BIOGRAPHY

Tamar Heller, Ph.D.

Title: Professor & Head, Department of Disability and Human Development Director, Institute on Disability and Human Development (UCEDD) Director, Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging with DD
Affiliation: University of Illinois at Chicago

Biography

Tamar Heller, Ph.D., Professor, is Head of the Department of Disability and Human Development, University of Illinois at Chicago. She also directs the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging with Developmental Disabilities, the Advanced Training for Disability and Rehabilitation Scholars program, and projects on support interventions for individuals with disabilities and their families. In addition she is director of the University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities for the State of Illinois. Dr. Heller has written over 125 publications and presented over 200 papers at major conferences on disability policies and interventions. She has co-edited two books (Health of women with disabilities; Older adults with developmental disabilities: Optimizing choice and change) and edited special issues of Technology and Disability, American Journal on Mental Retardation, Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, and Family Relations. Recently she was selected a delegate to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging. Previously, Dr. Heller directed a Family Studies and Services Program, which included an interdisciplinary diagnostic clinic serving nearly 1000 families per year from the inner city, a family support program and studies on lifespan family support. Dr. Heller has served on the boards of the American Association on Mental Retardation, the European Course on Mental Retardation, and the boards of several leading national and international journals on disability issues. She is a delegate to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging.