has traveled extensively providing technical assistance for disability programs in Europe, North and South America and Asia.

jperry@aucd.org

Jamie Perry is a Developmental Pediatrician and former LEND trainee. She is a member of the faculty of the Kennedy Krieger Institute and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she continues to provide clinical care for children with developmental disabilities and is actively involved in the training of residents and LEND trainees.

Dr. Perry's past experience includes serving as the Associate Medical Director of the Office for Genetics and CSHCN, Maryland's Title V Program for CSHCN. In this capacity, she provided leadership for multiple state programs serving CSHCN and their families for over 5 years. During this time, Dr. Perry also lead collaborative initiatives on developmental screening, medical home improvement, and integrated community systems of care for CSHCN and their families.

Dr. Perry received her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She completed residency training in Pediatrics at the University of Rochester/Strong Memorial Hospital and a fellowship in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Dr. Perry is board certified in Pediatrics and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities. She also holds an MPH from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Dr. Perry is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and has recently been appointed chair of the Maryland AAP Chapter's Committee on Children with Disabilities/CSHCN. Dr. Perry is also a member of the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine. She currently resides in Baltimore with her husband and two children.

cpariseau@aucd.org

Crystal is responsible for working across the network and our partner programs to develop products, web content, and electronic and print publications for AUCD. She has designed and implemented a series of wholly electronic grant application and review systems for AUCD.  Crystal also directs the programmatic development of Special Events such as the AUCD Conference and other related events as a means to inform the AUCD membership of network and federal agency activities.

In previous experience, Crystal was an Administrative Social Work trainee at the Waisman Center LEND and worked for the Waisman Center UCEDD's Community Outreach and Training Offices developing and coordinating courses, activities, and community events for people with disabilities, their families, and support personnel. She has experience in conference and meeting planning, grant writing, information dissemination, project development, publication design, website management, and written and electronic communication.

Crystal holds a Bachelor's degree in Social Welfare with dual concentrations in child and family studies and social work from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Master's degree in Social Work with dual concentrations in heath care and developmental disabilities from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She lives with her husband, two young sons, and dog in Charlottesville, VA.

rcarman@aucd.org

Rebecca Carman is a Senior Program Specialist on the MCHB Technical Assistance Cooperative Agreement at AUCD.  She holds a Master in Social Work degree from the University of New Hampshire, where she was also a LEND trainee during her second year in the program.

Prior to joining AUCD, Rebecca was a Clinical Social Worker at Yale University's Child Study Center in the Autism Program/Developmental Disabilities Clinic where she worked on an interdisciplinary evaluation team.  She has also worked overseas providing direct practice work for children who had a variety of special health care needs.

She considers the Washington, DC area to be her home base, as she has lived in the Philippines, Italy, and England.  She is registered to run in her first marathon in 2010. 

tchristensen@aucd.org

Tory joined the AUCD staff in January 2012 after relocating from Iowa City, IA. She is a Senior Project Specialist on AUCD's Cooperative Agreement with the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau at the Health Resources and Services Administration. Tory provides technical assistance to the Cooperative Agreements, including the Research Topics of Interest (RTOI) competitions, Collaborative Research Awards, and the "Learn the Signs. Act Early." campaign.

Tory holds a master's degree in Social Work from the University of Iowa, where she was a LEND trainee. She is also a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. While in Iowa, Tory worked at the University of Iowa's Center for Disabilities and Development (UCEDD). She provided direct clinical services to children and adults with autism and other developmental disabilities, provided behavioral consultation to school teams, and worked with the Iowa Department of Education on a project that provided training in behavior analysis to education staff across the state.

mmchugh@aucd.org

As Project Manager for the MCHB Cooperative Agreement, Meaghan McHugh coordinates technical assistance for the LEND and DBP training programs through AUCD's Interdisciplinary Technical Assistance Center on Autism and Developmental Disabilities (ITAC). In addition, Meaghan manages the LEND audiology grant program designed to expand training in infant and pediatric audiology, also funded by MCHB.

Meaghan received an MPH from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in Economics from Holy Cross College. Prior to joining AUCD, Meaghan managed public health programs in the area of tobacco use prevention and cessation for the Society for Public Health Education and for the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services. Her experience includes coordinating the assessment of evidence-based research on best practices standards for implementing programs addressing disparities in tobacco control for minority and medically underserved populations.

In addition, Meaghan previously served as Senior Program Manager for Health Promotion for Special Olympics International (SOI). In this capacity, Meaghan was responsible for the development and evaluation of a CDC-funded health promotion program for youth and adult athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities. While at SOI, Meaghan organized and facilitated a health literacy conference for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families, led focus groups to develop best practices and recommendations for future health promotion activities, and worked with individuals with developmental disabilities and family members to create health promotion plans that were both appropriate and achievable.