Adult Living Experience Series: Justin Shepherd & Kristina Uban

Living with FASD is an educational and human interest show for those living with the effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol, their loved one and anyone interested in learning more about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, brought to you by someone with both professional and living experience with FASD.

While my family and I are relocating across country, I am sharing earlier episodes. I hope to have new content up sometime in December. This week, I am pleased to rebroadcast a candid conversation I had with Justin Shepherd & Dr. Kristina Uban on the podcast. Married with FASD, Justin is an FASD self-advocate and his wife, Kristina, is an FASD researcher. We talk about FASD research, and the limitations of current research design, focus on facial dysmorphology and clinical populations vs broader lived experiences of FASD, FASD stigma, comorbid conditions, disparities in access to health care, Justin’s documentary, The FASD Project, and more.

Justin Shepherd became a member of the FASD Changemakers in 2023: a global activist group comprised of adults with FASD advocating for the change they want to see in the world around FASD. He directed the short documentary, “The FASD Project” that won The Most Impactful Film of the Year in Las Vegas TMIF festival in 2021. Through making this documentary, Justin began to see himself in FASD and went on to explore his own diagnosis in 2021. Since making this film and receiving his diagnosis, his leaning into FASD advocacy has become a lifelong passion, specifically through sharing his diagnostic story through public speaking and film making. In his spare time, Justin owns a contracting company, has a wife and two small kids and two very large dogs, enjoys skiing, stand-up comedy, and sports.

Kristina Uban is an Assistant Professor of Health, Society & Behavior in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Irvine, Director of the Developing Brain Laboratory, Fellow of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, and a founding faculty member of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research. Kristina’s research program focuses on health disparities and health inequities experienced by mothers with substance use disorders and people living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Kristina is married to co-guest Justin Shepherd and enjoys the same two kids, large dogs, skiing, hiking and watching her husband’s stand-up comedy.

If you would like to reach either Kristina or Justin, please email Kristina at kuban@uci.edu

If you would like to suggest topics of the show or just to say hello, you can reach me at livingwithfasdpodcast@gmail.com.

I am a Certified Facilitator of FASCETS Neurobehavioral Model. If you would like information about the neurodevelopment model and would like to book training for agencies or community groups, please reach out to me here: https://calendly.com/kaspertrainingan...

If you would like to talk with me about coaching services, either as a parent of a child with FASD, or as a neurodivergent adult (perhaps by listening you’ve begun to question if prenatal alcohol exposure could explain some of your struggles in life), please reach out to me here for a complimentary consultation: https://calendly.com/kaspertrainingan...

As always, thank you for tuning in this week. Please consider liking/subscribing/sharing this podcast. Have a wonderful week!

Until next Monday,
Patti Kasper
Your FASD Coach