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About the Center > Staff Biographies

Staff Biographies

• University of California San Francisco
• Project Consultants
• Burton Blatt Institute
• The Center on Disability
• PHI (formerly the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute)
• Research Triangle Institute (RTI)
• Topeka Independent Living Resource Center

University of California San Francisco

PAS Center Directors

Charlene Harrington, Ph.D., RN, Professor Emerita of Sociology, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF. Dr. Harrington is the PI for the PAS Center, overseeing all project and budgetary activities and more specifically, conduct research on PAS in the home and community. As PI for the PAS Center for the past 5 years (2003-2008), she is one of the leading experts on PAS and HCBS. Dr. Harrington has been PI of numerous research studies on state long term care (LTC) policies and program characteristics since 1980, and conducted a large study of PAS and HCBS waivers in the states for CMS in 1998-2000. Since 1994, she has been funded to track Medicaid PAS participants, services, and expenditures. She is the director of a consumer information project and manages a website for the California HealthCare Foundation which includes nursing homes, home health, hospice and other LTC programs. Dr. Harrington is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, a member of the Institute of Medicine, and is widely published on LTC and PAS, with over 200 published articles and books.

H. Stephen Kaye, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Institute for Health and Aging, UCSF. Dr. Kaye is a Co-PI of the PAS Center and Director of the Improved Access to PAS project studying the trends, needs, and unmet needs of PAS consumers. He will also participate in research on caregiving support, employment issues, economic issues, and assistive technologies. Dr. Kaye has been a Co-PI for the PAS Center since 2003, where he has taken the lead on studies of need for PAS, unmet need, economic analysis of state PAS programs, and trends in the PAS workforce. Dr. Kaye is also the Co-Director of the UCSF Disability Statistics Center and has been its Research Director since 2000. His accomplishments include a groundbreaking study on the effect of the digital divide on the disability population and the Disability Watch series of reports on the status of Americans with disabilities. Dr. Kaye was lead author on “The Personal Assistance Workforce: Trends in supply and demand,” which was published in Health Affairs in 2006.

Mitchell P. LaPlante, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Institute for Health and Aging, UCSF. Dr. LaPlante is a Co-PI of the PAS Center and Director of the projects studying the economics of PAS, employment, and assistive technologies. Dr. LaPlante is recognized as one of the foremost disability researchers in the country and became PI of the Disability Statistics Program at UCSF in 1987. He then served as Director and PI of the NIDRR-funded Disability Statistics Center from 1993-2003 and continues as the Director of the UCSF Disability Statistics Center. He has served as a Co-PI for the UCSF PAS Center since 2003 and has been active in all aspects of the program. He is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and has served on committees of the Institute of Medicine, the National Research Council, and the United Nations. He has numerous publications on disability-related subjects, with a recent (2007) publication on a more fiscally feasible estimated cost of MiCASSA, “Estimating the expense of a mandatory home- and community-based PAS benefit under Medicaid,” published in the Journal of Aging & Social Policy.

Robert J. Newcomer, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF. Dr. Newcomer is a Co-PI and Director of Workforce Research Projects for the PAS Center. His initial work was in the design and planning of health and LTC programs. He’s been principal or co-PI of over 30 grants and contracts related to LTC and was Co-PI and Director of Training for the NIDRR-funded UCSF Disability Statistics Training Center (1998-2003), studying housing and congregate living for people with disabilities. He’s been a Co-PI for the PAS Center since 2003, studying caregiver workforce issues, state infrastructure for financial management, and occupational injury for independent providers. He is currently collaborating with the State of California in the evaluation of their PAS family provider waiver program. Dr. Newcomer has authored over 120 articles and book chapters on housing, assisted living, LTC, and PAS. A recent publication was “Living Quarters and Unmet Personal Care Assistance Among Adults with Disabilities,” published in Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.

