Protecting the vulnerable,

How an unlikely team kept students with severe and complex disabilities safe and in school

This is not another story about COVID. This is a story about how a group of scientists—including a neuroscientist, virologist, and nephrologist—and school leadership rolled up their sleeves, stepped outside of their comfort zones, and formed an unlikely team that relentlessly navigated a pandemic in real-time to keep some of the most vulnerable students to the virus safe, staff healthy, schools open, and how at times, they were able to stop COVID in its tracks.

COVID WAS LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH FOR PEOPLE WITH INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES (IDD) IN 2020

According to a study in the journal of Disability and Health, COVID was the number one cause of death in individuals with an IDD in 2020.

According to the NIH, a non-vaccinated person with an IDD is four times more likely to contract COVID-19 and eight times more likely to die from the virus than someone without an IDD.

A national designation

In April 2020, as COVID wreaked havoc across the globe, the University of Rochester received a new designation from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It became one of about a dozen Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Centers (IDDRC) in the country. This designation makes the University one of only eight with the “trifecta” of NIH awards related to intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), which includes the established University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (UCEDD), with its focus on training and service; and Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Disabilities (LEND) program, with a focus on education.

This newly minted designation strengthened the long-standing relationship between the Neuroscience community at the University and the Mary Cariola Center that dates back to Tris Smith, PhD, a pioneer in autism research who helped cultivate that connection and build part

Steve Dewhurst, PhD