BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mary Lou Kerwin, Ph.D., BCBA-D

President

Mary Lou Kerwin, Ph.D., BCBA-D is Professor of Psychology as well as the Executive Director of the Center for Behavior Analysis at Rowan University. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental and Counseling Psychology from the University of Notre Dame, and is a licensed psychologist as well as a BCBA-D. Her research interests include pediatric feeding disorders, behavioral treatments for drug addiction, parenting interventions for mothers in drug treatment, and treatments for autism.  (Term Ends: June, 2021)

Sandra R. Gomes, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Past President

Sandra R. Gomes, Ph.D., BCBA-D is an Assistant Director at the Somerset Hills Learning Institute and has worked in the field of autism treatment for over 15 years. She earned her Masters and Doctorate Degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from Caldwell University. Her thesis entitled: Teaching a Generalized Repertoire of Joint Attention Skills to Children with Autism, won the ABAI Autism SIG Student Research Award in 2011 and was recently published in Behavior Modification. She has presented at local, national, and international conferences on teaching joint attending skills to young children with autism. Dr. Gomes has served as an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Applied Behavior Analysis at Caldwell University. Her research interests include joint attending, social skills, food refusal, stimulus control, and sleep interventions.
(Term Ends: June, 2020)

Erin Richard White, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Continuing Education Chair

Erin Richard White, Ph.D., BCBA-D has specialized in working with adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders in employment, educational, community and home settings for 15 years. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and holds both teacher of the handicapped and elementary teacher certifications in New Jersey. Dr. White completed her doctorate and master’s degree in applied behavior analysis from Caldwell University. She has published articles in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and Behavior Analysis in Practice. She regularly serves as a guest review of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. Dr. White has presented at many local and national conferences on a variety of topics including preparing learners for adulthood, assessing and reducing problem behavior, and ethics.
(Term Ends: June, 2020)

Robert LaRue, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Events Chair

Robert LaRue, Ph.D., BCBA-D,  is a Clinical Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University. He earned a dual doctorate in biological and school psychology from Louisiana State University in 2002. He completed his predoctoral internship with the Kennedy Krieger Institute at Johns Hopkins University and a postdoctoral fellowship with the Marcus Institute at Emory University. He currently serves as the Director of Behavioral and Research Services at The Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center, where he supervises several doctoral students and staff providing behavioral consultation to programs within the Center. He has authored articles in peer-reviewed journals, written several book chapters, and presented at national and international conferences. His research interests include the assessment and treatment of maladaptive behavior, staff and teacher training, and behavioral pharmacology.
(Term Ends: June, 2020)

Suzanne Buchanan, Psy.D., BCBA-D

Government Affairs Chair

Suzanne Buchanan, Psy.D., BCBA-D is the Executive Director of Autism New Jersey, a licensed psychologist and Board Certified Behavior Analyst – Doctoral (BCBA-D). She earned a doctorate in clinical psychology from Long Island University and has worked in the autism field for more than twenty years. Dr. Buchanan provides Autism New Jersey with clinical leadership; disseminates information regarding evidence-based intervention to parents, professionals, and the media; and advises public policy efforts from a clinical perspective. Her interests include family resilience, informed decision-making about autism intervention, and contributing to the development and implementation of state policies that impact the autism community and the professionals who support them. She has played a pivotal role in passage and implementation of the autism insurance law, facilitated the creation of a job code for BCBAs recognized by the Department of Education, and advises multiple state departments on the ethical and effective delivery of ABA services. She currently serves as the Government Affairs Chair of the New Jersey Association for Behavior Analysis and is the co-author of Applied Behavior Analysis and Autism: An Introduction and other agency publications. (Term Ends: June, 2021)

Catherine Taylor-Santa, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Membership Chair

Catherine Taylor-Santa, Ph.D., BCBA-D is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, a certified teacher of the handicapped, and a consultant for several public schools in NJ. She has served individuals with developmental disabilities for 23 years in public and private schools, home settings, group homes, and job sites. Dr. Taylor-Santa earned her Ph.D. and master’s degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from Caldwell University. She has presented at local and national conferences and has previously served as the student group liaison to the council for the verbal behavior special interest group (VBSIG). She has won several awards for her master’s thesis which has been published in Behavioral Interventions, as well as an award for her doctoral literature review. Her research interests include perspective taking, problem solving, tacting non-visual stimuli, bi-directional relations, learning history and its effect on skill acquisition, and establishing conditioned reinforcers. She is passionate about promoting public knowledge of ABA and helping to provide continued support to those who ethically practice the science in NJ.
(Term Ends: June, 2021)

