About Joanne S. Shulman

I attended Syracuse University, took part in the Washington Semester Program, and then graduated from American University in Washington D.C. with a degree in government.

I began to work for the Social Security Administration (SSA) immediately upon graduation and retired from that agency 34 years later. Throughout my career at SSA, I worked at various position and at numerous locations.

I began my career as a claims representative, working in several offices in the eastern U.S., moving as the government required and as family circumstances allowed. In 1971, we moved to Baltimore and I went to work in SSA headquarters. My first position was as a budget analyst for the Office of Administration and Finance and before I left that position, I was responsible for preparing presentations for the Office of Management and Budget and for the Congress. While at headquarters, I became a Supervisory Management Analyst, working with industrial engineers and reviewing SSA's operations.

In 1981, family circumstances brought me to Boston, where I became a member of the SSA regional office staff and worked for the Assistant Regional Commissioner for Field Operations. In 1988 my career came full cycle when I became staff Assistant to the Manager of the Boston District Social Security Office.

In that capacity (staff assistant) I was liaison to all the teaching hospitals in Boston, and I developed SSDI and SSIDI outreach programs, provided in-service training for hospital staff, and developed procedures to expedite the flow of medical evidence from the hospitals to SSA. I also established procedures to insure that hospitals were able to identify and protect disabled children who were potentially eligible for SSIDI benefits.

My last position within SSA was that of Decision Writer. I worked on a special project writing hearing decisions for the Chief Administrative Law Judge of the Boston Office of Hearing and Appeals.

Upon my retirement, I made a decision to put my knowledge of Social Security Disability law to work for people who apply for SSDI and SSIDI benefits.