Dr. Poullos received his M.D. degree at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at the University of California-San Francisco in 2002. He stayed at UCSF as a Gastroenterology fellow, but he decided to retrain in Radiology after a spinal cord injury in 2003. He did his Radiology residency at Stanford University, where he also completed a fellowship In Body Imaging in 2009. Dr. Poullos is now faculty in both the departments of Radiology and Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Dr. Poullos served as Associate Residency Program Director for the Stanford University Radiology Residency from 2009 through 2016. In 2018, he founded the Stanford Medicine Abilities Coalition (SMAC), now the Stanford Medicine Alliance for Disability Inclusion and Equity (SMADIE), for which he serves as Co-chair. In that role, Dr. Poullos advocates for students and healthcare providers with disabilities and health equity for disabled patients. He is a Faculty Advisor to the Stanford Medical Students with Disability and Chronic Illness (MSDCI) and the MSDCI National organization. Dr. Poullos and SMADIE have made significant contributions to the disability community, including starting the Stanford Conference on Disability in Healthcare and Medicine, drawing over 1000 participants from 39 countries. He is the co-host of the popular “DocsWithDisabilities” podcast, has spoken internationally about disability access in medicine, and has written and researched in the field. He is a delegate to the International Congress On Disability Inclusion and Health and Disability Inclusion in Graduate Medical Education (DIGME). He enjoys teaching radiology to medical students, residents, and fellows at Stanford and across the nation.

Zainub Dhanani is a medical student at Stanford School of Medicine and a recent graduate of its MS Health Policy program. She is the founder of the annual Stanford Conference on Disability in Healthcare and Medicine as well as the founder and executive director of the national student-led disability advocacy organization, Medical Students with Disability and Chronic Illness (MSDCI). She has a keen interest  in equitable design of health systems as well as wellness and belonging amongst healthcare professionals and trainees. Her research focuses on the impact of disability in medical education and healthcare experiences, the use of digital and telehealth interventions in improving access to care for vulnerable populations, and health equity in radiology screening and imaging practices. She is thrilled to be able to share some of her work on disability advocacy with you all!

Bonnielin Swenor is an associate professor at The Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and holds joint appointments at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is the founder and director of the Johns Hopkins Disability Health Research Center, which aims to shift the paradigm from ‘living with a disability’ to ‘thriving with a disability’. Motivated by her personal experience with a visual disability, her work takes a data-driven approach to advancing equity for people with disabilities and promoting disability inclusion and accessibility. Dr. Swenor has provided advice and expertise on disability data, equity, and accessibility to multiple organizations and agencies. Most recently, she was a speaker at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Summit on Equity and Excellence in STEMM, served as chair of the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) planning committee for the Disrupting Ableism and Advancing STEM series, co-chaired the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) Subgroup on Individuals with Disabilities, and is a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ACD Health Equity Workgroup. Her work has been published in leading academic journals, such as the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and the Lancet, and has been featured in multiple news outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and TIME magazine.

Dr. Poullos received his M.D. degree at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at the University of California-San Francisco in 2002. He stayed at UCSF as a Gastroenterology fellow, but he decided to retrain in Radiology after a spinal cord injury in 2003. He did his Radiology residency at Stanford University, where he also completed a fellowship In Body Imaging in 2009. Dr. Poullos is now faculty in both the departments of Radiology and Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Dr. Poullos served as Associate Residency Program Director for the Stanford University Radiology Residency from 2009 through 2016. In 2018, he founded the Stanford Medicine Abilities Coalition (SMAC), now the Stanford Medicine Alliance for Disability Inclusion and Equity (SMADIE), for which he serves as Co-chair. In that role, Dr. Poullos advocates for students and healthcare providers with disabilities and health equity for disabled patients. He is a Faculty Advisor to the Stanford Medical Students with Disability and Chronic Illness (MSDCI) and the MSDCI National organization. Dr. Poullos and SMADIE have made significant contributions to the disability community, including starting the Stanford Conference on Disability in Healthcare and Medicine, drawing over 1000 participants from 39 countries. He is the co-host of the popular “DocsWithDisabilities” podcast, has spoken internationally about disability access in medicine, and has written and researched in the field. He is a delegate to the International Congress On Disability Inclusion and Health and Disability Inclusion in Graduate Medical Education (DIGME). He enjoys teaching radiology to medical students, residents, and fellows at Stanford and across the nation.

