The American Association on Health and Disability (AAHD) is proud to announce the launch of our inaugural Research Agenda. This is our North Star for driving forward a disability research agenda that addresses systemic barriers to health inequity. AAHD is committed to bridging our research and policy work to advance a human rights agenda for all people with disabilities. Our research team is led by our Director of Research Dr. Anjali Forber-Pratt, PhD and Associate Director of Research and Knowledge Translation, Dr. Jacob Ditsch, OTD.
Dr. Forber-Pratt previously served as Director of the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living & Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) under the Administration for Community Living (ACL) within the Department of Health & Human Services. She has held professorial positions at Vanderbilt University and the University of Kansas. Her research explores disability identity formation and psychosocial factors influencing inclusion, self-determination, and ableism. She has also been a committed advocate for advancing disability data, supporting inclusion in research, and advancing disability representation. Dr. Forber-Pratt currently serves on the National Institute’s of Health’s Council of Councils Disability Health Research Working Group.
Dr. Ditsch has stewarded a portfolio of projects at AAHD examining health outcomes, knowledge translation, transfer, and utilization. He has coordinated research and outreach initiatives in partnership with the National Institutes of Health All of Us Research Program. He has developed and deployed key surveys related to the experiences of people with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic and implemented pilot programs to support blood clot knowledge translation work and health insurance literacy curricula. His research area particularly focuses on the integration of people with disabilities throughout the research process to ensure their perspectives are captured to better inform research outcomes.
Our research staff are active members of the Disability Health Equity Research Network and serve in various advisory and editorial roles across the national disability research landscape.
We are so excited for the launch of AAHD’s inaugural research plan. This marks a pivotal step toward building a stronger, data-driven foundation for disability health equity, signaling a clear commitment to centering disability in research, policy, and practice—at a time when rigorous research and reliable data are more important than ever to inform decisions, drive accountability, and advance equitable health outcomes. – Dr. Forber-Pratt
We look forward to connecting with researchers who want to build on this work with us. People across the disability community who want to be involved in future participatory research initiatives can join our Research Listserv.
Read AAHD’s 2025-2028 Research Agenda