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Liz Perkins Receives Service to the Association Award from the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Each year, the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) honors select individuals, organizations, or media who have made outstanding contributions to the field.  CFS Associate Research Professor and FCIC Associate Director Elizabeth Perkins, PhD has been awarded the Service to the Association Award.

AAIDD was founded in 1876 and is the oldest and largest interdisciplinary membership organization of professionals and others concerned about intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Dr. Perkins has been a highly active member of AAIDD for nearly 20 years. Her first major role came through her volunteering to reactivate AAIDD’s Gerontology Division, and subsequently leading it from 2008-2012. From 2012-2020, she was elected to AAIDD’s national board of Director’s. She served four years as member-at-large, and four on the executive leader track – serving as Vice President, President-Elect, the 142nd President during 2018-2019, and Immediate Past President in 2019-2020. In addition to these major roles, she has chaired several committees, including the National Conference Planning Committee, Conference Local Arrangements Committee, Nominations and Elections Committee, and the Aging and End of Life Task Force. She has also served on numerous other ad-hoc committees. Dr. Perkins has also served as a symposium organizer, conference abstract reviewer, and a presentation moderator for many AAIDD conferences over the years.
 
Dr. Perkins has also provided substantial service to AAIDD’s journals and has served as a reviewer for all three of AAIDD’s journals. In addition, she is currently a Consulting Editor for AAIDD’s journal Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and also serves on the editorial board of Inclusion. She was also Guest Co-Editor for the Special Issue on Aging and End-of-Life for the American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.  Dr. Perkins also served on the International Advisory Committee for the 12th Edition of AAIDD’s manual -  Intellectual Disability: Definition, Diagnosis, Classification, and Systems of Supports.
 
“This is a wonderful surprise! It does seem odd to have an award for service, when such service was always a pleasure to do!,” said Dr. Perkins. “ I can honestly say that the gifts of friendship, professional growth and leadership opportunities, networking, and knowledge I gained through my service with AAIDD – was far more than I ever gave.”

Awardees will be honored at the 147th AAIDD Annual Meeting to be held June 5-7, 2023 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.