Other Faculty Members and Staff on the PAS Center

Susan Chapman, Ph.D., RN, Director of the Allied Health Care Workforce Program, UCSF Center for the Health Professions and Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF. Dr. Chapman conducts research for the PAS workforce project and has published over 35 articles, book chapters, and reports in nursing and allied health workforce, workforce research and policy, program development, mental health, and health system administration. Dr. Chapman’s projects include a multi-year effort to develop innovative allied health workforce programs in California, an evaluation of California workforce initiatives focused on nursing and long-term caregivers, and national studies of certified nurse assistants, licensed practical nurses, and home care workers.

Arpita Chattopadhyay, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the School of Medicine, UCSF. Her research interests are in population health and aging, socioeconomic disparities in disability, long-term care and public policy. Currently, Dr. Chattopadhyay is working on a research project to forecast the demand for Medicaid financed long-term care in California and she is also conducting a study to examine the role of Medicaid in mitigating racial and ethnic disparities in long-term care use. Other research includes examining the differential effect of age on cardio-vascular disease among racial and ethnic minority groups, health and cost effects of neighborhood amenities for physical exercise, and access to health care.

Rani Eversley, Ph.D. Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at UCSF. Dr. Eversley works on issues pertaining to minority PAS workers and related issues. She has focused her research on HIV/AIDS with an emphasis on women, minorities, and youth including issues of risk, access to care, mental services, health disparities, and program evaluation. More recently, Dr. Eversley has studied racial and ethnic disparities in breast cancer surgery and access to diagnosis and treatment. She has taught and consulted on projects regarding cultural competency and access to care.

Amy Houtrow, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Medical Director of Pediatric Rehabilitation, UCSF. Dr. Houtrow conducts research on PAS for children. Dr. Houtrow is double-boarded in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Pediatrics and prior to her appointment at UCSF, she was a Resident Physician for Pediatrics and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. In addition to her current clinical duties that include oversight of the Comprehensive Pediatric Rehabilitation and Spina Bifida Programs, Dr. Houtrow conducts health services research on the health care utilization and expenditures of children with disabilities and other special health care needs and is currently examining the impact of childhood disability on families.

Taewoon Kang, Ph.D. Specialist and Statistician, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Institute for Health and Aging, UCSF. Dr. Kang serves as a statistician for the PAS Center projects and has significant experience in survey sampling and analysis. He has performed extensive statistical analyses of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) core, the NHIS Disability Supplement, and NHIS Disability Follow-back Survey, and of formal and informal PAS. He has more recently been studying service utilization and expenditures for individuals with developmental disabilities and examining California’s Medicaid personal care option and waiver.

Joseph T. Mullan, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF. Dr. Mullan studies the needs of caregivers and care receivers in the longitudinal study. Dr. Mullan has methodological expertise in the organization and conduct of complex multi-wave studies; the study of change in individuals under stress; and the development and testing of multivariate models using longitudinal data. He has been involved in studies of the experiences of consumers using PAS; experiences of family and friends caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s or AIDS/HIV; and the measurement of nursing home quality. Previously, as PI or Co PI of two large longitudinal studies of caregivers, he helped to develop a conceptual model of the stress process among caregivers.

Anna M. Nápoles, Ph.D., MPH, Assistant Adjunct Professor, Division of Internal Medicine, UCSF. Dr. Nápoles studies the needs of and supports for aging minority caregivers. She currently teaches courses on clinical research in diverse communities. Her research experience includes culturally appropriate community interventions to promote health, and research on aging assessing the adequacy of health-related measures for use with individuals of low socioeconomic status and those from ethnically diverse populations. Other research interests include health disparities research, recruitment methods for ethnically diverse participants, and the interpersonal processes of care in diverse populations.

Mel Neri. Research Associate, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF. Ms. Neri oversees the administration of academic trainings and technical assistance provided by the PAS Center. Ms. Neri has been working in the disability and health services research field for over ten years and most recently was the Coordinator of a CDC-funded grant to promote the health and well-being of Oregonians with disabilities. Previously she was the Coordinator for the NIDRR-funded Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Spinal Cord Injury and Secondary Conditions where she published articles on access to care for people with physical disabilities.

