PWD Awareness Month Speakers

Denise Ford, MS, RD

Denise Ford, MS, RD

Denise Ford is Chief, Patient Relations and Recruitment Services for the NIH Clinical Center and a retired Captain in the US Public Health Service, Commissioned Corps. She is a dietitian, certified project manager and has over 25 years of experience in management and organizational leadership. In addition to her role in the Clinical Center, Denise has been the Business Lead for Project SEARCH NIH since the program’s inception in 2009. Project SEARCH NIH has grown from it’s initial Clinical Center launch with 12 interns in 2009 to include over 60 additional interns and participation across 13 institutes. The positive impact of Project SEARCH NIH is not only on the young adults with disabilities that participate in this program, but also on the NIH employees supporting the training experience for these young people.Denise works with a stellar Project SEARCH team that truly changes lives and makes a difference one person at a time.

David Bruce

David Bruce

David Bruce is the Interpreting Services Coordinator at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and has been working as a certified sign language interpreter in the DC area since 2008. His experience working with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Communities spans back to 2001, including a graduate degree in Counseling from Gallaudet University, and serving in a number of roles within Federal, state, and local government and private interpreting agencies. As the ViceChairperson to the Council on Interpreting in Government (CIG), he works to advocate for the profession of interpreting and for inclusive environments in the workplace.

Theresa Booher

Teresa Booher

Teresa Shea Booher joined the National Institutes of Health, Center for Information Technology (CIT), as a Relationship Manager in February 2011. In January 2016, she accepted a position in the NIH Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) as an IT Specialist where she currently focuses on IT Strategy, Policy and Special Projects in support of the CIO. Recent projects include: serving as the NIH lead on the Integrated Project Team responsible for the re-write of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) IT Strategic Plan and the HHS Federal Information Technology Reform Act (FITARA) Integrated Project Team as well as the NIH FITARA Working Group and Implementation Team.

Between joining NIH in 2011 and January 2016, when she assumed her current role, Teresa was recruited for two detail opportunities. The first began in November 2012, as a member of the OCIO Section 508 Program Team and Special Projects Lead. During this three year detail, Teresa led multiple working groups focused on identifying and prioritizing opportunities to improve accessibility across NIH. In May 2014, Teresa accepted a five-month detail opportunity at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Office of Information Technology (OIT) as an entrepreneur where she focused on facilitating IT solutions to complex problems for the Office of the Chairman (OCH) and the Office of the Managing Director (OMD). In addition to her work as an entrepreneur, Teresa initiated and led a group dedicated to making recommendations on improving the accessibility of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) throughout the Commission. These recommendations were presented to the FCC Chairman for consideration.

In addition to her role in OCIO, Teresa has shared her personal story and experience as a blind professional to raise awareness, create opportunities for discussion, and promote solutions for the blind/low-vision community at NIH. Her work in the disabilities arena began by spearheading an independent blind/low-vision resource sharing group, the 3 Blind Mice. The group consists of blind, low-vision, and sighted members of the NIH community. In the first two years, the group grew from 3 to 80 members and continues to play an active role within NIH holding monthly meetings, awareness events, and serving as a resource and partner to various groups and individuals across NIH.

Teresa has been a featured speaker on Section 508/accessibility to a range of audiences at NIH and across government; including delivering the keynote address at the 2011 NIH Disability Awareness Event, More Than Words and as a featured lightning-round speaker at the 2012 Next Generation of Government Leaders Summit. Since 2012 she has served as an active member of the NIH Disability Engagement Committee and participated on a committee responsible for the redesign of the Jobs@NIH; Job Seekers with Disabilities website. She also served on the Next Generation of Government Advisory Board as an active member in 2013 and 2014.

Teresa has been recognized with various awards including: a 2012 CIT Directors Award, and a 2013 NIH Honor Award for her contributions to the success of the NIH Accessibility Testing Lab. Teresa is the sole recipient of the prestigious 2012 NIH Directors Harvey J. Bullock Award highlighting her efforts for equal opportunity and fairness in the workplace. Most recently, Teresa has been recognized with a 2016 OCIO Director’s Administrative Award of Merit for outstanding service to the NIH Institutes and Centers.

