Gatlinburg Conference on Research and Theory in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Location: InterContinental Hotel, Kansas City, MO
The Gatlinburg Conference on Research and Theory in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities is one of the premier conferences for behavioral scientists conducting research on intellectual and developmental disabilities. It has a rich history that started in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in 1967, and the name of its original location remained. Each year, Gatlinburg Conference brings together scientists from around the world to gather to discuss research and collaborations in the field.
Plenary Speakers
Dr. Beth Tarini is the Associate Director of the Center for Translational Research at Children’s National Hospital. She previously served as the Division Director of General Pediatrics at the University of Iowa. She is a formally trained health services researcher (graduate of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program) who conducts health services research that focuses on optimizing the delivery of genetic services to children and their families, particularly through newborn screening. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, HRSA, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Dr. Tarini is a former President of the Society for Pediatric Research, a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and a member of the Genomics & Society Working Group of the National Human Genome Research Institute. She has been appointed to and led federal, national, and state committees that provide policy recommendations for genetics services and newborn screening. Dr. Tarini received her MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and her BA from Harvard University. She has an MS in Health services from the University of Washington and an MBA from George Washington University.
Dr. Maya Sabatello is an Associate Professor of Medical Sciences at the Center for Precision Medicine and Genomics and the Division of Ethics at Columbia University, where she also co-directs the Precision Medicine & Society Speaker Seminar and Workgroup. A former litigator with trans-disciplinary background, she explores the ethical, social and policy issues relating to biomedical technologies, genomic information and Big Data and the impacts thereof on social structures, marginalized communities, individual rights, and health outcomes. Dr. Sabatello’s NIH-funded mixed-methods and community-based participatory research program focuses on the ramifications of genetic data in non-clinical settings (e.g., schools) for social justice; the psychosocial impact of genomic data on adolescents and families; and issues of trust and inclusion of people with disabilities in precision medicine research. Dr. Sabatello serves as a member of the ASHG’s Professional Practice & Social Implications Committee and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of NIH.
Dr. Ami Klin is the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar Professor and Chief of the Division of Autism and Developmental Disabilities at Emory University School of Medicine, and Director of the Marcus Autism Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. He obtained his PhD from the University of London, and completed clinical and research post-doctoral fellowships at the Yale Child Study Center. He directed the Autism Program at the Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, until 2010, where he was the Harris Professor of Child Psychology & Psychiatry. The Marcus Autism Center is one of the largest centers of clinical care and science focused on autism and related conditions in the country. Dr. Klin’s primary research activities focus on social mind and social brain, and on developmental aspects of autism from infancy through adulthood. These studies include a longstanding collaboration with Dr. Warren Jones focused on novel science-based technologies developed and clinically validated to address limited access to high quality early diagnosis and assessment of autism. He is the author of over 250 publications in the field of autism and related conditions.
