In her roles as National Director of AAI Advancement for Pet Partners and Executive Director of the Association of Animal-Assisted Intervention Professionals, Taylor Chastain Griffin, Ph.D. focuses on supporting research and professional development within the therapy animal arena. Having witnessed hundreds of interactions between her own therapy animals and the people with whom they’ve visited, she is passionate about bolstering the intervention with empirical investigation. She obtained her doctorate in research psychology in 2018, with her studies focusing on the human-animal bond as it is experienced in contexts of shared traumatic experiences. Through her undergraduate education in psychology and animal behavior to her graduate work to become a mental health counselor, she has always strived to shape her educational and professional endeavors with the foundational goal of promoting AAI. She is also a published author, dog trainer, speaker, and Pet Partners team evaluator.

Tiffany Fleming is the Acting Director of the Enforcement Support Division in HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, here in Washington, DC. Tiffany joined HUD in 2002, and has spent her entire 22 year career pursuing fair housing equality. Tiffany and her team are responsible for supporting HUD’s regional staff with housing discrimination complaint investigations, and working with housing providers and everyday citizens nationwide to ensure the enforcement of the Fair Housing Act.

James Glenn has been in the social service sector for over 30 years. He is currently the Associate Administrator and Business Strategist at University Health Behavioral Health, a community mental health center uniquely embedded in a “Trauma One” safety net hospital, located in heart of Kansas City MO. He has been in this role since 2016, and prior to UHBH, James was the founder and former Executive Director of Kim Wilson Housing, which provided housing opportunities for chronically homeless persons with mental illness and substance use disorders. Before that, he served as the first Senior Vice President of Housing and Community Services at the Mental Health Association of the Heartland, where he launched the Heartland Housing Initiative, his inaugural consultation service teaching non-profits how to build housing for their clients while also financially stabilizing their organization.

Academically, James was named a Senior Fellow in 2015 with the Cookingham Institute of Urban Affairs and has authored publications such as “Policing Persons with Mental Illness” and multiple articles on the social impact of supportive housing.

James is also the Founder, Principal, and Lead Consultant of Glenn & Company, LLC, which offers executive coaching, leadership development, and business consultation to socially conscious businesses and non-profits. Since 2015, their mission to promote the entrepreneurial mindset of “doing good, making money, and helping others do the same.”

James’ proudest accomplishments to date, however, are his two children, Colin & Christopher, both of whom bring him inspiration and hope for a better future.

Lynn Grosso is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement in HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. She joined HUD in 2000 following civil rights work in the public and non-profit sectors, specializing in disability housing rights. Lynn leads HUD’s national fair housing enforcement efforts to eliminate racial segregation, dismantle barriers to accessibility, and advance civil rights in the nation’s limited supply of affordable housing.

Zenithson Ng is a clinical associate professor of small animal primary care at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. He received his DVM from Cornell University; then completed an internship at the ASPCA, and an ABVP canine/feline residency at Virginia Tech. His clinical interests include behavior, dentistry, preventive medicine, and management of chronic disease. His research and teaching interests span all aspects of the human-animal bond, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and veterinary education.

In addition to his role in teaching veterinary students at UTCVM, he is the veterinary advisor for the Human-Animal Bond in Tennessee (HABIT) program, the animal-assisted intervention program of the University of Tennessee. HABIT sponsors programs that foster pet visitation to nursing homes, assisted-living residences, retirement centers, mental health centers, residences for children with special needs, rehabilitation facilities, hospital settings, and other facilities. HABIT also offers resources such as trained volunteers, medically and behaviorally screened animals, and guidance regarding pet visitation, program development, and evaluation. The program is comprised of more than 500 volunteers at facilities throughout east Tennessee.

To date, Dr. Ng has published over 45 peer-reviewed articles, much of which pertains to the impact of human-animal interactions on the wellbeing of people and the health and welfare of the animals. In addition, Dr. Ng has published eight books or book chapters pertaining to human-animal interactions.