Christopher E. Booher

Christopher E. Booher

Christopher E. Booher holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance from Virginia Tech (2001) and a MBA from Texas State University – San Marcos (2007). Chris joined the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in July of 2008 as a Grants Management Specialist in the NIMH Division of Extramural Activities Grants Management Branch. For the past eight years Chris has worked in this capacity performing the review and administration of Extramural Grant Applications numbering in the millions of dollars of funding each year.

Chris is the Primary NIMH Lead User Serving as the NIMH organizational representative to the NIH Grants Management Lead Users (GMLU) committee. In this role he actively identifies and communicates relative topics of interest concerning all electronic Grants Management Systems and tools used by NIMH Grants Management Staff providing feedback to the GMLU Committee concerning the needs of the NIMH users. In addition, he has consulted and advised the NIH Electronic Research Administration (eRA) staff regarding Section 508 compliance, raising concerns regarding all grants management related electronic modules at NIH by analyzing system problem areas and developing targeted recommendations for improvement.

Chris organized the NIMH Grants Management Branch Change of Recipient Organization Workgroup tasked with the revising the NIMH Standard Operating Procedures for processing Change of Recipient Organization actions. For his work in this capacity he received a National Institute of Mental Health Special Act of Service Award in 2015 and a NIMH Director’s Award for his diligence in re-writing the NIMH site for Change of institutions, including updating policy and links, and revising form letter content in June of 2016.

Chris started his disability advocacy work in 2002 after joining the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) where he served as a Texas Association of Blind Students Board Member; organized conferences and fund raising activities; participated in and spoke at leadership seminars; and performed advocacy/legislative work for the NFB by giving presentations and briefings to Congressmen, Senators and their staff on Capitol Hill regarding the concerns of their blind constituents.

Chris has continued his work in disability advocacy and education since joining the Federal Government in 2008. He is a founding member and co-leader of the 3 Blind Mice an Independent Blind/Low-Visions Resource Sharing Group at NIH, a member of the NIH Disability Engagement Committee (DEC) and former member of the Jobseekers with Disabilities Sub-committee of the NIH Job’s @ NIH Website Committee. He has participated as a presenter and subject matter expert for several NIH events including: “The Blind Truth: Proper Etiquette for Interacting with the Blind and Visually Impaired” sponsored by the National Eye Institute; NIH Training Collaborative Forum: “Enhancing how to develop and deliver training that is Section 508 compliant and accessible for individuals with disabilities that need reasonable accommodations”; and “Diversity in the Workplace: Think Win/Win” a presentation at an NIH Administrative Fellows Program quarterly meeting.

Kathy Mann Koepke, PhD

Kathy Mann Koepke, Ph.D.

Dr. Kathy Mann Koepke began her research interests and advocacy service in disability issues early during her college years, when she trained at the then Learning Disabilities Clinic at Long Island Jewish Hospital. She went on to complete her doctorate and postdoctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience, studying cognitive conditions such as impulsivity, hyperactivity & attention deficit disorders (ADD), Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs), intellectual developmental disabilities (IDD), and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), as well as cognitive dysfunction that can result from medical disorders in childhood (such as Type 1 diabetes, aka juvenile or insulin-dependent diabetes).

Before coming to NIH, she held several faculty appointments, including more than a decade in Neurology, Washington University-St. Louis (WUSTL) School of Medicine where, among other roles, she served in teaching and leadership of the WUSTL Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC). During this time, Dr. Mann Koepke recognized the then emerging internet as an innovative opportunity to reach geographically and socially isolated communities, so she created and lead the first-ever free website and listserv dedicated to providing education and community to all persons interested in and/or living with dementia-impacted persons (i.e., health care professionals and researchers, formal and informal caregivers, and persons with dementia) (“The ALZHEIMER Page” and “ALZHEIMER” listserv). These online grassroots-plus-research advocacy and educational activities won multiple international online education and advocacy awards, were cited in multiple academic and lay texts on dementia, and became a model worldwide for disease-based online support communities.

