Christopher L. Smith, PhD, Named New Director for Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities
May 6, 2009
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>>From Kennedy Krieger's website.
Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities Appoints New Director
(Baltimore, MD) - Christopher L. Smith, Ph.D., has been named the new Director of the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities at Kennedy Krieger Institute, which is the State of Maryland's official University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (UCEDD). Prior to joining Kennedy Krieger, Dr. Smith served as the Founder and Director of the Center on Quality in Human Services at the University of Kansas Center on Developmental Disabilities. He has over 25 years of experiences in the field of developmental disabilities, representing work with both adults and children and with various disabilities.
Dr. Smith holds a Ph.D. in Education (Special Education) with an appointment as an Assistant Scientist at the University of Kansas. He has served as an investigator for a number of technical assistance, training, evaluation, and continuous quality improvement projects including projects serving consumers with developmental disabilities, early childhood, community action programs, after-school programs, and mental health programs. Dr. Smith spent several years as the Co-Director of a state-wide training project in Kansas that focused on technical assistance and training in the areas of person-centered planning and positive behavior support for persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. In addition, he has recently served as the Principal Investigator for three contracts with the State of Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities involving evaluation, quality management, and performance measurement. Dr. Smith has also served as a consultant to schools on the implementation and evaluation of school-wide projects in Kansas, and has published articles related to continuous systems-level assessment and evaluation.
Kennedy Krieger has been the official UCEDD for the State of Maryland since 1963. These centers have a shared vision that foresees a nation in which all Americans, including Americans with disabilities, participate fully in their communities. The role of the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities (MCDD) at Kennedy Krieger Institute is to provide leadership in, advise Federal, State and community policymakers about, and promote opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities to exercise self-determination, be independent, be productive, and be integrated and included in all facets of community life.
About the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities
The mission of the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities at Kennedy Krieger is to maximize potential and create change to increase the capacity of the community to incorporate state-of-the-art advances so that persons of any age with, or at risk for, developmental disabilities can achieve independence, productivity, and inclusion within their communities. This is accomplished through interdisciplinary pre-service training, exemplary community service, technical assistance, research, and dissemination activities.
About Kennedy Krieger Institute
Internationally recognized for improving the lives of children and adolescents with disorders and injuries of the brain and spinal cord, the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, MD serves more than 13,000 individuals each year through inpatient and outpatient clinics, home and community services and school-based programs. Kennedy Krieger provides a wide range of services for children with developmental concerns mild to severe, and is home to a team of investigators who are contributing to the understanding of how disorders develop while pioneering new interventions and earlier diagnosis. For more information on Kennedy Krieger Institute, visit www.kennedykrieger.org.
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Brian Johnson
(443) 923-7335
[email protected]
