About IDD@Stanford
IDD@Stanford was founded in 2023. Dr. Holly Tabor had collaborated on several community engagement research projects with people with IDD and their families, caregivers, and allies. She noticed that there were several teams and individuals at Stanford that were conducting research, providing services, and/or working with the IDD community, however, there was seldom any communication between these wonderful groups. Dr. Tabor, along Sydney Walls, a research associate with a sibling with IDD, and other IDD and Stanford community members, collaborated to create IDD@Stanford, a community where Stanford students, staff, and faculty and Bay Area IDD community members could connect and collaborate. IDD@Stanford has hosted quarterly IDD brunches, created a website to highlight the IDD voices and work at Stanford and in the community, and developed a listserv platform for communicating new opportunities and news within the IDD community. We hope to continue to grow IDD@Stanford and create more connections between Stanford students, staff, and faculty and the IDD community! IDD@Stanford was started with support from the Stanford Office of Community Engagement.
Our Vision
- To develop a community of Stanford students, faculty, and staff and the IDD community (either locally or nationally)
- To create a community hub that highlights the following:
- Who at Stanford is involved in the IDD space
- Voices of people with IDD (and their loved ones) in our region
- Elevate the good that is being done in the IDD space (both at Stanford and beyond)
- Identify areas of neglect in the IDD space (both at Stanford and beyond)
- Showcase opportunities to get involved in the IDD community
- To create opportunities for our community to engage with one another and with other great communities
- Quarterly IDD brunches
- Monthly Newsletters
- Quarterly field trips
- Annual Symposia
Who is IDD@Stanford?
Director of IDD@Stanford
Holly Tabor, PhD, is the Director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. She is Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, and by Courtesy of Pediatrics and Epidemiology and Population Health. She is also Co-Chair of the Ethics Committees at Stanford Hospital and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. She is a globally recognized expert on the ethical issues surrounding health care and research for patients with disabilities, especially intellectual and developmental disability, and on the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) in genetics. Her research has shed light on the benefits and risks of participating in genomic research, particularly of rare and undiagnosed diseases. She is Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Bioethical Empirical Research.
Program Manager of IDD@Stanford
Sydney Walls is a Research Coordinator at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. She received her BA in Anthropology from Stanford University and her Master in Public Health from the University of Kansas Medical Center. Her research interests are centered around public health and intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) as she is a sibling to her autistic brother who has high support needs. She is currently a committee member on the Disability Section for the American Public Health Association and is a council member for The Arc's National Sibling Council. Prior to working at SCBE, she worked for the Association of University Centers on Disability as both a Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) Trainee and as a research staff member for the Kansas LEND Program. She worked on projects that improved medical education on IDD for medical students and family medicine residents, innovated mental health care for autistic teens, and developed a state recognized certification program on developmental disabilities.