The Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities (MCDD) is pleased to welcome two new staff members to the team.
The MCDD is thrilled to welcome Kayla Velez as the new administrative services coordinator. Velez earned her bachelor’s degree in public health from Towson University. During her time at Towson, she served as the president of the women’s volleyball club and the representative for the Student Government Association. Velez spent a semester coordinating community service events and fundraising efforts, while educating children from Baltimore County Public Schools to make healthy food choices and engage in regular physical activity. Velez was an MCDD trainee during the spring of 2025. Through her work with the MCDD, Velez aims to streamline support services and ensure efficient coordination for all programs, projects and activities.
The MCDD also welcomes Tom Rivera as the team’s new training coordinator. Rivera is a bilingual public health professional with more than seven years of experience across academic coordination, health systems operations and grant-supported programming. He is a Master of Public Health candidate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, concentrating in humanitarian health and focusing on adolescent health, policy and innovation. Rivera holds a Bachelor of Dental Surgery from the National University of Columbia and graduate certificates in Health Care Auditing (HAQA) and Senior Management (SM). His global training and transition into U.S. health administration give him a systems-oriented perspective on access. As a grant program specialist, Rivera managed pediatric and young adult health initiatives and coordinated billing and reporting for uninsured populations. He gained public policy experience in 2025 as a legislative intern at the Maryland General Assembly, supporting Medicaid navigation and dental access. These roles led him to the MCDD, where he now serves as the training coordinator. He brings strong organizational, analytical, digital health, health policy and bilingual communication skills to advance leadership and education.