AASPIRE Members

Co-Directors

Christina Nicolaidis, MD, MPH, Associate Professor, Departments of Medicine and Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University. Christina is a health services researcher, a physician, and the parent of an autistic child. Her research has focused on improving the health and health care of vulnerable populations by increasing understanding and respect for their experiences and beliefs. She has led several Community-Based Participatory Research projects aimed at reducing health disparities. She will supervise the research aspects of the project. She will offer expertise in survey design, quantitative and qualitative research methods, protection of human subjects, grant writing, and community-based participatory research.

Dora Raymaker, BFA, dual MS candidate, Systems Science Graduate Program and Department of Computer Science, Portland State University, certified in Computational Intelligence and Computer Modeling and Simulation. Ms. Raymaker is an autistic person with interests in complex systems, painting, and autistic self-advocacy. She has a professional background in computer engineering, technical communications, and information science. Ms. Raymaker offers the team support in project management, information technology, group process facilitation, and advanced computational and conceptual tools for scientific investigation. As an autistic self-advocate, Ms. Raymaker further provides important insights from within the autistic community. Ms. Raymaker's paintings can be seen on her web site.

Team Members

Katherine McDonald, PhD, Assistant Professor, Community Psychology, Portland State University. Dr. McDonald's work centers on using ecological theory and social action to understand and promote the community integration of individuals with disabilities. More recently, her research interests have expanded to include the empirical study of human research ethics, with an emphasis on issues related to vulnerable groups including individuals with disabilities. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches to inquiry, Dr. McDonald has led or collaborated on ten disability-focused research and evaluation projects. She will offer expertise on the technical and safety aspects of conducting research with people with intellectual disabilities.

Morton Ann Gernsbacher, PhD, Vilas Research Professor and Sir Frederic Bartlett Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Gernsbacher is a fellow of the Society for Experimental Psychologists, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has received a Research Career Development Award and a Senior Research Fellowship from the National Institutes of Health, a Fulbright Research Scholar Award, a James McKeen Cattell Foundation Fellowship, and a Professional Opportunities for Women Award from the National Science Foundation. Trained as a cognitive scientist, Dr. Gernsbacher directed her research focus toward autism a few years ago. She is particularly interested in research that promotes true partnership with autistic individuals.

Scott Michael Robertson, 27, is a Ph.D. Candidate in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State University and the vice president of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. His dissertation research at Penn State is focusing on how online technology can support the transition to college for students on the autism spectrum. This was influenced by Scott's experiences as an Asperger's autistic individual and his self-advocacy for the autism community.
Scott self-diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome during his freshman year at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1999. Since graduating Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor's of science degree in computer science in 2003, Scott has actively pursued many avenues of advocacy for the autism community. He has given more than 40 presentations to conferences, schools, and organizations on topics concerning autism, disabilities, and bullying challenges. Scott presented the opening keynote at the 2007 Penn State National Autism Conference and the closing keynote at the 2006 Penn State National Autism Conference. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the Philadelphia-area nonprofit organization ASCEND and as a member of the Pennsylvania State Leadership Team of the National Community of Practice on Collaborative School Behavioral Health. Scott has taught and mentored adolescents and young adults on the autism spectrum in numerous settings. He currently co-organizes a social group for teens on the spectrum in central Pennsylvania.
Scott can be emailed at srobertson@autisticadvocacy.org

Cody Boisclair graduated from Mercer University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, and is currently in his third year of graduate studies at the University of Georgia, working toward a Ph.D. in the same subject. Though his field of research is not directly involved with autism, he nonetheless has a fair share of experience with the subject, having been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in high school.

Sandra Nelms, B.A., Social & Community Psychology, Portland State University. Ms. Nelms received her B.A. in English, with emphasis on literature, from the University of Washington. She is currently enrolled as a post-baccalaureate psychology major at Portland State University. Ms. Nelms has worked for over nine years with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, in both Oregon and Washington. Her work experience has been primarily focused on individuals who receive services funded under the Home and Community Based Waiver (Medicaid Title XIX). She has held a range of positions in this field, including direct support in employment and home settings, management of employment sites, and human resources and program direction for 24-hour community residential programs. For three years, she shared her home and provided comprehensive supports to a young man with an intellectual disability. Currently Ms. Nelms is working as an independent behavior consultant for adults with disabilities, contracting with the Division of Developmental Disabilities in Washington; she also provides this service to individually contracted customers through Inclusion, Inc., a developmental disabilities service brokerage in Portland, OR. Throughout her career, she has worked to promote understanding of the needs and perspectives of individuals with disabilities by people in their environments such as paid staff members, medical and psychiatric providers, and housemates. In addition to this project, Ms. Nelms is currently assisting Dr. McDonald on two other research projects. Both projects examine ethics issues associated with the inclusion of individuals with intellectual disabilities in research.

