Meet the Board
Andresa De Souza Ph.D., BCBA-D
President
Videsha Marya Ph.D., BCBA-D
Secretary
J. Stephanie Gonzalez Ph.D., BCBA-D
Treasurer
Toni Rose T. Agana Ph.D., BCBA-D
Membership Coordinator
Dr. Andresa De Souza is an assistant professor at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. She received a Master’s in Behavior Analysis and Therapy from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale under the supervision of Dr. Ruth Anne Rehfeldt and a Ph.D. in Applied Behavior Analysis from the University of Nebraska Medical Center under the supervision of Dr. Wayne Fisher. She completed her Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Marcus Autism Center and Emory University in Atlanta, GA. During her studies, Dr. De Souza gained valuable experience in early-intervention applications for children with autism, the assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior, and the autism diagnostic criteria. She has provided supervision for behavior analysts and worked as a consultant for international sites. Dr. De Souza published several peer-reviewed articles on applications of Skinner’s verbal behavior within the framework of an autism diagnosis, and currently serves on the editorial board of The Analysis of Verbal Behavior. Her research focuses on strategies for teaching verbal behavior, the arrangement of conditions that can facilitate the emergence of novel language and decrease restricted stimulus control, and caregiver training. Dr. De Souza earned the 2017 VB-SIG Student Paper Award.
Dr. Videsha Marya is the Director of Practicum and Immersion Experiences and an Adjunct Professor at Endicott College. She received her doctoral degree in ABA from Endicott College under the advisement of Dr. Alice Shillingsburg. Videsha has provided behavior analytic services to children with autism since 2011. Over the course of her professional experience, Videsha has gained national and international experience in the field of behavior analysis. Within the US, she has worked in autism clinics in Oklahoma, Colorado, Houston, and Georgia. She has presented poster and oral presentations at regional and national conferences as well as co-authored several peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. She has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Endicott Academic Excellence Award and research awards through two Special Interest Groups from ABAI. Her research interests include verbal behavior, ethical behavior, international dissemination, and evaluating effective and efficient teaching practices.
Dr. J. Stephanie Gonzalez, PhD, BCBA-D, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavior Analysis at the University of North Texas and director of the Gonzalez Applied Behavior (GAB) Lab. She earned her doctorate in Behavior Analysis from the University of Florida. Her research spans translational and applied behavior analysis, assessment and treatment of recall skills, social validity of behavior analytic services, and the assessment of social interactions. Dr. Gonzalez is committed to rigorous, socially meaningful research and mentoring future behavior analysts. Outside the lab, she enjoys hiking with her family, watercolor, and reading fantasy and mystery books.
Dr. Toni Rose T. Agana is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Munroe-Meyer Institute and Program Coordinator of the Autism Care for Toddlers Clinic within the Integrated Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders. She earned her Ph.D. in Applied Behavior Analysis from Caldwell University and previously completed both pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Agana’s work focuses on bridging clinical practice and research to support the development of play and verbal behavior skills in young autistic children. Her research and clinical work emphasize the integration of developmental and behavioral approaches and the emergence of skills. Her work has been published in flagship journals in applied behavior analysis and recognized through awards and funding support, including the Child Health Research Institute Grant, Sidney W. & Janet R. Bijou Grant from the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis, the Behavioral Development Graduate Student Research Award, and the Department Award for a Thesis in Applied Behavior Analysis.
Janet Sanchez Enriquez Ph.D., BCBA-D
Newsletter Coordinator
Haven Niland Ph.D., BCBA-D
Website Coordinator
Lee Mason Ph.D., BCBA-D
Grant Competition Coordinator
Chrissy Barosky Ph.D., BCBA-D
Professional Awards Coordinator
Dr. Janet Sanchez Enriquez, PhD, BCBA-D attended the University of North Carolina Charlotte as an OSEP scholar working under the mentorship of Dr. Rob Pennington. Her research interests include working alongside vulnerable and diverse populations promoting applied behavior analysis for teaching and learning through research and the development of culturally and linguistically diverse verbal behavior assessments and interventions. She is a founding member and Secretary of the non-profit the Mexican Organization of Practitioners of Applied Behavior Analysis (Organización Mexicana de Practicantes del Análisis Conductual Aplicado, serves on the Board of Directors for the World Behavior Analysis Day Alliance, sits on the Executive Council for the Texas Association of Behavior Analysis and was previously the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division on Autism Developmental Disabilities DEI Student Liaison.
Dr. Haven Niland is an Assistant Professor of Special Education at Texas Tech University and the Burkhart Center for Autism Education and Research. She earned her Ph.D. in Health Services Research with a concentration in Behavior Analysis from The University of North Texas. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Clinical Outcomes and Program Evaluation at the Kennedy Krieger Institute Department of Behavioral Psychology and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She currently serves on the editorial board for The Analysis of Verbal Behavior. Her research interests include the development and evaluation of instructional procedures that facilitate emergent verbal behavior for children with autism spectrum disorder, the use of technology to improve supervision and practice, assessment-based instruction for skill acquisition, and procedural fidelity measurement and improvement.
