John G. Reiss PhD -
Chief, Division of Policy and Program Affairs, Institute
for Child Health Policy; and Associate Professor in the Department
of Pediatrics and the Department of Epidemiology and Health
Policy Research at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
Dr. Reiss, who is a Counseling Psychologist by
training, has focused much of his time and effort on facilitating
collaborative action among public and private sector organizations
at the federal, regional, and state and between families and
professionals to improve the organization, financing and delivery
of health care for children and youth with special health care
needs; and to promote full partnership with families
From 1993 – 2003 he directed a series of Maternal and Child
Health Bureau (MCHB)-funded projects which provided training
and technical assistance to Title V CSHCN Program staff and
other key stakeholders through a yearly CSHCN Leadership Training
Institutes, Tri-Regional Meetings, e-mail listservs, and web-based,
video and print materials.
In 1998, Dr. Reiss began his work on the issue of health care
transition as part of the federally funded Center for Policy
and Program Partnerships. The mission of this Center was, in
part, to support implementation of MCHB national “Healthy and
Ready to Work” transition initiative. Currently, Dr. Reiss is
the PI for two health care transition projects: a five-year
NIDRR funded research and training project on the transition
of youth with special health needs from child-centered (pediatric)
to adult-oriented health care; a three year contract from the
Florida Children’s Medical Services Program to develop a Web-based
Health Care Transition training curriculum for CMS nurses and
assess current health care transition practices in the state.
He also was PI on a contract from the Florida Developmental
Disabilities Council to develop the web-based HCT training program
for families and youth, which was completed in September, 2005.
Through the NIDRR grant, Dr. Reiss also moderates a special
interest e-mail discussion group, which has more than 2000 members,
internationally.
Robert W. Gibson PhD
Dr. Gibson brings unique training and experience to the Transition
Initiative at the University of Florida. Dr. Gibson’s is a medical
anthropologist with expertise in qualitative research methods
whose research focus is on western biomedical practice. In addition
to his research training, Dr. Gibson has over 10 years experience
as a college instructor teaching occupational therapy and 20
years of clinical experience as an Occupational Therapist.
Currently, Dr. Gibson is a Research Associate at the Institute
for Child Health Policy where he is Co-PI/project coordinator
for a health care transition research project sponsored by National
Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research and two
health care transition training projects (one funded by Florida’s
Children’s Medical Services Program, and the other supported
by Florida Developmental Disabilities Council). In addition
to overseeing the day to day grant and research operations he
is involved in the development of new grant and training activities
in the area of health care transition. Dr. Gibson also serves
as a co-investigator on a National Institute of Health funded
grant examining ethnic differences in pain response.
Dr. Gibson is interested exploring how the cultural differences
between pediatric and adult-oriented medicine affect the transition
process as well as care and full inclusion of young adults with
disabilities and special health care needs.
Randy Miller, B.F.A.
A member of the team since 1999, Mr. Miller holds a bachelor’s
degree in Fine Arts from the University of Florida and has extensive
experience with video production as well as graphic design,
web development, online training, listserves, streaming media,
and other web-based technologies. Mr. Miller is the coordinator
for all educational media developed by the Transition Team,
including the ongoing Health Care Transition video series, web
sites, and training programs.
Narayan Raum
As our Information Technology Specialist, Narayan provides expertise
in web hosting, graphic design, and programming, as well as
technical support and training. Narayan has experience in many
areas of information technology and graphic design, ranging
from large-scale print design projects, to the implementation
and maintenance of a number of web-based applications and custom
web sites. He has been a member of our team since 2004.