In 2001, Dr. Mann Koepke joined NIH in NIA’s Behavior & Social Research (BSR) Branch, where she oversaw research on cognitive aging and Alzheimer’s caregiving. In 2003, she moved to NINR as Director of the Neuroscience and Center Grants Programs. She has served NICHD as the Director of the Math & Science Cognition, Reasoning & Learning - Development & Disorders Program since 2008, where she is dedicated to building the nascent research base on math and science cognition, reasoning, and learning, and to providing an evidence base for interventions for individuals with learning disabilities in these areas. Throughout her federal service, Dr. Mann Koepke has served and continues to serve as an active member on numerous federal-wide and NIH committees, many related to disability issues including the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) Emergency Evacuation of People with Physical Disabilities from Buildings Planning Committee, the Interagency Committee on Disability Research (ICDR) and several of its subcommittees, the Interagency Committee on Assistive Technology/Technology (ICAT/T), the Interagency Committee on Medical Rehabilitation, the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research Advisory Board, and the NIH Disability Engagement Committee (EDI-DEC), as well as the Diversity and Inclusion Lead for the NICHD Worklife Enrichment (WE) Committee. She continues to speak on and provide expertise on disability issues to other federal agencies (e.g., Administration on Aging and the National Archives and Records Administration) and has received seven (7) NIH Director Awards and NIH Director Merit Awards, 30+ IC Director awards, and was nominated for the NIH Harvey J. Bullock, Jr. Equal Opportunity Achievement Award (Advancing those with Disability). She founded the NIH ABILITIES group and listserv, an NIH-wide employee group with the mission to foster a welcoming, supportive, and respectful workplace that promotes success for all NIH staff, regardless of ability or disability, and to increase disability-related information exchange within the NIH community.

Throughout her career she has been an active member and served in leadership roles in numerous national and regional organizations that support persons with a wide range of disabilities, including the Alzheimer’s Association (ALZ), National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS), Montgomery County MD Commission on Persons with Disabilities, and the Family Support Telephone Network (FSTN). She created and leads the first-ever solution-focused NMSS support group for persons working with or seeking to return to work with multiple sclerosis symptoms, again setting the standard for work-retention or return-to-work support groups for and by persons with neurologically-based medical conditions.

As a professional with a life-long research focus that includes disability, as well as a past and present caregiver of family members with significant disability, and as a professional with her own disability onset later in life, Dr. Mann Koepke has experienced first-hand the challenges, and values the strengths and the unique perspectives brought to our larger communities and the federal workforce by those with disability.

Maureen Gormley, RN, MPH, PhD

Maureen E. Gormley, RN, MPH, Ph.D.

Over her career at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Gormley has enjoyed working in an environment rich with scientific leaders and clinical experts whose mission is to further discovery in the field of medicine.

Dr. Gormley joined the NINDS as Deputy Director for Management in August 2016. In this capacity, she oversees the institute’s administrative infrastructure and functions, including administrative management, information technology, ethics, financial management, management and policy analysis, and technology transfer. She serves as a strategic partner and advisor to the Institute’s Director and senior leadership.

Prior to joining NINDS, Dr. Gormley had served as Chief Operating Officer of the NIH Clinical Center since 1999. In this role, her responsibilities included oversight of administration, hospital operations, patient support services, planning, communications and outreach, and space/facilities management. Additionally, she was responsible for the development of the Clinical Center's annual operating plan and played an active role in governance, serving as executive secretary to the NIH Advisory Board for Clinical Research.

