Dr. Acharya is Director of the Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) Program, an interdisciplinary graduate-level training program to develop leaders to care and advocate for individuals with disability, funded through the Maternal Child Health Bureau. Her research themes are 1) the role of childhood, family and community adversity in the health disparities experienced by individuals with disabilities and 2) the ethics of genetic testing for disability in various contexts. As a physician, Dr. Acharya cares for individuals with developmental disabilities using a lifespan perspective from childhood to adulthood. She is particularly interested in supporting adolescents and young adults with developmental disabilities as they transition to adult-systems of care and beyond.
Education:
MD, Boston University School of Medicine
Residency, University of Chicago Hospitals
AAIDD Participation:
Member of AAIDD since 2015
Co-Chair, Health & Wellness Interest Network, 2015-2021
Conference Presenter, Moderator, and Attendee
Recent Publications:
Associations Between Participation and Mental Health for Vulnerable Youth with Special Healthcare Needs, Iulia Mihaila, Kristin L. Berg, Kruti Acharya; Maternal and Child Health Journal (2021)
Access to assistive technology (AT) information in Spanish on state and territory program websites: United States, 2018. Brian R. Grossman, Angélica M. Martínez Pérez, Ellyn McNamara, Patricia Politano, Regina Meza Jimenez, Kruti Acharya; Disability and Health Journal (2020)
Children with developmental disabilities experience higher levels of adversity. Kristin L. Berg, Chengshi Shiu, Rebecca T. Feinstein, Kruti Acharya, Jonathan MeDrano, Michael E. Msall; Research in Developmental Disabilities (2019)