NEWPORT, R.I. – A day-long symposium honoring the late John E. Fogarty’s commitment to improve the quality of care and services for the intellectually and developmentally disabled – work that continues today through the John E. Fogarty Foundation – will be celebrated at Salve Regina University on Saturday, March 23 from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The event, “A Good Life: Reflections on the Past, Inspiration for the Future,” celebrates the centennial of Fogarty’s birth in 1913. He served as a congressman in Rhode Island for 26 years until his death in 1967. The symposium will begin with a historical reflection on the disability movement and include presentations focusing on efforts to improve care and services for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The symposium will be held in the O’Hare Academic Center, while lunch and dinner will be served in Ochre Court.
The keynote presentation, “The Future of Pediatric Research and Clinical Care: Impact on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities,” will be presented at 9:15 a.m. by Dr. Alan E. Guttmacher, director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. Dr. Guttmacher will highlight some of the progress, challenges, and opportunities in this area and sketch what the future might look like.
Opening comments will be offered by Dr. Roger I. Glass, director of the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Glass will discuss how the Fogarty International Center is an evolving legacy of John Fogarty.
Throughout the day, session presenters will focus on efforts to improve care and services for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities and researchers will address best practice in promoting self-determination, employment, effective healthcare and public policy.
Session topics and their presenters will include:
Just Do It! Making Employment the First Choice for Everyone, which will be presented by John Butterworth, director for Employment Systems Change and Evaluation at the Institute for Community Inclusion. He has over 30 years of experience as a researcher, consultant, trainer, and manager of community-based day and employment services.
Federal Disability Policy: What’s In Store for the 113th Congress, which will be presented by Kim Musheno, director of Legislative Affairs at the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) where she works on federal policy and legislative issues that affect people with developmental disabilities and their families.
Rapid and Mobilized Method for Autism Detection, which will be presented by Dennis P. Wall, associate professor of pathology and director of the Computational Biology Initiative at Harvard Medical School. Since joining the faculty at the Center for Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School in 2006, he has been translating systems biology thinking to the field of autism research with the intent to develop effective early-stage diagnostics and targets for therapeutic intervention.
A Century of Progress: From Sterilization to the Self-Determination Movement, which will be presented by Michael L. Wehmeyer, professor of special Education; director, Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities; and senior scientist, Beach Center on Disability.
Wrapping up the symposium will be a conversation with Dr. Siegfried Pueschel and Dr. A. Anthony Antosh. Pueschel is well known as an advocate for people with Down Syndrome, a leading expert in the field, and a father of a child with Down Syndrome. He became director of the first Down Syndrome Program at The Children’s Hospital in Boston and also provided leadership to the PKU and Inborn Errors of Metabolism Program. In 1975, he was appointed director of the Child Development Center at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence.
Antosh is the founding director of the Paul V. Sherlock Center on Disabilities at Rhode Island College. He has been on the faculty there for more than 30 years. During that time he served as coordinator of the undergraduate and graduate programs in severe disabilities, as department chair, and as the Mary Tucker Thorp Professor for Distinguished Teaching.