SungWoo Kahng, Ph.D., BCBA-D

University Program Liaison

SungWoo Kahng, Ph.D., BCBA-D is an associate professor and Director of Academic Programs in Autism and ABA in the Department of Applied Psychology at Rutgers University. Prior to his current position, he was an associate professor at the University of Missouri (MU) where he was also the chair of the Department of Health Psychology, the Founding Director the MU Graduate Programs in Applied Behavior Analysis, and Director of the Applied Behavioral Intervention Service of the MU Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Prior to moving to MU, he was a faculty member in the Department of Behavioral Psychology and a senior behavior analyst on the Neurobehavioral Unit at the Kennedy Krieger Institute as well as an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Kahng graduated from Kalamazoo College with a bachelor’s of arts in psychology and received his Ph.D. in behavior analysis from the University of Florida. He was an Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis where he also serves on the Board of Editors. Additionally, he is on the Board of Editors for Behavioral Intervention and has served as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous other journals. He is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Dr. Kahng is on the Board of Directors of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board and the Scientific Council of the Organization for Autism Research. Dr. Kahng is the recipient of the 2003 B.F. Skinner New Researcher Award given by Division 25 of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Kahng has co-authored over 70 peer reviewed articles and chapters. The focus of his research and clinical work has been on assessing and treating behaviors exhibited by individuals with developmental disabilities. He is also interested in a broader research agenda, which includes topics related to obesity and aging. Finally, he has mentored numerous undergraduate, master’s level, and predoctoral students as well as post-doctoral fellows.
(Term Ends: June, 2021)

Elena Garcia-Albea, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Representative-At-Large

Elena Garcia-Albea, Ph.D., BCBA-D is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and public school consultant in NJ. Dr. Garcia-Albea earned her Masters and Doctorate degrees in Applied Behavior Analysis from Caldwell University. She has been working with children with disabilities for over 15 years in both private and public schools. Her Master’s thesis, entitled: Using Audio Script Fading and Multiple Exemplar Training to Increase Vocal Interactions in Children with Autism, was recently published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. She has presented at numerous local, national, and international conferences on teaching children with autism language and social skills, such as empathetic behavior. Her clinical and research interests include teaching prosocial behavior, perspective taking, empathy, observational learning, and food refusal. (Term Ends: June, 2020)

Kelly Della Rosa, M.A., BCBA

Representative-At-Large

Kelly Della Rosa, MA, BCBA is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Coordinator of Clinical Services at Alpine Learning Group. She earned her Master’s degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from Caldwell University and has been working with learners with autism since 2008. Kelly specializes in the education and treatment of adolescents and adults on the autism spectrum in educational, employment, and home settings. In her current role, Kelly oversees and provides a variety of clinical services including skill-based and behavioral assessments, school consultation, and parent training to families in focused-behavioral treatment. She is active in research and has published research on stimulus control of problem behavior. She has presented at many local and national conferences on a variety of topics including; assessing and reducing problem behavior, vocational preferences, transitioning to adulthood, and equivalence-based instruction.  (Term Ends: June, 2020) 

Craig Domanski, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Representative-At-Large

Craig Domanski, Ph.D., BCBA-D has been working with individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders using ABA for almost 20 years. He received his undergraduate degree at Rutgers University while working at the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center. Dr. Domanski then went on to receive his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Applied Behavior Analysis at Caldwell University, where his research focused on parent-training and optimizing teaching conditions for learners with ASD.

Dr. Domanski co-founded and has been serving as the Clinical Director of The DATA Group for almost 10 years. The DATA Group is an NJDOE-approved agency for ABA service delivery, focusing primarily on using ABA programming to build skills towards increasing independence in the home and community environments. By implementing programs in learners’ actual natural environments, generalization and maintenance of skills is more likely, and there are more opportunities for training caregivers and
providing support for families where they need it most.

Aside from his work in The DATA Group, Dr. Domanski also currently serves as the Chair for the NJABA Insurance Provider Workgroup, which aims to disseminate information about providing services through health insurance plans to the behavior-analytic community. He is an active member of NJABA, ABAI, and APBA and has served as an adjunct lecturer at Georgian Court University and Kaplan University. Dr.
Domanski places a high value on the importance of promoting the science of ABA to both the behavior-analytic and mainstream communities and will bring that same dedication to the Representative-at-Large position. (Term Ends: June, 2021)

Jack Bowker

Student Representative

Jack Bowker is a second-year Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) graduate student at Rowan University. He is also the father of two boys (9 + 12), a First Sergeant (1SG) in the New Jersey Army National Guard, and a full-time detective.

Jack has been in the military since February 1998 and he started his law enforcement career in February 2001. Jack obtained his BA in Criminal Justice/Public Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University as well as several Master level courses in leadership. As a father, a leader in the Army, and as a detective, Jack wants to expand his ability to help others by increasing socially significant and acceptable behavior through ABA. Jack has an interest in the dissemination and application of ABA throughout all settings.