EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:

Guinevere F. Eden, Ph.D., President
Guinevere Eden was born in Germany and holds both American and British citizenships. She received her B.Sc. from University College London, her D.Phil. in Physiology from Oxford University and her postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Eden is currently an associate professor with tenure in the department of Pediatrics with a secondary appointment in the department of Psychology, Georgetown University and an adjunct appointment in the Department of Pediatrics, George Washington University Washington DC.  She directs the Center for the Study of Learning (CSL), funded by the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development and the National Science Foundation.
The CSL’s research focuses on the neural representation of reading and how it may be altered in individuals with learning differences, developmental disorders or altered early sensory experience.  Specifically, Dr. Eden and her colleagues are employing brain imaging technology to visualize how reading pathways of the brain are impacted by instruction (e.g. intervention approaches applied to students with dyslexia), mode of communication (spoken language, Cued Speech and American Sign Language) or writing systems (alphabetic or logographic).  Dr. Eden has attracted over 15 million dollars in federal research grants to support this work.  
Dr. Eden also serves as a Scientific Co-Director of the Science of Learning Center for Visual Language and Visual Learning at Gallaudet University.  The purpose of the center is to gain a greater understanding of the biological, cognitive, linguistic, sociocultural, and pedagogical conditions that influence the acquisition of language and knowledge through the visual modality.   Dr. Eden serves on the boards of several local schools that enroll students challenged by language-based learning differences. She is on the editorial boards of the journals Annals of Dyslexia, Dyslexia, and Human Brain Mapping and has served as a permanent member of a standing NIH Study Section and as an ad-hoc member and chair for NIH special emphasis panels.  Dr. Eden has published over 50 articles and a book related to research into dyslexia and frequently speaks to scientific and lay audiences about reading, learning, learning differences and the brain.  At Georgetown University Dr. Eden teaches students enrolled in the graduate neuroscience program and has served on numerous committees supporting the university’s teaching, research and administrative goals.

Edward J. Wilson, Secretary
Edward J. Wilson is co-founder with his wife, Barbara A. Wilson of Wilson Language Training Corporation in Oxford, Massachusetts.  Edward served as treasurer for the New England IDA and founding treasurer of the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC). He is certified in Wilson Reading System and Production/Inventory Control (CPIM).

Ben Shifrin, M.Ed., Treasurer
Ben Shifrin, M.Ed., is the Head of Jemicy School, an independent day school in Baltimore County, Maryland, for college-bound students who need extensive remediation in reading, written expression, spelling, and/or organization. A dyslexic himself, Mr. Shifrin has dedicated his career to helping students with language-based learning differences.  Prior to coming to Jemicy in 2002, he was a special education administrator for the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Head of Westmark School in Encino, California.

Susan Lowell, M.A., Vice President
Susan C. Lowell, M.A., B.C.E.T., is a member of the Board of Directors of I.D.A. and past President of NC IDA. Ms. Lowell serves as an advisor to the Office of Overseas Schools, U.S. Department of State, where she serves as a reading consultant for the international schools. Ms. Lowell’s course, ‘Teaching Reading in the International School,’ is offered for graduate level credit through Buffalo State S.U.N.Y. in the Masters degree program for international school teachers. Ms. Lowell also trains teachers for ‘Brookes on Location’, using research-based curriculum in phonemic awareness and reading instruction. As the director of Educational Therapy Associates in Chapel Hill, Ms. Lowell works as an educational diagnostician providing evaluations of learning difficulties including dyslexia.  She is also an instructor in the Simmons College graduate program, Language & Literacy.

Louisa Moats, Ed.D., Vice President
A consultant on literacy research and literacy products, Sopris West Educational Services and a researcher, writer, and consultant specializing in professional development and teacher education. Dr. Moats earned her doctorate in reading and human development at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

Carolyn Blackwood, Chair, Branch Council Executive Committee
Carolyn Blackwood currently serves as the Chair of the IDA Branch Council Executive Committee.  She is also past president of the Louisiana Branch of IDA and serves as the Learning Assistance Coordinator, Center for Student Excellence at Southeastern Louisiana University.
 

