Tonie Sadler

Tonie Sadler is a disability and health policy researcher with more than 15 years of experience working alongside the disability community to make policies and systems work better. Trained in mixed methods, implementation science, and community-based participatory research, she designs studies that are rigorous, practical, and shaped with the people they are meant to serve, bringing inclusive research practices and knowledge translation into every stage of her work.

Dr. Sadler applies this approach in partnership with states, national organizations, and advocacy groups to strengthen employment, education, and health systems for people with disabilities and other underserved communities. Her work spans Medicaid and public benefits policy, home and community-based services (HCBS), and the transition to work and postsecondary education, with particular depth in intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

At AIR, Dr. Sadler leads the Medicaid Work Requirements and State Readiness initiative, helping state agencies, legislators, and advocates implement new Medicaid and SNAP requirements so that eligible people keep the coverage they rely on. She is co-principal investigator on two National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) research projects. The first is Pathways from Waitlists to Person-Centered Supports for People with IDD (PATH-IDD). The second is My Risk for Opportunity, Autonomy, and Dignity (My ROAD) to Work, where she is also Deputy Director. She is also co-investigator on My ROAD to College and Research Lead on a project improving methods for conducting research with people with cognitive disabilities in virtual environments. Through her career, she has led research for the CDC, NIDILRR, NIH, and the With Foundation.

Dr. Sadler has also supported the NIDILRR-funded Center on Knowledge Translation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research (KTDRR). She led survey, interview, and focus group research on the research and knowledge translation needs of people with disabilities from underserved communities. Before joining AIR, she was a research project lead for the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Home and Community-Based Services at the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab. In that role, she studied person-centered service delivery and outcomes measurement to strengthen federal and state HCBS programs.