From left, Alexander von Gontard, MD; Gary E. Eddey, MD, vice president and chief medical officer at Matheny; Leopold M.G. Curfs, PhD; Kenneth Robey, PhD, director of the Matheny Institute for Research in Developmental Disabilities.

The Matheny Institute for Research in Developmental Disabilities has as its singular mission research that might enhance the lives of those with severe disabilities, their families and the professionals who work with them. One of its important functions is disseminating research findings by sharing information with other professionals in the field.

Recently Matheny was honored to have two of the most distinguished researchers in the field of developmental and intellectual disabilities visit us: Leopold M. G. Curfs, PhD, professor of intellectual disabilities and director of the Governor Kremers Centre at the Maastricht University Medical Centre in Maastricht, the Netherlands; and Alexander von Gontard, MD, professor, board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist, pediatrician, psychotherapist and chair and head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Saarland University Hospital, Saarbrücken, Germany. Professors Curfs and von Gontard spent a full day at Matheny, meeting with staff, touring the facilities and observing our various programs and activities.

Dr. Curfs has published and presented extensively on medical, behavioral and psychiatric aspects of genetically determined neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. von Gontard is an internationally acclaimed expert on behavioral disorders in childhood incontinence.