The Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities (MCDD) has several special announcements to share, including the announcement of several new team members.
The MCDD is thrilled to welcome Genevieve Hornik, Esq., to the team as a staff attorney for Project HEAL (Health, Education, Advocacy, and Law). Hornik earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a certificate in secondary education from Colorado College. She later earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Baltimore School of Law. Hornik worked as a Project HEAL trainee during the summer of 2017 after her first year of law school. After law school, she served as a judicial law clerk in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County and then worked in private practice before joining the team at Project HEAL.
The MCDD also welcomes David Mervis, Esq. to the team as a staff attorney for Project HEAL. Mervis earned a bachelor’s degree in public policy at Brown University and a Juris Doctor at The University of Texas School of Law. After law school, he clerked for the chief judge of the Court of Special Appeals in Maryland, now known as the Appellate Court of Maryland. Following his clerkship, Mervis worked for more than a decade at the Social Security Administration, providing advice on the agency’s programs and litigating Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) cases in federal court at the district and circuit court levels. Through his work at Project HEAL, he will provide limited and full representation in SSI and SSDI matters, and he will also be available to consult on questions relating to disability benefits.
The MCDD is pleased to welcome Natalie Wang as an independent contractor for Project HEAL. A recent graduate of The Johns Hopkins University, Wang earned her bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and in medicine, science and the humanities in May 2024. During her time at Johns Hopkins, she conducted research on disability justice, focusing on the allocation of scarce healthcare resources. She also worked on initiatives related to menstrual equity, sexual assault advocacy and curricular justice. Wang spent a semester studying public health and Indigenous community empowerment in Arica, Chile, where she volunteered with a doula collective and a pediatric free clinic, deepening her passion for maternal and child health. In addition, she has served as a Spanish-speaking reproductive health educator for youth ages 9 to 26 in both inpatient and outpatient settings throughout Baltimore. Through her work with Project HEAL, Wang aims to further her broader mission of advancing access to justice for those disproportionately impacted by the structural determinants of health.
In July, Kendall Murphy, Esq., staff attorney for Project HEAL, and Kristine Nellenbach, MS, program coordinator for the Resource Finder, joined the MCDD team members supporting the work of The National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality. In these new roles, they will help develop content for the center, including writing articles and blogs and creating infographics. Their contributions will play a key role in advancing the center’s mission to promote equity and intersectionality for people with disabilities. We look forward to seeing their impact in this important work.
In August, Christopher Mason-Hale, BSW, MCDD community advocate, and James Orman, People On the Go (POG) program coordinator, were appointed as co-vice chairs for the Maryland Disabilities Forum. In their new roles, they will support the president of the Maryland Disabilities Forum in organizing events, such as the Gubernatorial Forum in 2022, and will step in to lead in the president’s absence. Congratulations to Mason-Hale and Orman on their appointments and for proudly representing the MCDD.
