Lauren Erickson is the NICHE-Dental Director at the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD). Lauren brings more than 13 years of industry experience in the healthcare and disability fields, working with payers such as Anthem, Inc., and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and serving as a consultant at Berkeley Research Group. Her experience in the disability field includes previously serving at the Director of Policy and Programs at Institute for Exceptional Care (IEC), for Senator Tom Harkin in the United States Senate and with the Iowa Department of Human Services, Division of Mental Health and Disability Services. Lauren received her MPH from the University of Iowa and her BA from the University of Northern Iowa. She has the lived experience of supporting a sibling with IDD.

Dr. David Fray, a graduate of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, (DDS 1979) and Oklahoma City University (MBA 1997) serves as Professor in the Department of General Practice and Dental Public Health at the University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston. He completed a geriatric long-term care administrator preceptorship at the Arkansas Health Center in 1998 and a certificate in Advanced Training in Developmental Dentistry at the Underwood and Lee Specialty Clinic in Louisville, KY affiliated with the University of Louisville School of Dentistry (2012). As a full-time professor at the University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston (UTSD), his current educational initiatives and research are focused on interprofessional curriculum for health professionals to serve persons with disabilities in a person-centered approach. He leads the Interdisciplinary Education rotations in geriatric and intellectual disability electives with UTSD at the Baylor College of Medicine, Adult Transition Medicine Clinic and in the UTSD Fondren Special Patient Clinic.

He is a past President of the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD) and past President of the Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities, affiliated with the Board of the Special Care Dentistry Association (SCDA). Dr. Fray was an owner in private dental practice with an emphasis on adult special needs for 15 years, served as Dental Director in a Federally Qualified Health Center in Rochester NY, and has served an additional 18 years as a public health administrator for State Geriatric and Developmental Disability programs in Arkansas and Hawai’i. His public service consists of: Director of the Arkansas Health Center, Assistant Director of Mental Health Services, Director of theDevelopmental Disabilities Division of the Arkansas Department of Human Services supervising the Arkansas Children’s Medical Services, Arkansas First Steps Early Intervention Program. In the Hawai'i Department of Health for 14 years he led as Chief of the Division of Developmental Disabilities supervising the Hawaii Neurotrauma Services, Medical and Dental Clinical Services, Hospital and Community Dentistry, Home and Community Services and served on State Committees and Boards. He holds board certification from the National Association of Boards in Long-Term Care Administration, holds a master’s level Certified Healthcare Emergency Planner (CHEP certification) and is a licensed nursing home administrator for twenty-six years. He is core faculty of the Leadership Education in Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LoneStar LEND) program at the UT McGovern School of Medicine and holds a faculty appointment of Clinical Professor at the University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine in the Department of Clinical Sciences. He serves as a board member of the Alliance for Oral Health Across Borders.

Dr. Allen Wong has taught postdoctoral general dentistry for over 35 years in AEGD programs (Pacific and University California San Francisco) and was the director of Pacific's Hospital Dentistry Program.  He has lectured nationally and internationally in the areas of special care dentistry, rotary endodontics, implant restorations, and minimally invasive dentistry.  He was active with Special Olympics Special Smiles program (ret. Global Clinical Advisor), Immediate Past President American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD) and Past President Special Care Dentistry Association (SCDA). Past President CAMBRA Coalition (Caries Management By Risk Assessment), Omicron Kappa Upsilon Honor Fraternity (Delta Delta Chapter) Past president. California Dental Association Foundation Board of Director, Secretary.  San Francisco Dental Society Dental Health Committee Chairman. Santa Fe Group, Fellow for IDD. 

Retired from 38 years of teaching with the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry as a Professor in the Department of Diagnostic Sciences.  He directed a postdoctoral residency program (Advanced Education in General Dentistry) where he taught dentists to incorporate minimally invasive, science-based dentistry strategies to patients with healthcare needs as well as those needing treatment in hospital settings.

Recently inducted as a Professor emeritus from the University of the Pacific and honored with Pacific’s Order of the Pacific and the Medallion of Distinction. Recently recruited to be the Dental Department Head for Kramer Davis Health (a transdisciplinary medical/dental center exclusively for adults with IDD) in Nashville, Tennessee and now the IDD Dental Director for Renaissance Dental Insurance, TN