Philip W. Davidson, Ph.D.
Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Rochester, NY

Philip W. Davidson is Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He is director of the Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities (a University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research and Service), a position that he has held since 1975.

Dr. Davidson received his doctorate in experimental psychology from the George Washington University in 1970. Between 1970 and 1973 he was Assistant Professor of Psychology at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. After a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Pediatric Psychology at the Division for Disorders of Development and Learning at the University of Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1973-1974, Dr. Davidson worked for two years at the Monroe Developmental Center in Rochester, New York before joining the faculty of the University of Rochester.

Dr. Davidson's research reflects an interest in lifespan and aging effects on health and mental health outcomes in persons with developmental disabilities. For the past 14 years, he has been a senior investigator on the Seychelles Child Development Study examining the developmental neurotoxicity of methylmercury. He has 83 peer-reviewed publications and 53 book chapters and is the editor or co-editor of two books. He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, the American Journal on Mental Retardation, and the International Review of Research in Mental Retardation, and was Associate Editor of Applied Research in Mental Retardation.

Dr. Davidson has served as President of the Psychology Division of the American Association on Mental Retardation. He was Secretary-Treasurer of APA Division 12, Section 5 (the Society of Pediatric Psychology), and held the same office on the American Association of University Affiliated Programs. Currently he is President of Division 33 (Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities) of the American Psychological Association. In 1988, he served as Chairperson of the American Association on Mental Retardation Task Force on Aversive Therapy. He is a member of the Society of Pediatric Research.

Gary J. Myers, Ph.D.
Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics
University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY

Dr. Myers is professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York. He trained in both subspecialties at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts and later trained in Neonatology at the University of Rochester. For the past 30 years he has been actively involved in the practice of clinical Pediatric Neurology. He is engaged in teaching medical students and residents training in both Pediatrics and Neurology. He is also the medical director of the follow up clinic for high risk neonates who have been in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

In the 1970's he became involved in studying the methyl mercury (MeHg) poisoning in Iraq. He and his colleague, Dr. David Marsh, traveled to Iraq on multiple occasions to examine children who were in utero at the time of the poisoning. This led to a long standing interest in environmental toxins and the present study in the Republic of Seychelles testing the hypothesis that mothers who expose their fetus to MeHg during pregnancy by fish consumption may adversely affect their children's neurodevelopment. He examined all of the children in Seychelles for the pilot study and lived in Seychelles for a year to enroll the main study children. Dr. Myers has authored a number of scientific papers related to pediatric neurology and neurotoxicology.