Tri-State

Area of focus: adults, but happy to connect with any age

Family Support Area of focus: school-age children, teens

Areas of focus: new diagnosis, young children, therapy

Area of focus: new diagnosis, children, WSA camp

Area of focus: adults

Areas of focus: adults, Special Olympics, employment

Melissa Murphy is a career federal government attorney, handling a range of complex appellate cases, regulatory matters, and policy issues. Melissa is active within the disability community, particularly around issues concerning family engagement and inclusion practices. A graduate of Temple University Institute on Disabilities’ Partners in Policymaking program, she helped revise the Early Learning Program Partnership Standards in Pennsylvania, served as Parent Co-Chair of the Montgomery County Interagency Coordinating Council, worked on the planning team for the annual statewide Family Engagement Summit in Pennsylvania, and has been nominated to the Pennsylvania Developmental Disabilities Committee. Melissa has served on the Board of Trustees for the WSA in other terms and is a past Board President. She lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband Ben, a pediatrician, and their young children: Rose (WS), Charlie, Hope, and Gabriel.

Jocelyn Krebs, PhD is the Executive Director of The Armellino Center of Excellence for Williams Syndrome at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to that position, she was a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and the WWAMI School of Medicine at the University of Alaska Anchorage.  Her research in the field of epigenetics led her to study one of the genes deleted in WS, and several years later she had a child with WS and thus brings both a mother’s and a scientist’s perspective to the board.  She has a passion for supporting high-impact research and for helping make complex science understandable and is a frequent convention speaker on the genetics of Williams syndrome.  She lives in Philadelphia, PA, with her wife Susannah and her sons Rhys (born 2009, WS) and Frey (born 2012).

Area of focus: new diagnosis, children, social events