Interaction Advisory Group Partners with UAB School of Health Professions

Birmingham, Alabama 07 September 2016 – Interaction Advisory Group (IAG) today announced that it has formalized a partnership with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Health Professions (SHP). SHP has taken an equity stake in IAG, a leading provider of context-specific customized information and training to Law Enforcement, First Responders, public service officials, educators as well as private sector workers on how to safely and effectively interact with individuals with special needs. SHP will formally work with IAG to develop additional material and content as well as promote the need for training.

In the United States, 1 in 5 people live with special needs. The majority of special needs are not identifiable just by looking at someone. To identify a person with special needs requires direct interaction and the ability to accurately assess a situation. To accurately assess a person with special needs, and thereby keep everyone safe, requires specialized training.

IAG was co-founded by Dustin Chandler a former police officer and father of a child with special needs along with Kirchner Group, an international recognized traditional merchant bank. IAG was formed to improve the engagements between those with special needs and society at large by working to ensure citizen safety through first responder training and awareness.

“We are very proud to be partnering with UAB, a world renowned health science research center to vastly improve our reach and capabilities. There is clearly a lack of training on this subject matter and I hear every day that more needs to be done,” stated Dustin Chandler, President and Co-Founder. “I speak with parents, organizations and first responders on a regular basis who are looking for assistance in addressing this issue through better understanding and open dialogue – that is the key objective of our Autism training for law enforcement officers and our other programs.”

The UAB School of Health Professions will utilize their state of the art technology, stringent academic standards and decades of curriculum development experience to develop the gold standard for asynchronous (online) training on this subject matter for IAG. IAG’s asynchronous training will enable the effective training of large numbers of individuals across the country and internationally through a proprietary user friendly interface. IAG and UAB plan to make a formal announcement of the launch of its asynchronous training early in the fall of 2016.

“We firmly believe that higher education has no boundaries and should often enter a realm beyond traditional classrooms and coursework that focuses on a personal level of learning that benefits all of society,” said UAB School of Health Professions Dean Harold P. Jones, Ph.D. “We are a school that teaches a wide variety of healthcare professionals how to improve lives so it is natural for us to partner with IAG to produce a curriculum for public servants that can ultimately protect lives.”

Interaction Advisory Group (IAG) believes true inclusion and acceptance for all individuals with special needs is integral for our future. IAG aims to improve the interactions between those with special needs and society at large through customized special needs awareness and training. IAG training is specialized for first responders, public service officials and private sector workers including teachers, and hospitality professionals. IAG was co-founded by noted special needs advocate Dustin Chandler and Kirchner Impact Foundation, one of the “returning” arms of traditional merchant bank Kirchner Group. www.interactionadvisorygroup.com

For more information contact:
Dustin Chandler
President & Co-Founder
+1 205.447.7998
dustin@interactionadvisorygroup.com

Kirchner Group was founded in 1985 on two fundamental premises: all businesses should contribute to a positive human future and that every business, and portfolio of businesses, can be made more valuable. Today, the firm is a values-based corporate ecosystem, committed to the integration of “earning and returning”.
The firm provides advisory and operational services, enterprise development and transactional support to companies, investors and institutions through a proprietary approach that dovetails domain and process expertise. Kirchner Group also manages assets for family offices and some of the world’s largest insurance companies, commercial banks and institutional investors. www.kirchnergroup.com

For more information contact:
Blair Kirchner
Managing Director & Co-Head Impact
+1 205.313.0784
bgkirchner@kirchnergroup.com

University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Health Professions
The UAB School of Health Professions, one of the largest health professions schools in the nation with more than 25 innovative programs, shapes the future of healthcare through teaching, research and translation of discoveries into practice. To improve the quality of health around the world we listen to needs and identify real-world problems; focus our resources and expertise to address the problems; tailor innovative teaching and research to solve the problems; and partner with strategic community, business and global leaders to expand the impact of our efforts. The UAB School of Health Professions’ strategy uniquely positions us to lead efforts to inspire quality health and living of individuals, communities and the world. www.uab.edu/shp

For more information contact:
Kevin Storr, APR
Director of Communications
+1 205.934,4159
storr@uab.edu