Lee Mason, BCBA-D, is an Applied Behavior Analyst with the Child Study Center at Cook Children's, and Associate Professor of Medical Education in the Burnett School of Medicine at Texas Christian University. For more than a quarter century, he has worked with people with disabilities in recreational, residential, educational, and clinical settings. Lee was a tenured member of the faculty at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he founded UTSA’s Autism Research Center. His research on language assessment and intervention for children with autism from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds was honored with the President of UTSA’s Distinguished Diversity Award, and his inquiry-based approach to professional development received an Exemplary Program Award from the American Council on Rural Special Education. In addition to serving as the grant coordinator for the VB-SIG, Lee serves as a subject-matter expert for the Behavior Analysis Certification Board and chairs the Theory, Philosophy, and Conceptual Issues SIG of the Association for Behavior Analysis International.
Chrissy Barosky is currently the Chief Clinical Officer at Bierman Autism Centers. Chrissy has been working in the field of ABA as a practicing Behavior Analyst since 2008, and before that in the field of developmental disabilities and education since 2005. Chrissy is also Adjunct Faculty at Simmons University where she teaches masters level courses on verbal behavior and behavior analytic methodologies. Â Chrissy obtained her bachelor's degree from Northeastern University in Human Services, her masters degree from Columbia University in Applied Behavior Analysis and Education, and her Doctorate in Behavior Analysis at Simmons University. Chrissy's research interests are in Verbal Behavior, specifically in early language acquisition and how it ties into joint attention, staff training and its impact on client outcomes, and assent based treatment.
Georgette Morgan Ph.D., BCBA
Research Competition Coordinator
Aarti Thakore Ph.D., BCBA-D
Dissemination Coordinator
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Alex Miklos
Student Group Liason
Dr. Georgette Morgan is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Special Education at the University of Georgia and a doctoral-level Board Certified Behavior Analyst. She earned her B.S. in Inclusive Elementary Education and Sociology from Syracuse University and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Teaching as Applied Behavior Analysis from Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Morgan has over 10 years of experience supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities across school, home, and community-based settings. She has served as a teacher in self-contained and inclusive classrooms, a behavior analyst delivering direct home-based services, a clinical supervisor overseeing behavior technician training, and a director of programs focused on the development of verbal behavior and social skills. Throughout these roles, she has provided supervision, consultation, and caregiver education, with an emphasis on designing individualized supports grounded in behavior analytic principles. Dr. Morgan's research focuses on improving educational outcomes for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities through the strategic science of teaching, verbal behavior, teacher training, and supervision.
Aarti Thakore, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA, IBA has 20 years of experience in psychology, early childhood development, autism, and behavior analysis. She earned her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology in 2004. Driven by a strong commitment to creating thoughtful and compassionate learning experiences for neurodivergent individuals from diverse backgrounds, she pursued a second Master’s in Psychology with a focus in Applied Behavior Analysis from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology in 2011, and completed her Ph.D. in 2016. Her clinical and academic work is rooted in deterministic scientific worldview, and guided by contemporary research across various theories in human and machine learning. Currently, she serves as the Director of Clinical Research at Central Texas Autism Center, leading research projects that bring together clinicians and researchers to advance the practical application of behavioral science. Her work focuses on applying principles of radical behaviorism and the taxonomy of verbal operants outlined by Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior to shape early childhood learning and language development. She is also interested in examining how motivation influences everyday learning in humans, and develop trauma-informed as well as culturally sensitive strategies to prevent behavioral barriers in learning. She serves as an Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Psychology, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Purdue Global. She is also affiliated with University of Nevada, Reno’s Global Institute of Behavior Analysis as a part-time remote Research Mentor in the Department of Psychology, since March 2025. In this role, she mentors graduate students in online programs by guiding their research projects, fostering critical thinking, academic integrity, and strong research skills. In the past, she has served as a guest lecturer in the department of Curriculum and Instruction, Texas State University from Fall 2022 to Fall 2024. In addition to her research and academic work, she continues to provide clinical supervision, consultation, parent training, and professional development. Overall, she enjoys collaborating with interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners to better understand how biological, environmental, cultural, and other variables shape learned behavior. Outside of work, she enjoys visiting museums, taking road trips to national parks, and wildlife excursions with her family.
Alex Miklos is a doctoral student at Simmons University. His research interests include complex verbal behavior: multiple control, jointly controlled responding, autoclitic behavior, and the development of efficacious teaching procedures for learners with language delays based on these concepts. In addition to his scholarship, Alex is a consultant with the PaTTAN Autism Initiative where he provides training and on-site consultation to autistic support and emotional support classrooms in Pennsylvania public schools.