Ari Ne'eman is the Founding President of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a non-profit organization of adults and youth on the autism spectrum. He is currently studying Political Science and Economics at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County as a Sondheim Scholar of Public Affairs. Ari is an Asperger's autistic and has been active in the autistic culture, neurodiversity and disability rights movements for a number of years. He first became involved in self-advocacy as a high school student, arguing for his own inclusion and access to high level academic coursework. He later became involved in disability and education policy advocacy.
Ari serves as the Policy Workgroup Leader for the Youth Advisory Council to the National Council on Disability, the Public Policy Chair for the New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education and a member of the Steering Committee of the New Jersey Olmstead Implementation and Planning Advisory Council advising the NJ Department of Human Services on de-institutionalizing adults with developmental disabilities in the wake of the landmark Olmstead v. L.C. Supreme Court case. His writings have appeared in a variety of venues, including the Neurodiversity Weblog, the influential education policy blog Eduwonk, Jewish Week and The Home News Tribune. In his capacity as President of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, he organizes social/support networks for youth and adults on the autism spectrum, promotes self-advocate involvement in the policymaking process and regularly presents and advises on issues relating to autism, Asperger's, disability policy, special education and the neurodiversity movement.
Ari can be emailed at aneeman@autisticadvocacy.org

Paula Durbin-Westby is an autistic community member of the Academic Autistic Partnership In Research and Education (AASPIRE). She works on making sure the research is relevant to the autistic community and conducted in a respectful, ethical manner.
Paula is also the Virginia contact for The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network. She has represented ASAN at Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) meetings. Her testimony at the March 14 IACC meeting called for research into supports and services throughout the lifespan, and testimony on May 12 urged NIMH to include autistic individuals as full partners in research projects.

Emily Williams is currently finishing her Bachelors of Arts in Psychology at Webster University. Her research focus is on the neurobiology of autism, as well as diagnostics. She has experience both as an ABA therapist as well as an advocate to victims of crime in the St. Louis area. She is currently taking part in a practicum at Washington University's Mallickrodt Institute of Radiology, assisting in an autism-related neuroimaging study. For graduate school, she is hoping to attend the University of Louisville for her Ph.D. in Anatomy Science & Neurobiology where her work will largely focus on the minicolumnar organization in autism.
Diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in 2007, Emily has been interested in the autism spectrum and diagnostics since her self-diagnosis in 2004. She is a former moderator of Wrong Planet forum and she currently owns and helps administrate an autism-related forum called Gestalt.

Andrea Gillespie is an autistic person who is working towards a dual B.S. in applied mathematics and chemistry. She is currently taking classes at Glendale Community College, in Arizona. This is her first research experience.

Anne Corwin is an autistic person working as an electrical engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. She graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo in 2002. She has a lifelong interest in assistive technology as well as technology in general, and has written numerous Web articles (blog: "Existence is Wonderful", http://rationallongevity.blogspot.com) on subjects ranging from neurology to politics to biogerontology.

Elesia Ashkenazy, B.A., Speech & Hearing Sciences, Portland State University. Elesia is Asperger's Autistic (medical diagnosis), as well as profoundly deaf. She is fluent in American Sign Language and is also a cochlear implant recipient. Elesia attends Portland State University and is working toward her Master's degree in Non-Fiction Writing. Her work experience includes working as a speech language pathology assistant, working in an educational setting with deaf and hard of hearing students, teaching and tutoring ASL, and public speaking. Elesia became highly interested in autism after her toddler was diagnosed as autistic. Her "special interests" are classical ballet, autism, non-fiction writing, and metaphysics. AASPIRE is Elesia's first research experience.

Gloria Krahn, PhD, MPH, Director of Oregon Institute on Disability & Development /University Center of Excellence in Disabilities, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health & Preventive Medicine, Associate Director for Academic Affairs of Child Development and Rehabilitation Center, Oregon Health & Science University. Dr. Krahn completed her Ph.D. at the University of Manitoba, her postdoctoral residency in Medical Psychology at OHSU, and her MPH at the University of California at Berkley. She is a member of the American Public Health Association (Chair for DisAbility SPIG), former president of the Association of University Centers on Disability; American Psychological Association; American Association on Health and Disability, National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (executive committee), and American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Krahn's current interests and activities address policy and practices in health care & health promotion for persons with disabilities, research and training in wellness promotion in disabilities, and disability advocacy within public health. As Director of OIDD, she supports training and supervision of trainees from multiple disciplines, supervises research and community placements, and contributes to curriculum development. She serves on a number of national boards and committees related to disabilities. She will collaborate on measurement issues relating to health and healthcare, and provide consultation on health care access issues, especially as they relate to policy.