Claudia Tenney was first elected to serve as a member of the United States House of Representatives on November 8, 2016, after winning one of the most expensive races in the nation. As a freshman member of the 115th Congress, she served on the House Financial Services Committee. She currently serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee.

Claudia was elected to the House of Representatives for a second time in November 2020 in what was yet again among the most expensive and competitive congressional races in the country.

Prior to her election in November 2016, Claudia served as a member of the New York State Assembly. She was first elected to the Assembly on November 2, 2010.

Claudia is an accomplished attorney and longtime small business owner. Claudia was the co-owner and legal counsel to Mid-York Press, Inc., a commercial printing and manufacturing firm started by her grandfather in 1946. Mid-York Press currently employs nearly 70 people in the Chenango County community of Sherburne. Claudia also maintained a private law practice in Clinton, New York.

Claudia graduated from Colgate University and the Taft College of Law at the University of Cincinnati. She is admitted to the bar in New York, Connecticut and Florida. She also is admitted to all federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court. Prior to opening her private practice, Claudia was a partner in the Utica-area law firm of Groben, Gilroy, Oster, and Saunders.

In 1997, Claudia established Tenney Media Group and served as its publisher and corporate counsel. Tenney Media Group, also based in Clinton, published and printed free community newspapers founded by Claudia’s parents and grandparents — the Mid-York Weekly and the Pennysaver. These publications covered three Central New York counties with eight separate weekly editions and had a circulation exceeding 100,000 households. This division was sold to Gannett in 2004.

Claudia is the daughter of the late Honorable John R. Tenney, who served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of New York in the Fifth Judicial District from 1969 through 2003, and the mother of U.S. Naval Academy graduate Trey Cleary, who served as a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Dr. Trachman is the creator of the blog “It’s Not Just in Your Head” on Psychology Today. Her articles are designated as essential reading and published on the front page. She receives frequent requests for media interviews and has been featured in Washingtonian Magazine, Psychiatry Advisor.com, Mental - The Podcast to Destigmatize Mental Health, Lyme 360, Chasing Clarity Magazine, and the website Feeding Pets of The Homeless. Her guest appearance on Brainwaves is the winner of best podcast 3R media 2022.

Dr. Trachman is a psychiatrist with over thirty years of clinical and academic experience. She is double board certified in adult psychiatry and forensic psychiatry. Dr. Trachman graduated from the University of Texas McGovern School of Medicine where she was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical honor society. She was also awarded the Janet Glasgow Memorial Award for academic scholarship.

After graduation, Dr. Trachman completed an internship and residency in psychiatry at the George Washington Medical Center in Washington, D.C. For her fourth year, she was selected to be the Chief Resident, supervising medical students and junior physicians.

Dr. Trachman was selected for the competitive fellowship in psychosomatic medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center. During her fellowship, she consulted on hundreds of patients in a major teaching hospital, many of whom exhibited medically unexplained symptoms.

She was invited to join the teaching faculty, where she contributed to the education of medical students, residents, and fellows from three local medical schools. Dr. Trachman remains on the teaching faculty at George Washington University Medical School and Virginia Commonwealth Medical School.

In 1990, Dr. Trachman completed her second fellowship in forensic psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. She consults with attorneys, human relations professionals, and organizations regarding questions of psychological damages and workplace harassment.

Dr. Trachman is published in peer-reviewed journals including Psychosomatics and Postgraduate Obstetrics and Gynecology. She authored a book chapter entitled “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Litigation” published in Malingering, Lies and Junk Science in the Courtroom, by Jack Kitaeff, and had a feature article, “The Dual Role Dilemma” published in both the Journal of the Arlington Bar Association and The Fairfax Bar Journal.

Dr. Trachman is regularly included in Washingtonian Magazine’s Best Doctors in Washington issues as well as Northern Virginia Magazine Best Doctors based on votes from her peers. She received the Compassionate Doctor Award based on patient reviews.

Dr. Trachman lives in Virginia with her domestic zoo which includes two dogs and two cats. When not in the office, you can find her harvesting her vegetable garden or visiting the dog park with her two canine companions.