ADVOCACY AND PUBLIC POLICY COMMITTEE
The Advocacy and Public Policy Committee is charged with advocating on behalf of persons with ADHD and related disorders by influencing national, state, and local public policies. As a committee, we monitor legislation and regulatory agencies as they relate to ADHD, particularly in the justice and educational systems, civil rights, employment and healthcare. The committee is goal-oriented, establishing legislative priorities that we wish to influence, and responding to concerns as they develop.
Jeremy Didier, LSCSW, LMAC, Co-chair
Jeremy Didier, LSCSW, LMAC, ADHD-CCSP, is the immediate past president of CHADD’s board of directors and has more than fifteen years of experience supporting individuals and families affected by ADHD. Grounded in CHADD’s mission of evidence-based information, support, and advocacy, she is the founder and co-coordinator of Kansas City’s CHADD chapter, ADHDKC, twice named CHADD Chapter of the Year. Didier provides assessment, diagnosis, and therapeutic services for adults with ADHD through her private practice, TreehouseADHD, in the Kansas City, Missouri, area. A nationally recognized speaker and contributor to the Washington Post and NBC Nightly News, her professional focus includes the underdiagnosis of ADHD in girls and women, the intersection of ADHD and addiction, and improving outcomes for justice-involved individuals. Diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, she holds a master’s degree in social work from Fordham University and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Kansas. Didier is most proud to be the mother of five children, four of whom are also neurodivergent.
Jane Indergaard, DNP, RN, Co-chair
Jane Indergaard, DNP, RN, is a retired associate professor of nursing and scholar in residence at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. She has more than four decades of clinical nursing practice and thirty-seven years in higher education. Her expertise spans behavioral health nursing and critical care/emergency trauma nursing, as well as research review, evidence-based practice, psychoeducation, and translating research into practical clinical and educational applications. A nationally and internationally recognized speaker, Dr. Indergaard has more than twenty-two years of experience in education, advocacy, and outreach for individuals and families affected by ADHD and is a frequent contributor to Attention magazine. She serves on CHADD’s board of directors, the editorial advisory board for Attention, and as co-chair of the advocacy and public policy committee. She is a co-founder of the award-winning Red River Valley CHADD chapter. Her advocacy and policy work is grounded in nursing, education, governance, and community leadership and informed by global health and education initiatives, with a focus on human-centered, evidence-informed outcomes across the lifespan. Dr. Indergaard’s work is further shaped by her lived experience as a woman diagnosed later in life with ADHD and as a parent, along with her husband, of three children who have ADHD, strengthening her commitment to bridging research, clinical care, and public policy to drive meaningful, sustainable change for individuals and families.
Ingrid Y. Alpern, JD, LLM in Tax, Senior Government Affairs Advisor
Ingrid Alpern practiced tax law in Washington, DC, for many years. Alpern has helped to raised awareness about ADHD and provides support to families coping with ADHD through her long-term work as a volunteer for CHADD and as a Parent to Parent teacher. She also serves on CHADD’s Finance Committee. Alpern brings to CHADD the expertise she developed as a tax attorney in legal research and writing and analysis of complex matters.
Vincent Buttaci, JD
Vincent N. Buttaci, JD, is a member of Buttaci Leardi & Werner LLC, a boutique health law firm with offices in New Jersey and New York. He focuses his practice on representing nonprofit and for-profit behavioral health facilities and health systems in all aspects of care delivery, access, and reimbursement. Additionally, he has nearly twenty-five years of experience representing nonprofit healthcare associations in matters of advocacy, legislative action, and public policy reform. While in law school, Buttaci struggled with undiagnosed adult ADHD and later learned about coping with neurodiversity. His experience spurred him to establish the Wellness in Career Program at The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law, which provides workshops to law students on building self-awareness and addressing time management, stress, and anxiety. He first became involved with CHADD after his daughter’s ADHD diagnosis and is thrilled to join the board of directors to support the organization’s ongoing mission.
Matthew D. Cohen, JD
Matthew Cohen, JD, is a partner in the Chicago special education advocacy law firm of Monahan & Cohen, has worked on behalf of children with disabilities in disputes with public schools and other governmental agencies since 1979. Cohen has represented hundreds of families in IEP meetings, special education due process proceedings, and litigation, and has been involved in a number of important special education cases. He is a former national president of CHADD and is a founding board member of the Council of Parents, Attorneys and Advocates. Cohen lectures throughout the United States on special education topics to parents, advocates and educators. He has authored numerous articles on special education topics and is currently a featured commentator for LDOnline, an online disability news service.
Jeffrey S. Katz, PhD, Senior Clinical Policy Advisor
Jeffrey Katz is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Katz has been involved with CHADD for many years. In addition to the public policy committee, Katz also serves on CHADD’s professional advisory board and is a past member of the board of directors. Katz specializes in the evaluation and treatment of children, adolescents and adults with an emphasis on ADHD, as well as other behavioral and learning issues. Katz frequently attends school meetings, bringing his knowledge of ADHD, learning disabilities, and school-based interventions together with his knowledge of educational regulations to ensure that students receive the support they need. Katz also serves on the Disabilities Advisory Committee of Tidewater Community College, Virginia, sharing his expertise with their office of educational accessibility.
Mary V. Solanto, PhD
Mary Solanto is Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the Hofstra-Northwell School of Medicine, Long Island, NY. She received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She completed an NIMH post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is a former director of the ADHD Center in the Department of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine. In 2017-2018, Dr. Solanto was a Fulbright US Scholar in the Netherlands, where she taught undergraduates and conducted research on the treatment of ADHD in college students. Dr. Solanto’s research on the cognitive and behavioral functioning of children with ADHD, the effects of psychostimulants, and the characteristics of the subtypes of ADHD has been supported by grants from NIMH, NICHD, and NINDS. Dr. Solanto developed a novel cognitive-behavioral intervention to target problems of executive self-management in adults with ADHD, which was the focus of an NIMH-sponsored treatment efficacy study. It was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Dr. Solanto has published scholarly papers and books about ADHD in children and adults. She is a frequent reviewer for professional journals, and has served on study section/grant review panels for NIMH. The manual for therapists, Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Adult ADHD: Targeting Executive Dysfunction, was published by Guilford Press. The program was recognized by CHADD as an Innovative Program of the Year. Dr. Solanto also edited, with Amy Arnsten and Xavier Castellanos, Stimulant Drugs and ADHD: Basic and Clinical Neuroscience. Currently, she is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Attention Disorders, and the ADHD Report.
Dr. Solanto serves on the professional advisory boards of CHADD, National Center for Learning Disabilities, and the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders.
M. Jeffry Spahr, MBA, JD
Jeffry Spahr is an attorney in Norwalk, Connecticut. Spahr is president of the Connecticut Association of Children and Adults with Learning Disabilities. He has been the driving force behind the Connecticut governor's annually declaring an ADHD Awareness Week in the state. He also founded the Association of Parents of Exceptional Children and Siblings to assist parents in his state in coping with the legal and academic challenges they face for their children.