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Organization Structure Members Affiliations CBPR	AASPIRE Members Co-Directors Christina Nicolaidis, MD, MPH, Associate Professor, Departments of Medicine and Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University. Christina is a health services researcher, a physician, and the parent of an autistic child. Her research has focused on improving the health and health care of vulnerable populations by increasing understanding and respect for their experiences and beliefs. She has led several Community-Based Participatory Research projects aimed at reducing health disparities. She will supervise the research aspects of the project. She will offer expertise in survey design, quantitative and qualitative research methods, protection of human subjects, grant writing, and community-based participatory research. Dora Raymaker, BFA, dual MS candidate, Systems Science Graduate Program and Department of Computer Science, Portland State University, certified in Computational Intelligence and Computer Modeling and Simulation. Ms. Raymaker is an autistic person with interests in complex systems, painting, and autistic self-advocacy. She has a professional background in computer engineering, technical communications, and information science. Ms. Raymaker offers the team support in project management, information technology, group process facilitation, and advanced computational and conceptual tools for scientific investigation. As an autistic self-advocate, Ms. Raymaker further provides important insights from within the autistic community. Ms. Raymaker's paintings can be seen on her web site. Team Members Katherine McDonald, PhD, Assistant Professor, Community Psychology, Portland State University. Dr. McDonald's work centers on using ecological theory and social action to understand and promote the community integration of individuals with disabilities. More recently, her research interests have expanded to include the empirical study of human research ethics, with an emphasis on issues related to vulnerable groups including individuals with disabilities. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches to inquiry, Dr. McDonald has led or collaborated on ten disability-focused research and evaluation projects. She will offer expertise on the technical and safety aspects of conducting research with people with intellectual disabilities. Morton Ann Gernsbacher, PhD, Vilas Research Professor and Sir Frederic Bartlett Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Gernsbacher is a fellow of the Society for Experimental Psychologists, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has received a Research Career Development Award and a Senior Research Fellowship from the National Institutes of Health, a Fulbright Research Scholar Award, a James McKeen Cattell Foundation Fellowship, and a Professional Opportunities for Women Award from the National Science Foundation. Trained as a cognitive scientist, Dr. Gernsbacher directed her research focus toward autism a few years ago. She is particularly interested in research that promotes true partnership with autistic individuals. Scott Michael Robertson, 27, is a Ph.D. Candidate in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State University and the vice president of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. His dissertation research at Penn State is focusing on how online technology can support the transition to college for students on the autism spectrum. This was influenced by Scott's experiences as an Asperger's autistic individual and his self-advocacy for the autism community. Scott self-diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome during his freshman year at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1999. Since graduating Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor's of science degree in computer science in 2003, Scott has actively pursued many avenues of advocacy for the autism community. He has given more than 40 presentations to conferences, schools, and organizations on topics concerning autism, disabilities, and bullying challenges. Scott presented the opening keynote at the 2007 Penn State National Autism Conference and the closing keynote at the 2006 Penn State National Autism Conference. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the Philadelphia-area nonprofit organization ASCEND and as a member of the Pennsylvania State Leadership Team of the National Community of Practice on Collaborative School Behavioral Health. Scott has taught and mentored adolescents and young adults on the autism spectrum in numerous settings. He currently co-organizes a social group for teens on the spectrum in central Pennsylvania. Scott can be emailed at srobertson@autisticadvocacy.org Cody Boisclair graduated from Mercer University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, and is currently in his third year of graduate studies at the University of Georgia, working toward a Ph.D. in the same subject. Though his field of research is not directly involved with autism, he nonetheless has a fair share of experience with the subject, having been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in high school. Sandra Nelms, B.A., Social & Community Psychology, Portland State University. Ms. Nelms received her B.A. in English, with emphasis on literature, from the University of Washington. She is currently enrolled as a post-baccalaureate psychology major at Portland State University. Ms. Nelms has worked for over nine years with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, in both Oregon and Washington. Her work experience has been primarily focused on individuals who receive services funded under the Home and Community Based Waiver (Medicaid Title XIX). She has held a range of positions in this field, including direct support in employment and home settings, management of employment sites, and human resources and program direction for 24-hour community residential programs. For three years, she shared her home and provided comprehensive supports to a young man with an intellectual disability. Currently Ms. Nelms is working as an independent behavior consultant for adults with disabilities, contracting with the Division of Developmental Disabilities in Washington; she also provides this service to individually contracted customers through Inclusion, Inc., a developmental disabilities service brokerage in Portland, OR. Throughout her career, she has worked to promote understanding of the needs and perspectives of individuals with disabilities by people in their environments such as paid staff members, medical and psychiatric