Dr. Gormley was hired in 1987 as an administrative fellow in the Clinical Center Office of the Director. In the early 1990s, she became involved in the field of organizational quality improvement, specifically its application in the healthcare industry. In 1995, she became Special Assistant to the Director and subsequently advanced to the position of Chief, Administrative Management and Planning. She led the multi-year activation effort for the new Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center. Other major accomplishments include innovations for organization-wide cost containment, improving performance through accountability and employee engagement, and linking strategic planning with quality improvement. She led a school-to-work transition program known as Project SEARCH, which has successfully trained and hired youth with intellectual disabilities into the mainstream NIH workforce. Dr. Gormley earned her doctorate in Human and Organizational Systems in 2014. Her dissertation examined workplace stigma toward employees with intellectual disabilities.


Lightning Round Speakers

John J. Gillon, Jr. JD, MPH, EMMB

John J. Gillon, Jr. JD, MPH, EMMB

John J. Gillon, Jr., J.D., M.P.H., E.M.M.B., is an attorney, ethicist, lecturer and writer. He serves as the designated ethicist on the institutional review board of the NIH/National Heart Lung Blood Institute (since 2013), and has served pro bono on the IRBs of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the American Red Cross/Holland Laboratory since 2002, and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (formerly Walter Reed Army Medical Center) since 2004. Mr. Gillon earned a MPH degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health (now the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) in May 2001. He also holds JD (1980) and BA (1970) degrees from Loyola University of the South (now Loyola of New Orleans). The European Union awarded Mr. Gillon an Erasmus Mundus Fellowship to earn in academic 2006-07 the Erasmus Mundus Master of Bioethics (formerly the European Master in Bioethics) in studies undertaken at Katholieke Universiteit (now KULeuven) Leuven (Belgium), St.Radboud University, Nijmegen (the Netherlands) and Universita Degli Studi Di Padova, Padova (Italy). In his thesis, Emmanuel Levinas’s compromise for peace: Real politik health ethics for nasty little times, he explored the work of the philosopher. In 2005-06, he was Visiting Fellow/Scholar at the University of Virginia Health System Center for Biomedical Ethics (Charlottesville, Virginia). Mr. Gillon previously served pro bono as Adjunct Senior Advisor and member of the Board of Directors of the Special Assistant to the Navy Surgeon General for Research Integrity and Ethics. He has written and lectured on human-subject research issues in the US, the European Union and India. In addition to his qualification by examination to practice before U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Mr. Gillon is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal, Fifth and Eleventh Circuits, and licensed by the courts of the District of Columbia, and those of Colorado, Louisiana and Maryland. He is an active member of the Giles S. Rich American Inn of Court (Intellectual Property) lodged at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and was president of the Government Intellectual Property Law Association. He is retired from nearly 23 years of federal service, the last 14 of which was on the patent side of the United States Patent and Trademark Office where he was a senior attorney in the Office of Petitions. The Association of Trial Lawyers of America brought Mr. Gillon to the Washington area in January 1991 to edit that organization’s national law journal on workplace injury and law. Mr. Gillon has taught pro bono at PCCB since fall 2007.

Phil Cummings

Phil Cummings

I am a US Navy veteran working as a Public Key Infrastructure Engineer on the NIH CIT Identity & Access Management Active Directory Team. I work for 22nd Century Staffing Inc. as a temporary contractor to CSRA. I anticipate transitioning to CSRA on October 2nd. I have more than 40 years of experience in IT, with more than twenty years of experience in internet cryptography. In addition to these skills, I have been an Air National Guardsman, submariner, nuclear reactor operator, broadcast radio engineer, and minister. My dad was a psychiatrist (thanks to a 1962-65 NIMH Fellowship) and my aunt was an executive assistant to the Director of NLM until her retirement. I am also a cancer survivor (almost 10 years!). I am proud to be a contributing member of the NIH community.

PIXEL (short for Positron Imaging X-Ray ELiminator) accompanies me almost all the time. PIXEL is trained in cancer recurrence detection and seizure alerting. He can provide me with 30 to 60 minutes of warning in the event of an impending seizure, and he monitors me for any recurrence of cancer such as I was treated for in 2006/7. As a result of that treatment I minor immunologic considerations, some circulatory issues, and significant neuropathy. This leads to a manageable risk of seizures as a result. With PIXEL's alerting window, I am free to function normally, as long as I am close to him. For recurrence detection, PIXEL reduces my recurrence scan frequency significantly, eliminating significant radiation exposure and accompanying expense.

