Dr. Patrone is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst and Associate Professor at Daemen University in the Behavioral Science Department. Originally from Olean, NY, she received her undergraduate degree in psychology from SUNY Geneseo and went on to receive a master’s degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in Human Services Psychology with a concentration in Applied Behavior Analysis.  While in Maryland, she worked with individuals with severe behavior disorders at the Kennedy Krieger Institute of the Johns Hopkins Medical Center.  Upon moving to New York State, Dr. Patrone worked as a Behavior Analyst and Consultant in clinical, residential and center-based settings and provided educational consulting services in both private and public schools. Her research interests include Autism Spectrum Disorder, Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities, functional assessment of problem behavior and the impact of culture on behavior analytic service provision. 

Dr. Abery is the Co-Director of the Global Resource Center for Inclusive Education and Co-Director of the Research and Training Center on Outcome Measures at the University of Minnesota. He is also the Coordinator of School-Age Services at the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) and an adjunct faculty member within the Institute on Child Development and School Psychology Programs at the University of Minnesota. He has been Principal Investigator of numerous projects designed to enhance the educational outcomes, social inclusion, and self-determination of persons with disabilities both at a national and international level. His international work includes implementation of the Response to Intervention framework in India and the implementation of Inclusive Service Learning in Costa Rica. Dr. Abery holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Psychology and has an extensive background in research, assessment, program development, and evaluation related to children, youth, and adults with disabilities. 

Dr. Tichá received a doctorate in educational psychology, with an emphasis in special education, from the University of Minnesota. She serves as associate director of research, director of education policy and practice, and co-director of transition and postsecondary education at the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota. She has extensive experience in the development and implementation of assessment and intervention materials for children, youth and adults with different types of disabilities. She also conducts research, training and technical assistance in this area. Dr. Tichá is a principal investigator on an international grant titled Developing Leadership Capacity in Inclusive Education: A U.S.-Ukrainian Partnership, and the U.S.-based projects Ecological Momentary Assessment of Leisure Activity Participation Among Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Improving Self-Determination of Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Wisconsin. Dr. Tichá is also an editor of The Journal of the International Association of Special Education (JIASE). 

Dr. Šiška is a research professor at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. His research interests are in the areas of human rights, disability, and gender. Dr. Šiška was a recent Fulbright Scholar at the University of Minnesota where he explored barriers and facilitators of successful transition of young disabled people from education to adulthood from an international perspective. Dr. Šiška earned his masters and PhD in Special and Inclusive Education at Charles University. He has over 15 years of experience promoting policies in the European Commission that support inclusion of people with disabilities. He also serves as an expert team leader at the European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities where he has developed innovative frameworks to measure quality of services for persons with disabilities. 

Dr. Reidy is a Registered Nurse in Intellectual Disabilities and Lecturer in Intellectual Disability Nursing at South East Technological University, Ireland in the Department of Nursing and Healthcare. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Intellectual Disability Nursing from Waterford Institute of Technology where she completed her supervised experience with a number of intellectual disability service providers in the South East of Ireland.  

Dr. Reidy has worked as a staff nurse in intellectual disabilities in a local service dedicated to improving the lives of adults with developmental disabilities. She completed PhD in 2016 at Waterford Institute of Technology.  

Her research interests focus on health equity for persons with intellectual disabilities with an emphasis on promoting cancer prevention and screening awareness among women with intellectual disabilities to empower them to become more active participants in their own healthcare.

Dr. Deborah Napolitano is an Associate Professor in the Behavioral Science Department at Daemen University and a Consultant at the Golisano Institute for Developmental Disabilities Nursing at St. John Fisher University. She holds a courtesy appointment as an Associate Professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. Dr. Napolitano obtained her Ph.D. in Developmental and Child Psychology/Behavior Analysis from the University of Kansas. She is widely published in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and behavior analysis, with peer reviewed research publications in some of the field’s premier journals. Her research and clinical interests are in the areas of assessment and treatment of rigid and repetitive behavior, assessment and treatment of severe challenging behavior, drug and behavior interactions, applications of behavior analysis in child welfare, interprofessional collaboration, and advocacy. 

Dr. Foran has over 20 years of experience working with people with IDD and their families. She is currently faculty at Dublin City University in their ID programme and formerly led the BSc (HONS) in Intellectual Disability Nursing at Southeastern Technological University, Waterford Ireland. Dr. Foran was awarded a PhD from Trinity University and served as a member of the Scientific Committee for the Wave 1 Intellectual Disability Supplement to the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (IDS-TILDA). She continues as a member of the research team for WAVE 3 of the IDS-TILDA programme. In 2012 Dr. Foran was awarded the Aging SIRG Fellowship Award at the IASSIDD World Congress in Nova Scotia, for her work on Fear of Falling in older adults with intellectual disabilities.