Teresa Scherzer, PhD, MSW, is Assistant Professor (volunteer) in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF. Her research focuses on the organization of work and healthcare and supportive services work, and the impacts on the well-being of worker and PAS users/clients. She has conducted studies on state and national infrastructure for documenting occupational injury among PAS workers, PAS workers with occupational injuries, the financial management service organizations used by Medicaid PAS programs, and an evaluation of California’s IHSS-Plus Waiver program. She is currently co-PI (Bob Newcomer, PI) on a NIH-funded study of occupational injury prevalence among California IHSS workers.

Terence Ng, M.A.. Research Analyst, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF. Mr. Ng will continue to collect data and conducts analysis of home and community based services. Most recently he has worked on studies of state Medicaid programs where he is tracking personal assistance services, home and community based waivers and home health activities across all states along with state PAS activities and policies. He has co-authored a number of articles on personal care and home and community base waivers.

Alice Wong, MS. Research Associate, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF. Ms. Wong participates in PAS workforce projects for the PAS Center. She previously worked on mental health services and access to health care for people with disabilities. Her current work has been with the Medi-Cal Access Project where she conducted key informant interviews on the subject of Medi-Cal choices for seniors and people with disabilities. Ms. Wong is a member of the San Francisco IHSS Public Authority Governing Body and serves on the UCSF Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Disability Issues, providing the dual perspectives of both a UCSF staff person and an individual with a disability.

Project Consultants

Letha Chadiha, Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Social Work, University of Michigan, serves as a consultant to the PAS Center and studies minority PAS caregivers. She is affiliated with the National Centers on Minority Caregiving and currently uses qualitative data collected from caregivers, elderly persons, and agency providers to plan and implement a stress and health management program for African American caregivers living in metropolitan Detroit. She was PI on a grant focusing on mental health, social functioning, and service use of urban and rural African American caregivers. Dr. Chadiha also developed and implemented an empowerment intervention with an urban sample of African American women caregivers. Other areas of interest include ethnic aging; informal post-hospital home care of African American and White elderly; and family caregiving by African American women.

Martin Kitchener, MBA, Ph.D., Professor of Public Sector Management and Policy, Cardiff Business School, serves as a consultant for the PAS Center and works on the analysis of HCBS and PAS. His research and teaching concentrate on organization theory and public sector management and policy. Between 2000 and 2007, Dr. Kitchener was on faculty at UCSF and directed the HCBS research for the PAS Center. He also taught organizational analysis of healthcare and health policy and conducted research focused on change and performance in the LTC industry. He was the PI on an annual Kaiser Family Foundation study of home care services. Dr. Kitchener has published widely on organization theory, health policy, research methodology, disability, PAS, and HCBS.

Nancy A. Miller, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Public Policy and Affiliate Associate Professor, Intercampus Doctoral Program in Gerontology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, serves as a consultant to the PAS Center and works on the analysis of HCBS and PAS. Dr. Miller has conducted interdisciplinary health policy research on disability and aging issues for the past 20 years. Her research interests are on chronic disease, disability, and long term care, with particular interest in access to care. She has published a number of studies related to states’ provision of community-based care to individuals with disabilities. Dr. Miller also completed an evaluation of the Health Outcomes Survey for CMS and is an active member of the Gerontological Health Section of the American Public Health Association, of which she is the 2007-2009 Chair.

Collaborators

The Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) at Syracuse University

BBI takes its name from Burton Blatt (1927–85), a pioneer in humanizing services for people with mental retardation, a staunch advocate of deinstitutionalization, and a national leader in special education. BBI, located at Syracuse University (SU), strives to become the premier organization to advance civic, economic, and social participation of persons with disabilities in a global society by creating a collaborative environment to foster public-private dialogue, and create the capacity to transform policy, systems, and people through inclusive education, the workforce, and communities.

Michael Morris, JD, CEO, Burton Blatt Institute, is a nationally recognized public policy expert with 25 years of experience advancing the independence, economic and employment status of individuals with disabilities at the local, state, and national levels. He directs the research activities for the PAS Center on the role that tax laws play in the economics and reimbursement of PAS. In 1981, he became the first Joseph P. Kennedy Fellow in Public Policy and worked as legal counsel to the US Senate Subcommittee on the Handicapped and subsequently as counsel to the U.S. Senate Small Business Committee. Mr. Morris worked at the United Cerebral Palsy Association as Director of Government Relations and Community Services, ultimately serving as National Executive Director for 14-years. In 2001, he helped establish the National Disability Institute. Many of his research and policy proposals to improve technology assistance for persons with disabilities have been implemented by Congress.

