STAFF

Holly O’Donnell – CEO

Holly O’Donnell  joins the Bazelon Center from America SCORES, a national youth development organization operating in urban public schools, where she served as the National Executive Director. Prior to America SCORES, O’Donnell served as the first leader of the After School Department for Pittsburgh Public Schools, overseeing all after school and mentoring programs and partnerships. Before that, she was Director of Career Learning at the Jewish Healthcare Foundation in Pittsburgh, PA, where she helped launch the organization’s Center for Career Learning, a national K-12 career education reform effort.

As Executive Director of DC SCORES, one of DC’s largest after school programs for 700 public school children, O’Donnell was honored by President George W. Bush for “Outstanding Service-Learning Opportunities,” the Washington Business Journal for “Exceptional Involvement of Corporate Volunteers,” Meyer Foundation for “Innovative Fundraising by an Executive Director,” and the DC Public Schools and Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers as a “Community Based Organization Partner of the Year.” Previous to DC SCORES, she was a Presidential Appointee to the Department of Education’s White House America Reads Challenge under President Clinton.

Holly’s commitment to the mission of the Bazelon Center is deeply personal.  Her lifelong advocacy for people with disabilities is inspired by her brother Brendan who has an intellectual disability. Her parents worked tirelessly and creatively to give him the same opportunities as Holly and other children. As often as possible, Brendan was taught in the same setting as his non-disabled peers.  He received a high school diploma, served in AmeriCorps, and completed coursework at Bunker Hill Community College. Following the early deaths of their parents, Holly and Brendan became a co-dependent sibling team supporting each other.  Brendan lives an independent, fulfilling, and fun life in Boston, his favorite city.  On March 23, 1999, then-Senator John Kerry delivered a speech on the Senate Floor that Brendan wrote describing what it’s like to have a learning disability.  Download Storm in My Mind (PDF).

O’Donnell received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University. She is a native Washingtonian and currently resides in the city with her husband and daughter.

LEGAL

Megan Schuller – Legal Director

Megan Schuller joins the Bazelon Center as Legal Director.  She spent over a decade at the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) working on disability rights, reforming public service systems, and other important litigation. The majority of her work challenged discrimination against people with mental disabilities. She negotiated landmark agreements with state and local governments and large corporations. She served on White House panels and interagency working groups that addressed a wide array of civil rights issues. She received numerous DOJ awards for her work.

Schuller has also served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia and worked at an international law firm with a robust civil rights practice, where she first found her means for fighting injustice. She has a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.  She lives in Washington, DC with her spouse and two children, who remind her daily to keep fighting for the world to be more fair.

IRA BURNIM – Senior Counsel

Ira A. Burnim is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, who joined the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law legal staff in 1988 and became the legal director in 1989. Formerly, Burnim served as legal director of the Children’s Defense Fund, senior attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center, and law clerk to the Hon. Frank M. Johnson, Jr.

He is recognized for his expertise in policy and legal issues related to the Americans with Disabilities Act, community mental health care, Medicaid, and children’s issues. He consults with federal agencies, state policy makers, and advocates. Burnim has served on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland,  Disability Rights Maryland, and the Disability Rights Bar Association, and been a member of the American Bar Association Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law. He is currently on the board of National Coalition for Child Protection Reform.  On missions with Mental Disability Rights International, Burnim has helped to investigate human rights abuses in psychiatric facilities and also provided training and technical assistance to advocates and policy makers in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Albania, Romania, Ukraine, and Japan.

ANASHUA DUTTA – Staff Attorney

Anashua Dutta joined the Bazelon Center as the David and Mickey Bazelon Fellow in 2022. Following her two year fellowship, Anashua became a Staff Attorney. Anashua graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 2022. During law school, Anashua participated in Lawyers in Balance, a mindfulness program for law students, and led mindfulness and meditation sessions for first years. She was a student attorney with the Center for Applied Legal Studies, where she successfully represented an individual seeking asylum during their proceedings in immigration court. She also interned at Democracy Forward and the Immigrant and Employee Rights and Disability Rights Sections of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice and was a research assistant for Georgetown University Law Center’s Human Rights Institute.

Before law school, Anashua pursued her passion for human rights through her work for Amnesty International USA. While there, she supported the organization’s campaigns for refugee rights and human rights defenders. A double Georgetown grad, Anashua graduated with honors from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

MONICA PORTER GILBERT – Policy & Legal Advocacy Attorney

Monica Porter Gilbert joined the Bazelon Center in 2022 as the Policy & Legal Advocacy Attorney, bringing experience working with communities on disability rights, housing and homelessness, and access to justice.

