National Council on Severe Autism

New Jersey Chapter

Leadership Team

Patricia Miller
NJ Chair

  • Pat is a co-founder of Beloved Bath, a local bath and candle company whose mission is to provide meaningful employment to people with autism. She has worked extensively with individuals at all levels of autism/IDD and their families. Pat has been invited to speak in school districts, local chapters, and healthcare settings, acting as an ambassador for those who do not have a voice and educating the community to support the needs of parents. Pat Miller is also the co-founder and director of Be Bold Coaching and Consulting. She has dedicated her career to providing compassion and support for clients and advocating for the special needs/IDD community and their families. Pat is committed to offering a safe space for clients to identify goals and strategies that reduce stress, manage expectations, and lead fulfilling lives.

    As a parent of a 23-year-old son with profound autism, she understands firsthand the challenges that IDD and severe disabilities pose to the entire family, including siblings, grandparents, and extended family members. Over the past 20 years, she has counseled, advocated, and offered support to hundreds of families in the educational, social, and emotional realms, and she understands the day-to-day challenges they face. Her experience and insights assist clients and family members in navigating the complex, high-needs world.

    Previously, Pat worked as the Director of the Cancer Center at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ, and has over 25 years of experience in healthcare administration. In 2016, she received the Healthcare Advocate of the Year award from Hudson Milestones, along with a citation from Hudson County, for her creation and implementation of the Special Needs Ambassador Program at Barnabas Health. This program was established to raise awareness and assist individuals with special needs and their families in navigating the hospital system, removing barriers, and promoting a better patient experience.

    Pat is a certified life coach and holds a master’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology from NYU, as well as a postbaccalaureate certificate in applied behavior analysis from Caldwell University. She has worked in early intervention, developing, coordinating, and implementing individualized instruction and programming in families’ homes to enhance independence and increase learning. In 2006, she was part of a small group of parents that started a school for children with autism ages 3-21 and recently served on the Board of Directors of this school. Pat has been married to her husband, Vince, for 30 years and has 27-year-old twin sons, Vincent and Philip, as well as a 23-year-old son, John, who has profound autism and has been an inspiration and driving force in her life.

Mitchel A. Baum
NJ Co-Chair

  • Mitch has a BS and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He spent much of his early career in leadership roles at major advertising agencies guiding national and international marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 clients. In 2016 Mitch founded the MABStrategic Marketing Group, a boutique marketing strategy consultancy which he now heads.

    Research and analysis conducted by Mitch and his group is routinely used to help guide state agencies and investment plan managers in their efforts to better serve their public. Mitch has presented to the National Association of State Treasurers on more effectively helping disabled individuals and their families take full advantage of ABLE savings programs, and to other groups of national leaders on helping low- and moderate-income families provide for higher education. He is also published on a range of topics related to his research and analysis.

    Mitch is a long-term trustee of the NYC Autism Charter Schools, which provide a quality science-backed education to children with moderate and severe autism from some of NYC’s most economically-challenged neighborhoods. He has served as a strategic consultant for NEXT for Autism and on the Board of Garden Academy, a school for children with autism in East Orange New Jersey. He has also advised major corporations on making their workplace more accommodating to parents of children with severe disabilities.

    Mitch is guided by the belief that every individual deserves the support and opportunity to reach their potential.

Joanne Curcio-Quinones
Legislative Committee

  • As part of her relentless effort to advocate for crisis and residential services for her son, she testified before the New Jersey Legislature’s Women and Children’s Committee on the plight of families of autistic children with severe and challenging behaviors and the need for funding for this. She went on to get the attention of the top level of the Children’s System of Care to whom she made her case about the state’s deficient and limited number of IDD crisis beds as wells as highly specialized campus-based residential options.. Her persistence eventually  led to DCF’s rare contract with an out of state residential provider, the Anderson Center for Autism in Staatsburg, NY, where her son now resides.

    She is currently navigating the process of transitioning to access adult residential and vocational services through DDD.