I am a first-generation, Ghanaian-American born and raised in Northern Virginia. I am currently a second-year resident in the combined Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine residency at MedStar Franklin Square and Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD. I am also a person with a childhood onset fluency disorder aka stutter. I am passionate about improving the health outcomes for marginalized communities.

Allison Kessler, MD, MSc, is the Section Chief of Renée Crown Center for Spinal Cord Innovation at the Shirley Ryan Abilitylab (formerly RIC) in Chicago, IL. She is board-certified in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) and Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Medicine. Dr. Kessler is the Associate Director of Shirley Ryan AbilityLab's SCI Medicine Fellowship. She holds appointments at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor in the Department of PM&R and the Teamwork and Leadership Curricular Thread Leader. She completed her undergraduate degree at Harvard, master's of Science at the London School of Economics, and medical degree at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. She completed her PM&R residency and SCI fellowship at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (now the Shirley Ryan Abilitylab).

Dr Satendra Singh, is Director Professor & Coordinator of Enabling Unit at the University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi, India; steering committee member of Health Humanities Consortium; and Co-chair of the International Council for Disability Inclusion in  Medical Education. He is a disability justice advocate who has brought many policy reforms, including the inclusion of disability rights as disability competencies in the new medical curriculum in India. He is also a member of the core group on disability at the National Human Rights Commission and advisor to the Court of State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Govt of Delhi.

Dr. Joseph Samona graduated from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in 2020 and completed AEGD residency at the University of Texas Health San Antonio in 2021. He currently works as an associate in private practice in the Metro Detroit area. He is also profoundly Deaf and is a strong advocate for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community who are underrepresented in the dental field. He also developed a project where he created a series of educational videos about oral health in American Sign Language on YouTube to increase accessibility to oral health care. He also co-founded Michigan Deaf Health, where he can promote oral health education in his community. He is currently a member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, Academy of General Dentistry, and American Dental Association.

Shane Lamba (he/him) is a Research Assistant with Stanford University's The PRIDE Study/PRIDENet Research Program. He holds a Master's of Public Health in Community Health Promotion and Education from the University of New England. He serves as a co-investigator for a research study examining healthcare access, barrier to care, mental and physical health functioning for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) people with disabilities. His most notable work has been published in the American Journal of Public Health, documenting several disparities for LGBTQ+ disability community. In addition to his work with Stanford University, he works full-time as a Health System Specialist with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Health Equity, where he conducts research and evaluation activities addressing health disparities for minority populations of Veterans. His research interests include healthcare access, patient-centered care, community health and creating health education programming to improve health outcomes.

Cameron T. Whitley, Ph.D. (he/they) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Western Washington University. He studies issues concerning the environment, human-animal relationships, and transgender-affirming medicine. He became interested in trans-affirming medicine in graduate school when he was diagnosed with kidney failure and received a kidney transplant. After receiving his PhD and a donated kidney, he coauthored one of the first articles addressing the discrepancies in kidney function evaluation for transgender people. Needing to repeatedly seek disability accommodations in systems that have few resources and where disability is stigmatized, he has become increasingly interested in the conditions under which people identify with and reject disability labels in academia. Cameron has over five dozen publications featured in places like Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Academic Emergency Medicine, Clinical Chemistry, and the Annual Review of Sociology.

Dr. Ken Sutha is a clinician and basic science researcher in pediatric nephrology at Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford who brings his perspective as a two time kidney transplant recipient and previous dialysis patient. He has been a member of the Stanford Medicine Alliance for Disability Inclusion and Equity since 2019 and has served as co-chair since 2021.

John D. Kemp, Esq., President & CEO of Lakeshore Foundation, is an internationally recognized organization providing opportunities for individuals with physical disability and chronic health conditions to lead healthy, active, independent lives. Located in Birmingham, Alabama, Lakeshore also serves as a U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training site, a center for research and with the disability community, a strong advocate for inclusion. Mr. Kemp launched his most recent and widely acclaimed book, Disability Friendly: How to Move from Clueless to Inclusive, published by Wiley Publishing, in October, 2022 and which is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online booksellers’ sites. 

Widely respected for his many achievements in the corporate and nonprofit worlds and his leadership in the disability movement, Mr. Kemp, a person with a disability, co-founded the American Association of People with Disabilities and has held a variety of CEO and senior executive positions with national and international nonprofits.

