I am a faculty member with appointments in the Department of Psychiatry, College of Nursing and College of Education. My area of expertise is providing clinical care, advocacy, and education to support individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities across the lifespan. I started my career as a special education teacher and have over twenty years' experience in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities. I am currently an associate editor for the journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities focusing on a special edition on adaptations to therapy for individuals with IDD. I focus on working with individuals with severe behavior needs which often become barriers to accessing care, increased hospitalizations, and challenges with community supports. I am the co-director of the ID/MI service (intellectual disability/mental illness) program in the Department of Psychiatry which provides interdisciplinary care to individuals with severe behavioral needs and our program supports over 300 people and have published results of this program’s first two years. I am the first Director of Strong Minds for the Iowa Special Olympics and will be supporting them to gather data to research mental health needs in athletes with IDD. We will be providing mental health services at state Special Olympic events. My research interests are the development of interdisciplinary services to improve access and effectiveness of healthcare for patients with these unique needs.