Steve Mendelsohn, JD, Consultant, BBI, is recognized as the leading tax policy expert for persons with disabilities. He has extensive experience with the role of tax law in he lives of people with disabilities, and is the author of the book Tax Options for Individuals with Disabilities. He contributes his expertise as a consultant to BBI and collects and analyzes data to help address the economics of PAS and the role that tax laws have in affecting reimbursement rates for PAS. Mr. Mendelsohn is currently Co-PI on the NIDRR funded Assets Accumulation and Tax Policy Project and is also working on demonstration projects with BBI to more effectively utilize the tax system to increase employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities, to optimize employer access to the tax incentives for employing people with disabilities, and to enhance asset development available to lower-income Americans with disabilities in the workforce.

Center on Disability at the Public Health Institute

The Center on Disability at PHI is dedicated to improving the lives of people with disabilities through research, training, and technical assistance. The Center’s focus is on disability policy, civil rights, disability law, employment, health issues, independent living, and assistive technology.

Lewis E. Kraus, M.P.H., M.C.P., Deputy Director, Center on Disability at the Public Health Institute, oversees the PAS Center dissemination efforts through maintenance of the website, the writing and distribution of the Center newsletter, and by providing answers to technical assistance questions. Mr. Kraus has directed projects to design a model comprehensive VR statewide needs assessment, led the conceptual development of the dissemination website for the Post Vocational Rehabilitation Experiences Study, and is Deputy Director of the Pacific ADA Center. He has conducted interviews and case study analysis in other VR-related projects for RSA, and has conducted web-based surveys and focus groups of individuals with disabilities. Mr. Kraus developed data collection tools for High School/ High Tech projects nationwide for youth with disabilities. He has experience in all aspects of training, dissemination, and media development regarding PAS and disability.

June Isaacson Kailes, MSW Consultant, assists in the design of the Emergency PAS project, conducts interviews with key informants and people with disabilities, analyzes data, and writes reports. She has personal experience with a disability and is the Associate Director of the Center for Disability Issues and the Health Professions at Western University of Health Sciences. Ms. Kailes has consulted and trained locally, nationally and internationally since 1978, and one of her major areas of expertise is emergency preparedness, including response, recovery and mitigation for and with people with disabilities. As a presidential appointee to the U.S. Access Board (1995 – 2003), she served as its Chair and Vice-Chair, working to maintain accessibility requirements for the built environment, transit vehicles, telecommunications equipment, and electronic and information technology. Ms. Kailes has published “Emergency Evacuation Preparedness: Taking Responsibility for Your Safety - a Guide for People with Disabilities and Other Activity Limitations.”

David Linnard, Ph.D., Programmer, continues to manage the PAS Center's website, including all html and database construction and maintenance. In his previous position, he was responsible for the management of data input from over 5,000 fellowship recipients and 335 institutional coordinators. He programmed the database communication with survey recipients and created systems for transfer of responses to the tracking and data analysis teams. Dr. Linnard was the Software Engineer for the Math Assistive Technology for Adults with Disabilities project, for which he created a coding system.

PHI (formerly the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute)

PHI is a national New York-based non-profit organization committed to improving quality care through creating quality jobs for direct-care workers. Through technical assistance at the employer level, PHI helps providers across the long-term care spectrum to adapt field-tested practices to improve the quality of the care that they provide. A recognized leader in long-term care workforce policy, PHI works with federal agencies, such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the U.S. Department of Labor, to ensure a more stable direct-care workforce. State-based policy and practice experts work with providers, consumers, and worker/labor organizations in a variety of states to ensure quality care. PHI’s on-line National Clearinghouse, www.directcareclearinghouse.org, serves as the primary source of news and analysis for the direct-care workforce field.