He was honored with the Henry B. Betts Award, widely regarded as America's highest honor for disability leadership and service. He is also the recipient of the Dole Leadership Prize, joining a prestigious group of international recipients including Nelson Mandela and two former U.S. Presidents. In addition, Mr. Kemp serves on Delta Air Lines’ Advisory Board on Disability.  

A graduate of Georgetown University and Washburn University School of Law, Mr. Kemp and his wife, Sameta enjoy spending time with their family, including five grandsons. 

Mr. Kemp is a renowned global speaker who inspires others to achieve greatness through knowledge, experience, vision, and persistence. We are delighted to our welcome him to our podium today.

Jody Greenhalgh is a passionate Occupational Therapist (OT) who works at Stanford University Medical Center - Healthcare, Rehabilitation and Stanford Medicine Alliance for Disability Inclusion and Equity. With over 40 years experience, she provides specialized clinical services and care to clients with diverse physical and mental health needs. Jody treats patients with spinal, head and poly-trauma injuries, amputations, limb reattachments, organ transplants, cancer and critical illness. She is an advanced practitioner and innovator in assistive technology design, creating custom orthotics, prosthetics, exoskeletons, adaptive equipment, wheelchair and environmental modifications. Jody is a leader in specialized fields and serves on boards inc. bioethics, disability advocacy, and emergency medical care. She contributes her expertise through consultation, education, conducting research, and being published in academic journals and books. Jody provides clinical guidance w catastrophic events, crisis and grief response. Jody facilitates critical incident debriefs for 1st responders, moderating groups of high-risk women living with HIV and supporting children with life-threatening diseases and their families.  She has coordinated outreach events for children with special needs and promotes therapeutic canine assistance services. Jody is an international traveler who has participated in Ambassador Delegations to Costa Rica and World Federation of Occupational Therapists Congress in South Africa and France. She is the OT Disability, Human Factor, Safety & Accessibility Officer in Aerospace medicine for Parastronaut feasibility study with NASA/UND and AstroAccess paves the way for disabled astronauts in microgravity missions. Jody’s motto is to help others live life fully, without barriers or limitations by way of accommodation and universal design for optimal independence, freedom and inclusion on any earthly or terrestrial terrain.

Lisa M. Meeks, PhD, MA, is an Associate Professor of Learning Health Sciences and Family Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and the executive director of the DocsWithDisabilities Initiative. Dr. Meeks currently serves on the ACGME Advisory Committee on DEI matters.

She is widely considered the preeminent expert on disabilities in medical education globally. As an administrative leader and researcher her work informs policy and best practice in disability inclusion. Her work has been published in the NEJM, Lancet, JAMA, and Academic Medicine and featured on NPR, in the Washington Post, CNBC, Bloomberg Law, Time Magazine, and AAMC News.

Dr. Meeks is co-developer of the AAMC Disability Webinar Series and lead author of the AAMC Special Report: Accessibility, Inclusion, and Action in Medical Education: Lived Experiences of Learners and Physicians with Disabilities. Additionally, she edited and co-authored the leading books on the topic, including Disability as Diversity, the Disability as Diversity, casebook companion, and Equal Access for Students with Disabilities: The Guide for Health Science and Professional Education, Second Edition. She is also the host of the Docs with Disabilities Podcast, and creator of the #DocsWithDisabilities social media campaign.

Rylee Betchkal studies Clinical Psychology in the master’s program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her post-graduate work with The Docs With Disabilities Initiative supports doctors and students with disabilities in medical school. Her research interests lie at the intersection of mental health promotion, prevention, and student well-being. She is particularly fascinated by understanding and addressing mental health concerns within academic settings, working towards creating resilient and supportive learning environments. She is actively involved in research, currently serving as a research assistant for the Meeks Lab.

Dr Pereira-Lima is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan. Her studies on disability in medical education focus on investigating factors associated with a better well-being, educational, and practice experience among training physicians with disability.

Chris Moreland is a professor of internal medicine, interim division chief for hospital medicine, and associate residency program director at Dell Medical School at UT Austin. As a clinician educator, he has mentored scores of healthcare professional students, trainees, and faculty, with his teaching recognized through awards at the institutional and national levels. As a deaf physician, his lived experience and collaborative advocacy have led to inclusion of people with disabilities in national medical education databases, publications, and invited presentations exploring and elucidating the experiences and trajectory of clinical students and professionals with disabilities.