    Joanne has served for over a decade on her local school district’s Special Education Parent Advisory Group and assisted and coached other parent leaders to establish SEPAGs in their own districts. In addition to her well established real estate business, she currently works as a mentor to parents and caregivers of children with Autism/IDD, behavioral and emotional challenges for the Family Support Organization of Bergen County. Her purpose/goal for is to focus on supporting and advocating legislation to improve housing, crisis and disability rights for adults with profound autism.


Parul Khemka
Legislative Committee

  • Passionate about education and inclusion for ALL children. Actively engaged in serving the larger community as a current Board of Education member. Partners in Policy Making graduate from the Boggs Institute, a program to train the next generation of advocates to impact state level policy changes. COPAA certified (Coalition of Parent Advocates and Attorneys). NJSBA's Special Education Committee member and serving on the legislative committee of Profound Autism NJ Chapter.

    Interested in data analytics and data driven decision making. I am motivated to use my skills to help impact research or a company. I am inspired by both, subject matter and helping a company build a robust analytical system to make decisions. A quick learner and self starter, I am motivated to bring and these skills to any place that I work for. Perseverance and adaptability are also traits that I have developed as I have been actively parenting three neurologically different children.

Yana Mermel
Legislative Committee

  • Her story was widely publicized in a series of media reports not only recounting the horrific actions of the abusers, but also the equally devastating inaction of the state which routinely fails to protect disabled victims, Yana founded the also human movement (www.alsohuman.org), a call to action demanding that individuals with disabilities must once and for all be recognized and treated as human. Far too often the rights of the disabled are not protected, something Yana seeks to change by working with fellow activists and legislators to ensure a dignified and safe future for her daughter and countless others like her. The recent introduction of Sen. Vitale’s package of the group home safety bills, a legislative response to what happened to Yana’s daughter, is an encouraging step forward for disability rights and the also human movement.

Jonah Zimiles
Communications Committee

  • Jonah graduated from the New York University School of Law practiced law for over a dozen years and then served as National Director of Planned Giving and Endowments for the Jewish Federations of North America.

    When Daniel was diagnosed with autism, Jonah left his career and spent seven years as a stay-at-home father. Jonah went back to school at age 50 and received an MBA from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.

    Upon graduation from business school, Jonah, together with his wife, Ellen, founded [words], a nationally-recognized independent bookstore and social enterprise in Maplewood, New Jersey, created to provide employment and vocational training for individuals with autism.

    Jonah has occupied leadership positions and served on several non-profit boards, and currently serves the Chair of the Autism Science Foundation, the Vice President of Spectrum360, an Executive Committee Board Member of LifeTown, and the Treasurer of The True Professional.

Dr. Kathleen Freeman
Clinical Advisor

  • In more recent years, Dr. Freeman has combined her expertise in health care, autism, applied behavior analysis, and special education with her personal experience as a parent of an adult child with autism to focus on improving the quality of life and care of intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD).

    Always an educator, she uses her skills to present at conferences, advocate for legislation and special education parents at IEP meetings. She serves as a subcommittee member in the area of health, wellness, and safety for the NJ Council of Developmental Disabilities (NJCDD) and a NJ Department of Developmental Disabilities (DDD). Dr. Freeman spent over 25+ years in undergraduate nursing education and has also taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, and The College of New Jersey.  Within undergraduate, graduate, and RN-BSN education curricula, she has taught human development, maternal-child health, community health, nursing foundations and theories, and autism. She is certified in Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing and holds a Certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Dr. Freeman and colleagues wrote one of the first articles ever published appearing in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing (2002) on compliance with health procedures for children and adolescents with ASD which was used by the CDC for research protocols.  She is also a contributor to the text Integrated Health Care for People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (2016), a reviewer as an autism expert for Journal of Pediatric Nursing, and member of the leadership team for the National Council on Severe Autism.  Her unique combination of knowledge stemming from healthcare, research, applied behavior analysis, special education, personal experience as a parent and roles in her community including as a board of education member, provides a wealth of knowledge to share, advise, mentor, and advocate. 

    Dr. Freeman received her BSN from the University of Pennsylvania, MS in maternal-child health nursing from the University of Delaware, a PhD from the University of Maryland, and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Applied Behavior Analysis from Rowan University.