Dorie Seavey, Ph.D., Director of Policy Research, PHI, supports PHI’s state policy directors and is responsible for research, analysis, and writing on economic, financial, and policy issues affecting the direct-care workforce and the LTC industry. She directs the PHI research activities for the PAS Center and has primary responsibility for designing, managing, and executing all PHI projects, and for ensuring timely deliverables. Her recent work has addressed topics such as the cost of frontline turnover; strategies for improving wages and benefits for direct-care workers; the intersection of family and paid caregiving; strategies for linking public workforce investment systems with the workforce needs of the LTC industry; and reforming Medicaid payment policies for HCBS. Trained as a labor economist, Dr. Seavey has specialized in workforce development and labor market difficulties for low-income individuals and has conducted research and evaluation on sector employment initiatives and employment brokering programs for low-income and disadvantaged job seekers. She is a former Senior Research Scientist at the Heller School at Brandeis University.

Joseph Angelelli, Ph.D., Pennsylvania State Director, PHI, assists with the implementation of the evaluation component of the PAS Training project. Dr. Angelelli is currently responsible for fostering collaboration and coalition building among direct care workers and their representatives, consumers, employers/providers, researchers, workforce agencies, and government decision-makers. He is helping to facilitate the implementation of recommendations made by the state’s multi-stakeholder Direct Care Workforce Workgroup in 2006-2007. Dr. Angelelli previously served on the faculty at Brown and Penn State where he taught and published on nursing homes and the culture of aging.

Abby Marquand, M.P.H., is PHI’s Policy Research Associate. In that role, she is responsible for research and analysis on policy issues affecting the direct-care workforce as well as the eldercare/disability service industry. She also provides support to the Director of Policy Research. Abby’s previous work experience and education are in the field of aging. Prior to joining PHI, Abby worked on reporting and analysis in New York City, first at the Jewish Association for Services for the Aged, and then at NYC’s Medicaid Homecare Services program. She also spent time at the Mental Health Association of NYC – Geriatric Mental Health Alliance supporting policy research and advocacy work on geriatric mental health issues. Abby earned a master’s in public health from Columbia University, specializing in aging.

Steven Edelstein, JD, National Policy Director, PHI, advises on the design and fielding of survey methods used to gather comprehensive state information for the PAS Wage & Benefit project and assists with the evaluation of PAS Training project. He currently directs PHI’s national policy efforts including research, policy development and advocacy strategy in support of the Quality Care through Quality Jobs agenda. He manages PHI’s technical assistance role supporting state long-term care workforce initiatives through the Direct Service Workforce Resource Center.

Karen Kahn, Ph.D., Director of Communications, PHI, reviews written deliverables and provides editing and design services. She is responsible for ensuring that PHI’s “Quality Care through Quality Jobs” school of thought is widely disseminated among key stakeholder audiences, policymakers, and the general public. Specifically, she oversees PHI’s electronic and print communications, including website development, documentation of best practices, policy analysis, and marketing materials.

Jill Tabbutt-Henry, MPH, Curriculum Writer, PHI, advises on the evaluation report for the PAS Training project. She coordinates PHI’s efforts to develop and prepare for dissemination a variety of teaching materials for direct-care workers and their supervisors. These include an entry-level curriculum for direct-care workers, a peer mentoring curriculum, a training guide for coaching supervision, and related training materials.

Hollis Turnham, JD, Michigan State Director, PHI, conducts the evaluation work for the PAS Worker/Consumer Intermediaries project. Ms. Turnham is responsible for facilitating, supporting, and organizing Michigan’s health care, workforce, welfare-to-work and education public policies to improve the quality of direct care employment and the quality of supports and services in collaboration with worker, employer and consumer organizations, leading a team of three in Michigan.

Research Triangle Institute (RTI)

RTI International is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) research organization dedicated to conducting innovative, multidisciplinary research that improves the human condition. Headquartered in Research Triangle Park, NC, RTI has offices in Washington, DC, Waltham, MA, Chicago, IL, and San Francisco, CA, as well as eight offices abroad. RTI offers innovative research and technical solutions to governments and businesses worldwide in the areas of health and pharmaceuticals, education and training, surveys and statistics, advanced technology, democratic governance, economic and social development, energy, and the environment. RTI has a long history of providing research and analysis for the Department of Education, including NIDRR, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation/Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, AHRQ, AOA, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation.

