Biography

Matthew P. Janicki, Ph.D. is the co-chair of the US National Task Group on Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia Practices, as well as a research associate professor in the Department of Disability and Human Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is also a member of the US federal NAPA Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care, and Services. Previously, he served as director for technical assistance for the former Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Developmental Disabilities and Health at the University, was director for aging and special populations for the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, and spent a year as a Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation's Public Policy Leadership Fellow at the US National Institute on Aging and the United States Senate. He was the principal investigator of several nationally-funded studies that examined how community agencies provide community supports to adults with intellectual disabilities affected by Alzheimer’s disease and how families are aided by community agencies in supporting adults with Down syndrome affected by Alzheimer’s disease, and was also the project director of a NIH-funded effort that provided the World Health Organization with a series of background reports on promoting longevity among adults with intellectual disabilities throughout the world. Currently, he is leading a longitudinal study of specialized group homes designed for dementia-related care of adults with intellectual disability, including Down syndrome. He was the founding editor of the Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities. He is also the editor of numerous books and author of articles on aging, dementia, public policy, and rehabilitation concerning adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (including Dementia, Aging, and Intellectual Disabilities: A Handbook).