Boggs Center Faculty Present at Annual AUCD Conference

Friday, November 18, 2022

Boggs Center faculty contributed their expertise through presentations at the Annual Association for University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) Conference held in Washington, D.C. from November 13-16, 2022.

Deborah M. Spitalnik, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics and Family Medicine and Community Health at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS), Executive Director of The Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities, and Director of New Jersey’s Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (NJLEND) program, presented “Equity in Primary Care: A Patient Centered Medical Home and the Training of Family Medicine Residents.” This conference session focused on a long-standing collaboration between The Boggs Center and Rutgers RWJMS Department of Family Medicine and Community Health to provide primary care to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) within an inclusive Patient-Centered Medical Home and longitudinal training to family medicine residents. Dr. Spitalnik shared results from a qualitative study demonstrating the importance of care coordination in enhancing access and education.

Carrie Coffield, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Rutgers RWJMS, The Boggs Center’s Director of Preservice Training, and NJLEND Training Director, presented “Including Young Adults with Disabilities as Standardized Patients in Practice Visits with Second-Year Medical Students” during a poster symposium focused on training and leadership development. Dr. Coffield’s poster described an educational practice office visit with young adult standardized patients with I/DD accompanied by a caregiver for second year medical students. She shared implementation guidance, student evaluation data, and key takeaways related to this educational experience.