Monica’s previous work includes advocating with and on behalf of higher education students with mental health disabilities at Disability Rights Advocates, including issues related to leaves of absence, reasonable accommodations, and access to education and housing. At Homebase: The Center for Common Concerns, Monica worked with communities to increase capacity to end homelessness, including responding to COVID-19, increasing Census 2020 participation, and building cross-sector work through the Criminal Legal System Initiative.

Monica holds a J.D. from The George Washington University Law School, and a B.A. in Social Welfare from U.C. Berkeley. During law school, Monica worked with the Disability Rights Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, Bay Area Legal Aid, Legal Aid Society– Employment Law Center, GW Law Public Justice Advocacy Clinic, and clerked for the Honorable Cynthia McKnight at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Monica is also a proud AmeriCorps Alum, having launched her career in public service as a Bay Area JusticeCorps Fellow.

ROSS LAYTON – Equal Justice Works Fellow

Ross Layton is an Equal Justice Works Fellow, sponsored by Johnson & Johnson and Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP. His advocacy serves students with mental health disabilities in higher education, advancing their rights to freedom from discrimination at public universities and community colleges.

Ross received his J.D. from Washington University School of Law, also earning a Certificate in Public Interest Law and the Equal Justice Works Award for commitment to pro bono and public service. During law school, he interned with the Disability Rights Legal Center, ArchCity Defenders, and the Missouri State Public Defender. He also participated in the University’s Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic and worked on the Washington University Law Review.

Before law school, Ross was an AmeriCorps Fellow with ArtistYear, expanding access to creative writing education for K–12 students at systemically underserved public schools. He holds a B.A. in English Literature from Swarthmore College.

REBECCA RAFTERY – Equal Justice Works Fellow

Rebecca Raftery is an Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by Latham & Watkins. Through her fellowship project, Rebecca advocates for D.C. students with behavior-related disabilities who have been excluded from the classroom, seeking to secure access to education in the most integrated setting appropriate.

Prior to joining the Bazelon Center, Rebecca served as a law clerk to the Honorable Roy W. McLeese III of the D.C. Court of Appeals. Before clerking, Rebecca completed a one-year fellowship with the Education Law Center, where she represented students and families in school discipline and special education cases in Newark, New Jersey.

Rebecca received her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2021. While in law school, she served as a student attorney with the Tenant Advocacy Project and the Education Law Clinic. She also interned at the Disability Law Center, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and the League of Women Voters.

Rebecca began her career as a high school special education teacher in New Bedford, Massachusetts, which sparked her passion for and commitment to disability rights. She holds an A.B. in Psychology and Educational Studies from Washington University in St. Louis and an M.Ed. from Boston University.

CLAIRE SHENNAN – David & Mickey Bazelon Fellow

Claire Shennan is the David and Mickey Bazelon Fellow. Claire is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, where she was a Blume Public Interest Scholar. During law school, Claire explored her passion for civil rights, health law, and gender justice while working with Pregnancy Justice, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the National Women’s Law Center. She also litigated civil and constitutional rights matters as a student attorney in the Civil Rights Clinic and the Appellate Courts Immersion Clinic, served as a Notes Editor on the Georgetown Law Journal, and was a research assistant for Professor Naomi Mezey.

Prior to law school, Claire discovered an interest in legal advocacy and public interest law at the Center for Reproductive Rights and a plaintiff-side employment law firm. She holds a Master of Philosophy with distinction in History from the University of Cambridge, where her dissertation centered on involuntary sterilization of federal and state aid recipients, and a B.A. in History from Brown University.

EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

KATHY CHAMBERLAIN – Deputy Director of Development & Special Projects

Kathy Chamberlain is the Deputy Director of Development & Special Projects for the Bazelon Center, using her background in organization development, knowledge management, and communications to promote and connect the work of the Bazelon Center to funders, donors, and the public.

Before joining the Bazelon Center, Kathy was a communications and organizational strategy consultant and mentor to nonprofits, social enterprises, and small businesses. She was also a communications and data specialist at the Social Innovation Fund of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and spent nine years at Mental Health America (MHA), first as the manager of its public awareness initiative, Campaign for America’s Mental Health, and then as the Director of Affiliate Services, providing peer networking opportunities, organizational capacity trainings and technical assistance for its more than 200 member non-profit organizations. Her years at MHA kindled her passion and commitment to furthering the goals of the mental health movement.

A long-time Northern Virginia resident, Kathy graduated with a BA in Liberal Studies from American University and an MS in Organization Development and Knowledge Management from George Mason University. She is a member of the Chesapeake Bay Organization Development Network and was the managing director of the volunteer organization, UnSectored, which facilitated online and offline conversations, training and experiences related to social innovation and social enterprise.

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