Rita Das, Ph.D.

Rita Das graduated with MS (Biochemistry) from Calcutta University, West Bengal, India and then she finished her Ph. D. from the same university with specialization in molecular Biology and came to this country as a postdoctoral fellow. Dr. Rita Das began her research career in this country as a visiting Fogarty fellow at NIH/NCI in the year 1987. After few years at NCI she moved to Philadelphia where she served as Research Instructor in Medical college of Pennsylvania and then as Faculty in Department of Neurosurgery at Thomas Jefferson University. She have a broad background in biochemistry/cancer biology, where she studied low and high grade human glioma, published in reputed journals. She successfully administered the glioma research projects at Thomas Jefferson University, (Staffing, research grants, planning research projects, and training medical students for glioma research), collaborated with other researchers, and produced peer reviewed publications from those projects. Her career was interrupted at age 37 by sudden development of severe hearing loss. With this hearing loss she did not stop her active life Dr. Das worked as volunteer with the autistic children for couple of years rendering them company and worked with physically challenged children in Bankbridge elementary, middle, high school for special education to help them more functional in daily life. Then she was appointed as a Special Volunteer in 2013 and a Technical IRTA in 2014, to have an opportunity to re-train as a laboratory biologist and learn newer methods to perform experiments as part of her own and supporting other’s projects. She studied the role of cytokine Lymphotoxin beta, which is produced by cells of the immune system, in activating the alternative nuclear factor-kappaB/RELB transcription factor in head and neck cancers. She determined the mechanism of activation, and showed this pathway and target genes promote cell migration in head and neck cancer cells. This may help explain why these cancers prefer to migrate to lymph nodes and other organs where lymphocytes produce LTbeta. She presented this work at the American Association of Cancer Research, and now in the process of completing a paper on this project. In her work, she use Federal relay and NIH/NIDCD disability captioning accommodation for all lab meetings. She often use lip reading for one to one communication, but she also regularly use UBI DUO for typewritten communication in the lab with coworkers to assist communication. Dr. Das use Cap Tel phone a captioned phone for ordering laboratory supplies and other inside NIH communications.

In last two and half years she worked on the role of LTβ/LTβR signal activation of the alternative NF-kB pathway in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas. She established that the LTβ/LTβR alternative path way is constitutively activated and involves stabilization of NF-kB Inducing Kinase, activation of Inhibitor Kappa B Kinase-α and the processing of p100/RELB into p52/RELB.

Using genetic and pharmacologic inhibitors, she obtained evidence that NIK and downstream NF-kB alternate pathway transcription factor, RELB, contribute to cell migration, a key hallmark of the malignant phenotype and metastasis of HNSCC. Supporting this, Knock down of NIK, or RELB or stimulation with LTβ modulated the expression of metastasis genes MET, SERPINE1, and cell survival gene BIRC3.

NIK is a central regulator of the non-canonical pathway and treatment with a small molecule NIK inhibitor implicated NF-kB function in cell migration of HNSCC. This small molecule NIK inhibitor use, decreased NIK protein in the cytoplasm, and inhibited downstream RELB and p52 in the nucleus by western blot and immunofluorescence microscopy.

As a professional with focus on cancer research for the cause, prevention, and therapeutic approach to this head and neck cancer and at the same time Dr. Das running her life with her own disability which onset later in her life. So Dr. Das has experienced first-hand the challenges, and values the strengths and the unique perspectives brought to our larger communities and federal workforce by those with disability. At the end we all together which I experienced by joining Dr. VanWaes ‘s head and Neck Cancer research a NIH/NIDCD mission which can make a difference to each disabled person’s life with work environment that do not remind of your disability, which bring back a lot of confidence for them to work. Dr. VanWaes took a big challenge accepting as a volunteer in 2013 with this profound hearing loss but this challenge helped me to find my lost way as well as now I feel confident that I can be tell others which I experienced here.

