Tamar Heller, Ph.D.
Dr. Heller also directs the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging
with Developmental Disabilities and projects on support interventions for individuals
with disabilities, including the Special Olympics Research Collaborating
Center. Dr. Heller has written more than 150 publications and presented more than
200 papers at major conferences on family support interventions and policies,
self-determination, health promotion, and aging of people with developmental disabilities.
She has coedited two books (Health of Women with Intellectual Disabilities,
Blackwell Publishing, 2002; Older Adults with Developmental Disabilities:
Optimizing Choice and Change, Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 1993) and edited
special issues of Technology and Disability, American Journal on Mental Retardation,
Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, and Family
Relations. She is the president of the board of the Association of University Centers
on Disabilities. In 2005 she was a delegate to the White House Conference on
Aging. As a cofounder of the national Sibling Leadership Network, she is a member
of its steering committee. Her awards include the 2009 Autism Ally for Public Policy
Award of The Arc/The Autism Program of Illinois; the 2008 Lifetime Research
Achievement Award, International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual
Disabilities, Special Interest Group on Aging and Intellectual Disabilities; and
the 2009 Community Partner Award of Community Support Services.