Web_RI2008

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

david gray

DAVID B. GRAY

Abstract title: Community Receptivity for People with Disabilities: Measures for Use in Assessing and Implementing Change.

Associate Professor, Program in Occupational Therapy at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, Dr. David Gray received a BA in psychology at Lawrence University, a MA in Experimental Psychology from Western Michigan in 1970 and a PhD in Psychology and Behavioral Genetics from the University of Minnesota in 1974.

He worked for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for 13 years, helping to develop the National Center on Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR). He was the Director of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (US Department of Education, a presidential appointment) where he introduced community based research initiatives.

He joined Washington University in 1995 where he has conceptualized, planned, developed, and implemented a novel community based research and service program, the Enabling Mobility Center (EMC). The EMC provides the laboratory to increase understanding of the interventions that can improve the lives of people with disabilities, and it provides opportunities for students to learn research and clinical skills. He served as the US representative for the revision of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for the World Health Organization. He developed the initial plan for the US Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Improve the Health and Wellness of Individuals with Disabilities. He currently serves as the chair of Advisory Board to the Spinal Cord Injuries and Congenital or Acquired Disease Processes Research Program at the University of Missouri. For 10 years Dr. Gray has served on the Board of Paraquad, one of the largest and most active Centers of Independent Living in the United States.