Zoie Sheets, MD, MPH is a resident physician in both internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Chicago. Her work focuses at the intersection of disability and medicine, promoting access and inclusion for both disabled physicians and patients. Living with a disability herself, she has witnessed the harm perpetuated by ableism and believes that expanding the number of disabled doctors will improve outcomes for those with disabilities in need of medical care. She is a Truman Scholar, researcher, advisory board member of the #DocsWithDisabilities initiative and frequently provides disability justice education for medical schools across the country.

Dr. Abraham completed her Bachelors in Liberal Arts along with her M.D. degree at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine in Kansas City, Missouri. She completed a portion of her Family Medicine residency at her home institution. She has previously taught medical students with the Institute of Medical Boards, an organization providing exam preparation for USMLE exams. In addition, she has served on wellness councils during both medical school and residency. Academically, she is interested in outpatient primary care with an emphasis on preventive medicine, sleep medicine, integrative medicine, quality improvement and in-office procedures. Outside of healthcare, she enjoys hiking, dancing and spending time with her loved ones.

Suchita Rastogi is a clinical phase MD/PhD student at Stanford University and an MPH candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A basic scientist by training, she spent her dissertation years using single cell RNA sequencing to examine how the microscopic brain parasite Toxoplasma gondii hijacks host cells without infecting them. A mentor at heart, she has 10 years of experience in science and medical education. Her lived experience navigating college, graduate school, and medical school with multiple chronic illnesses inspired her to advocate for her medical school classmates with disabilities, pivot into disability scholarship, and join the SMADIE Board of Directors. In 2021, she co-founded the Disability in Medicine Mutual Mentorship Program (DM3P) to provide mentorship and community for disabled clinicians and trainees. Running DM3P has and continues to be her most meaningful accomplishment. Outside of her academic work and advocacy, she enjoys meditation, embroidery, watercoloring, singing, and finding ways to make her family and caregivers laugh.

Amanda C. Taus, M.S. is an experienced biosciences instructor and DEI facilitator committed to the principle that knowledge can and should be available to all; recent work includes modules on the Neurobiology of Trauma for Boston Medical Center's Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program, Confronting Exclusion in Research for Tufts' Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), and community facilitation for the Museum of Science (Boston) town hall series on Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy and equity. 

Amanda received her M.S. from Tufts University School of Medicine and completed her thesis in Neurology and Biostatistics at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. At Tufts, Amanda graduated top of her class and received awards both for academic achievement and for service leadership. Amanda earned her B.A. in Biochemistry from Smith College with both latin and departmental honors. Her thesis was on mechanisms of immune system evasion by causative agents of lymphatic filariasis. Amanda received the Wemple prize for Excellence in Immunology and Microbiology, was inducted into Sigma Xi, and was repeatedly recognized as a scholar-athlete, earning Academic All-American in both Rowing (NCAA) and Ice Hockey (ACHA).

Academically, Amanda is interested in mechanistic biochemistry and the establishment of transcription factor gradients in cell determination, wound healing, and dysplasia; as well as the use of patient-reported outcomes and patient global impression of benefit to bridge the space between "what is the etiology?" and "what will make this better?"   

In organizing and DEIJ/B work, Amanda is interested in how to support allyship and inter-group collaboration in ways that honor unique histories while envisioning shared futures. And how leveraging the unique insights of disabled and chronically-ill healthcare providers can make healthcare more accessible for every patient. Even after several years working with anti-racism voting rights groups and organizing in Jewish and LGBTQ+ spaces, Amanda confesses she did not realize how often disability was overlooked and is grateful for the opportunity to bring her politics and organizing experience to DM3P.   

Suchita Rastogi is a clinical phase MD/PhD student at Stanford University and an MPH candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A basic scientist by training, she spent her dissertation years using single cell RNA sequencing to examine how the microscopic brain parasite Toxoplasma gondii hijacks host cells without infecting them. A mentor at heart, she has 10 years of experience in science and medical education. Her lived experience navigating college, graduate school, and medical school with multiple chronic illnesses inspired her to advocate for her medical school classmates with disabilities, pivot into disability scholarship, and join the SMADIE Board of Directors. In 2021, she co-founded the Disability in Medicine Mutual Mentorship Program (DM3P) to provide mentorship and community for disabled clinicians and trainees. Running DM3P has and continues to be her most meaningful accomplishment. Outside of her academic work and advocacy, she enjoys meditation, embroidery, watercoloring, singing, and finding ways to make her family and caregivers laugh.