Joshua M. Wiener, Ph.D., Senior Fellow and Program Director, Aging, Disability and LTC Program, RTI, leads the RTI research team for the analysis of both the Medicaid Home and Community Based Survey and the National Long-Term Care Survey. He is the author or editor of eight books and over 100 articles on LTC, people with disabilities, health care for older people, Medicaid, and health reform. He is involved in studies of Medicaid HCBS including PAS, the LTC workforce, quality assurance for LTC, residential care facilities, and projection and simulation models for LTC. He has directed research on consumer-directed PAS in the United States and abroad; the Medicaid component of the Ticket to Work program; and the older people and younger adults with physical disabilities component of a Medicaid HCBS study that analyzed a survey of Medicaid home care beneficiaries merged with Medicaid claims data. As part of that project, he analyzed satisfaction with agency- and consumer-directed PAS in Washington. Dr. Wiener has performed policy analysis and research for the Urban Institute, the Brookings Institution, the Health Care Financing Administration, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, and the New York State Moreland Act Commission.

Wayne L. Anderson, Ph.D., Senior Health Analyst, Aging, Disability and LTC Program, RTI, focuses his research on LTC financing, organizational, and workforce issues; disability; preventive health services; managed care arrangements; and consumer knowledge. He analyzes the Medicaid Home and Community Based Survey for the PAS Center. He has played leading roles in studies to understand the effects of HCBS program designs on overall Medicaid utilization, costs, and satisfaction; and to assess system-level changes in state LTC systems including initiatives to improve the PAS workforce. He worked with Dr. Wiener on the assessment of the Washington Medicaid PAS program and is currently leading a project to estimate total expenditures attributable to disabilities nationally and by state. Dr. Anderson has analyzed data from the National Nursing Assistant Survey and is experienced in performing sophisticated statistical analyses of large and small data sets, designing and implementing data collection instruments, and conducting qualitative analysis.

Marc P. Freiman, Ph.D., Economist, Aging, Disability and LTC Program, RTI, has over 25 years of experience performing research on disability, LTC, and health. He analyzes the National Long-Term Care Survey for the PAS Center. One of his current areas of interest is assistive technologies for persons with disabilities. He was lead author of a report on government funding of assistive technologies and also authored a report estimating national expenditures for a wide range of PAS, including those not usually accounted for in measures of health care spending. Dr. Freiman was co-director of the 1996 nursing home component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. His responsibilities included supervision of editing survey data, construction of analytical and public use files, and production of data findings. His areas of research in LTC include the financing of LTC, costs of HCBS, and the behavior of nursing homes.

Topeka Independent Living Resource Center (TILRC)

TILRC is a fully accessible Center for Independent Living in Topeka, Kansas, providing personal assistant management services; independent living skills training; advocacy services; housing assistance; communication services; peer counseling; information and referral; durable medical equipment sales and repair; and social and recreational opportunities for people with disabilities. TILRC has the in-house capability to do sign-language interpretation and reproduce materials in Braille, large print, or audiotape. Their roots date back to the 1970s and their mission has been to advocate for justice, equality, and essential services for a fully integrated and accessible society for all people with disabilities. TILRC is staffed and operated by a majority of people with disabilities and assists individuals with disabilities to advocate for themselves for equality, desired services, and changes that meet their individual needs.

Mike Oxford, B.A. Executive Director, Topeka Independent Living Resource Center, is an organizer with and co-founder of American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT). Mr. Oxford is the Consumer Research Director for the PAS Center, leading the effort to link research efforts with PAS users across the country. Mr. Oxford is a PAS user and has been involved personally and professionally with the independent living movement for over 20 years. He serves on the Board of Directors with the Disability Rights Center of Kansas and the Kansas Protection and Advocacy organization. He also served on Board of Directors of the Kansas Association of Centers for Independent Living and the Kansas Statewide Independent Living Counsel. From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Oxford was President of the Governing Board of the National Council on Independent Living and served on the Board for nine years.