AT-LARGE DIRECTORS:

Suzanne Carreker, M.S., CALT-QI
Suzanne Carreker, M.S., CALT-QI, is vice president of program development at Neuhaus Education Center in Houston , TX, a non-profit organization that provides professional development to teachers in research-based reading instruction. A past president of the Houston Branch of IDA, she is a frequent speaker at local and national conferences and is the author of several language and literacy curricula. Ms. Carreker serves on the boards of the Academic Language Therapy Association and the Alliance for Accreditation and Certification.

Elizabeth Clark, M.Ed.
An Administrator with Detroit Public Schools since 1969 and has served as a special education teacher, teacher consultant, and placement administrator. She is currently the Supervisor of Special Education. Ms. Clark is a member of the Learning Disabilities Association of America and the Michigan Branch of the Reading Association. She is a member of the IDA Michigan Branch Board of Directors and has been a member of IDA since 1991.

Gad Elbeheri, Ph.D.
Dr. Elbeheri is the Executive Director for the Centre for Child Evaluation & Teaching located in Kuwait.  The CCET is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting individuals with learning disabilities in Kuwait and the rest of the Arab and Gulf region.  He is an applied linguist who's field of interest focuses on the cross-linguistic investigation of specific learning difficulties in Arabic.

R. Malatesha Joshi, Ph.D.
Professor of Reading in the College of Education at Texas A&M University. He is the founding editor of Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Learning Disabilities.

Maureen Lovett, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist in the Brain and Behavior Program of The Hospital for Sick Children (HSC) and a Professor of Pediatrics and Psychology at the University of Toronto. She is Director of the Hospital's Learning Disabilities Research Program (LDRP), a clinical research unit that develops and evaluates research-based remedial programs for children with developmental reading disabilities.

G. Reid Lyon, Ph.D
Dr. G. Reid Lyon, is the founder of Synergistic Education Solutions, specializing in the development and implementation of effective educational initiatives and policies to improve teacher learning and application, evidence-based assessment and instructional strategies, and program evaluation strategies to build accountability for student learning. Dr. Lyon has more than 30 years of experience as a researcher, professor, teacher, school psychologist, and leader in the development of evidence-based education policy at the federal and state levels.  Prior to his most recent position as Executive Vice President for Research and Evaluation at Higher Ed Holdings, Lyon served as a research psychologist and the Chief of the Child Development and Behavior Branch within the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  He was responsible for the direction, development and management of research programs in developmental and cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, behavioral pediatrics, reading development and disabilities, and human learning and learning disorders.

Thomas E. McDonough, M.Ed.
Retired educator and administrator, K-12 and the higher education and retail company human resources specialist for Mast General Stores in North Carolina.  Tom is dyslexic and has been active in IDA since 1996 as a President of the North Carolina Branch and as Southern Regional Representative of the Branch Council Executive Committee since 2002.

Joe Torgesen, Ph.D.
Joseph Torgesen is the Morcom Professor of Psychology and Education at Florida State University and Director Emeritus of the Florida Center for Reading Research.  He also serves as the Director of Reading for the Center on Instruction K-12 in Reading, Math, and Science.  He received his Ph.D. in Developmental and Clinical Psychology from the University of Michigan, and his research has focused on the psychology of reading and interventions for students with reading difficulties.

Rosalie Whitlock, Ph.D.
Dr. Rosalie Whitlock is the Head of Charles Armstrong School, an independent school in Belmont, California, serving students with language-based learning differences, such as dyslexia.  Dr. Whitlock served two years as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for The Children’s Health Council (CHC), a non-profit organization with the mission to make a measurable difference in the lives of children who face developmental and behavioral challenges and remains a member of the CHC executive committee and serves as a board member of Parents Education Network (PEN).  She has also served as the Executive Director of the Accelerated School Project at Stanford University and is an adjunct faculty in special education at Notre Dame de Namur University.  Dr. Whitlock is the parent of two children, one of whom has been diagnosed with dyslexia.

EX-OFFICIO, NON VOTING MEMBER:

Stephen M. Peregoy, IDA Executive Director
Mr. Peregoy holds a Bachelors and Masters degree in Health Science from Towson State University in Maryland, where he continues to teach courses in Public Health Education.  He had been with the American Lung Association of Maryland since 1981, serving as that organization's President and CEO from 1989 to 2008.  He brings an impressive track record of success in fundraising, leadership, financial management, strategic planning, marketing, government affairs and developing collaborative partnerships with like-minded organizations.