Steven Kaufman

Steven Kaufman

Steven Kaufman is a program support assistant with the Client Services Division (CSD) of the Office of the Director (OD) for the National Institutes of Health. Steven has been with CSD for five years and currently works off-campus in Rockville. Steven is a person who stutters and uses that as a source of inspiration to help reach out to people who have other disabilities. Steven is very active in the National Stuttering Association and serves as the Mid-Atlantic & Central South Regional Chapter Coordinator, and is currently embarking on a very special “bucket list” speaking engagement tour. In his down time, Steven enjoys motivational speaking, exploring Washington DC, traveling, and acting as servant to a very demanding (yet incredibly loving) black cat named Lucky.

Bill McKenna

Bill McKenna

I am 53 years old. I grew up in the Boston area. In college I studied history and religion, but after grad school I started a career as a technical writer and now have 15 years' experience in that field. I joined NIH this year: I work for the NIH Office of Extramural Research, where I write the user documentation for OER's grant-management software system. My wife and I now make our home in Maryland. And though we're far from New England, I remain an avid Red Sox fan -- Baseball is an animating passion for me, all the more so at this time of year. I also love to cook and share elaborate meals with family and friends.

Maximillian Muenke, M.D.

Maximillian Muenke, M.D.

Dr. Max Muenke obtained his undergraduate and M.D. degree from the Free University School of Medicine in Berlin. He then pursued residency training in the Department of Pediatrics of the Christian-Albrecht University in Kiel in his native Germany. Dr. Muenke was awarded a three-year scholarship from the German Research Foundation to work with Dr. Uta Francke in the Human Genetics Department at Yale. Following this research fellowship, he completed training at the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania with Dr. Elaine Zackai in Clinical Genetics and research training as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Associate with Dr. Robert Nussbaum. From 1990-97 he served on the faculty of the Departments of Pediatrics and Human Genetics at Penn where he was awarded tenure in 1996. In 1997 he joined the intramural program of NHGRI at the NIH as the Head of the Human Development Section and since 2000 as Chief of the Medical Genetics Branch. Dr. Muenke has directed Medical Genetics training since 1993 first at CHOP/Penn and since 1997 at NIH. The focus of his research has been on the delineation and identification of the underlying causes of craniofacial anomalies in humans. His lab made seminal discoveries in linking Sonic Hedgehog signaling to normal and abnormal brain development in humans. His group identified several genes important in craniofacial disorders including the most common craniosynostosis syndrome, now termed Muenke syndrome. More recently, his lab has identified susceptibility loci for ADHD, with further research focused on predicting severity, treatment response, and long-term outcome. Dr. Muenke is passionate about training the next generation of leaders in the field of genetics and genomics and he finds the work with families affected by genetic / genomic disorders as one of the most rewarding aspects of his professional career.

Cynthia White

Cynthia White

My name is Cynthia White and I have been a federal employee at the NIH for 5 years. I work as a Correspondence Executive in the OD, Executive Secretariat Department. I have over 15 years of federal government experience working as a contractor at various government institutions.

I am a massage therapist, a Licensed Practical Nurse, and have completed 2 years of college at Howard University towards a bachelor’s degree. I am originally from the Midwest and came to Washington, DC in the 80’s to attend college and made this beautiful city my home. Aside from my full time job, I am also currently serving as President of the Tenant Association of my building and have successfully lead our residents through a purchase and sale agreement, selected new ownership for the building and negotiated a $12 million dollar contract for the renovation and rehabilitation of the building. I have been the President for 2.5 years and have also become an advocate for affordable housing in the District of Columbia and have spoken at many events.

While loving the work we do here in the executive secretariat, I am preparing to embark on my next mission of finding “my place”, within the federal government incorporating my love for health care and patient advocacy. I have allowed my illnesses to derail me for much too long and it’s time to finish my schooling and continue pursuing my dream job.