providers, and housemates. In addition to this project, Ms. Nelms is currently assisting Dr. McDonald on two other research projects. Both projects examine ethics issues associated with the inclusion of individuals with intellectual disabilities in research. Ari Ne'eman is the Founding President of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a non-profit organization of adults and youth on the autism spectrum. He is currently studying Political Science and Economics at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County as a Sondheim Scholar of Public Affairs. Ari is an Asperger's autistic and has been active in the autistic culture, neurodiversity and disability rights movements for a number of years. He first became involved in self-advocacy as a high school student, arguing for his own inclusion and access to high level academic coursework. He later became involved in disability and education policy advocacy. Ari serves as the Policy Workgroup Leader for the Youth Advisory Council to the National Council on Disability, the Public Policy Chair for the New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education and a member of the Steering Committee of the New Jersey Olmstead Implementation and Planning Advisory Council advising the NJ Department of Human Services on de-institutionalizing adults with developmental disabilities in the wake of the landmark Olmstead v. L.C. Supreme Court case. His writings have appeared in a variety of venues, including the Neurodiversity Weblog, the influential education policy blog Eduwonk, Jewish Week and The Home News Tribune. In his capacity as President of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, he organizes social/support networks for youth and adults on the autism spectrum, promotes self-advocate involvement in the policymaking process and regularly presents and advises on issues relating to autism, Asperger's, disability policy, special education and the neurodiversity movement. Ari can be emailed at aneeman@autisticadvocacy.org Paula Durbin-Westby is an autistic community member of the Academic Autistic Partnership In Research and Education (AASPIRE). She works on making sure the research is relevant to the autistic community and conducted in a respectful, ethical manner. Paula is also the Virginia contact for The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network. She has represented ASAN at Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) meetings. Her testimony at the March 14 IACC meeting called for research into supports and services throughout the lifespan, and testimony on May 12 urged NIMH to include autistic individuals as full partners in research projects. Emily Williams is currently finishing her Bachelors of Arts in Psychology at Webster University. Her research focus is on the neurobiology of autism, as well as diagnostics. She has experience both as an ABA therapist as well as an advocate to victims of crime in the St. Louis area. She is currently taking part in a practicum at Washington University's Mallickrodt Institute of Radiology, assisting in an autism-related neuroimaging study. For graduate school, she is hoping to attend the University of Louisville for her Ph.D. in Anatomy Science & Neurobiology where her work will largely focus on the minicolumnar organization in autism. Diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in 2007, Emily has been interested in the autism spectrum and diagnostics since her self-diagnosis in 2004. She is a former moderator of Wrong Planet forum and she currently owns and helps administrate an autism-related forum called Gestalt. Andrea Gillespie is an autistic person who is working towards a dual B.S. in applied mathematics and chemistry. She is currently taking classes at Glendale Community College, in Arizona. This is her first research experience. Anne Corwin is an autistic person working as an electrical engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. She graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo in 2002. She has a lifelong interest in assistive technology as well as technology in general, and has written numerous Web articles (blog: "Existence is Wonderful", http://rationallongevity.blogspot.com) on subjects ranging from neurology to politics to biogerontology. Elesia Ashkenazy, B.A., Speech & Hearing Sciences, Portland State University. Elesia is Asperger's Autistic (medical diagnosis), as well as profoundly deaf. She is fluent in American Sign Language and is also a cochlear implant recipient. Elesia attends Portland State University and is working toward her Master's degree in Non-Fiction Writing. Her work experience includes working as a speech language pathology assistant, working in an educational setting with deaf and hard of hearing students, teaching and tutoring ASL, and public speaking. Elesia became highly interested in autism after her toddler was diagnosed as autistic. Her "special interests" are classical ballet, autism, non-fiction writing, and metaphysics. AASPIRE is Elesia's first research experience. Gloria Krahn, PhD, MPH, Director of Oregon Institute on Disability & Development /University Center of Excellence in Disabilities, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health & Preventive Medicine, Associate Director for Academic Affairs of Child Development and Rehabilitation Center, Oregon Health & Science University. Dr. Krahn completed her Ph.D. at the University of Manitoba, her postdoctoral residency in Medical Psychology at OHSU, and her MPH at the University of California at Berkley. She is a member of the American Public Health Association (Chair for DisAbility SPIG), former president of the Association of University Centers on Disability; American Psychological Association; American Association on Health and Disability, National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (executive committee), and American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Krahn's current interests and activities address policy and practices in health care & health promotion for persons with disabilities, research and training in wellness promotion in disabilities, and disability advocacy within public health. As Director of OIDD, she supports training and supervision of trainees from multiple disciplines, supervises research and community placements, and contributes to curriculum development. She serves on a number of national boards and committees related to disabilities. She will collaborate on measurement issues relating to health and healthcare, and provide consultation on health care access issues, especially as they relate to policy.
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