Emily Shea Tanis, PhD
Emily Shea Tanis, PhD, is the Acting Executive Director of the Coleman Institute and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. The Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disability works to catalyze and integrate advances in technology that promote the quality of life of people with cognitive disabilities and their families. Cognitive disabilities include; intellectual disability (ID), Alzheimer’s, brain injury, stroke, and serious, persistent mental illness. She also serves as the Co-Principle Investigator for the State of the States in Developmental Disabilities Project of National Significance funded by the Administration on Intellectual and developmental Disabilities, which investigates the determinants of public spending for intellectual and developmental disability services. Dr. Tanis has been a co-author on The State of the States in Developmental Disabilities Monograph since 2011. She has published articles and investigated the definition of intellectual disability, the construct of self-determination, the cultural impact of technologies and cognitive accessibility for people with cognitive disabilities, supports for families of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and supported and competitive integrated employment.