Amanda C. Taus, M.S. is an experienced biosciences instructor and DEI facilitator committed to the principle that knowledge can and should be available to all; recent work includes modules on the Neurobiology of Trauma for Boston Medical Center's Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program, Confronting Exclusion in Research for Tufts' Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), and community facilitation for the Museum of Science (Boston) town hall series on Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy and equity. 

Amanda received her M.S. from Tufts University School of Medicine and completed her thesis in Neurology and Biostatistics at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. At Tufts, Amanda graduated top of her class and received awards both for academic achievement and for service leadership. Amanda earned her B.A. in Biochemistry from Smith College with both latin and departmental honors. Her thesis was on mechanisms of immune system evasion by causative agents of lymphatic filariasis. Amanda received the Wemple prize for Excellence in Immunology and Microbiology, was inducted into Sigma Xi, and was repeatedly recognized as a scholar-athlete, earning Academic All-American in both Rowing (NCAA) and Ice Hockey (ACHA).

Academically, Amanda is interested in mechanistic biochemistry and the establishment of transcription factor gradients in cell determination, wound healing, and dysplasia; as well as the use of patient-reported outcomes and patient global impression of benefit to bridge the space between "what is the etiology?" and "what will make this better?"   

In organizing and DEIJ/B work, Amanda is interested in how to support allyship and inter-group collaboration in ways that honor unique histories while envisioning shared futures. And how leveraging the unique insights of disabled and chronically-ill healthcare providers can make healthcare more accessible for every patient. Even after several years working with anti-racism voting rights groups and organizing in Jewish and LGBTQ+ spaces, Amanda confesses she did not realize how often disability was overlooked and is grateful for the opportunity to bring her politics and organizing experience to DM3P.   

Dr. Poullos received his M.D. degree at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at the University of California-San Francisco in 2002. He stayed at UCSF as a Gastroenterology fellow, but he decided to retrain in Radiology after a spinal cord injury in 2003. He did his Radiology residency at Stanford University, where he also completed a fellowship In Body Imaging in 2009. Dr. Poullos is now faculty in both the departments of Radiology and Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Dr. Poullos served as Associate Residency Program Director for the Stanford University Radiology Residency from 2009 through 2016. In 2018, he founded the Stanford Medicine Abilities Coalition (SMAC), now the Stanford Medicine Alliance for Disability Inclusion and Equity (SMADIE), for which he serves as Co-chair. In that role, Dr. Poullos advocates for students and healthcare providers with disabilities and health equity for disabled patients. He is a Faculty Advisor to the Stanford Medical Students with Disability and Chronic Illness (MSDCI) and the MSDCI National organization. Dr. Poullos and SMADIE have made significant contributions to the disability community, including starting the Stanford Conference on Disability in Healthcare and Medicine, drawing over 1000 participants from 39 countries. He is the co-host of the popular “DocsWithDisabilities” podcast, has spoken internationally about disability access in medicine, and has written and researched in the field. He is a delegate to the International Congress On Disability Inclusion and Health and Disability Inclusion in Graduate Medical Education (DIGME). He enjoys teaching radiology to medical students, residents, and fellows at Stanford and across the nation.

Dr. Ken Sutha is a clinician and basic science researcher in pediatric nephrology at Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford who brings his perspective as a two time kidney transplant recipient and previous dialysis patient. He has been a member of the Stanford Medicine Alliance for Disability Inclusion and Equity since 2019 and has served as co-chair since 2021.

Sonoo Thadaney Israni is the founding executive director of the Stanford Presence Center. After more than 25 years in Silicon Valley Tech, she has been a Stanford intrapreneur for 15 years, building academic and applied science centers, programs, and initiatives. A thought leader in artificial intelligence in healthcare, she co-lead the National Academy of Medicine’s Working Group on Artificial Intelligence, publishing the 2019 “AI in Healthcare: The Hope, The Hype, The Promise, The Peril.” Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) are at the core of all of Ms. Israni’s work. She helped develop and now co-leads the curriculum for the AAMC Restorative Justice in Academic Medicine curriculum. She also launched the Stanford RJ Hub, which engages stakeholders deploying restorative practices across seven schools and units. Her restorative justice and conflict resolution work engages participants to prevent, resolve, and leverage conflict while furthering purposeful decision-making, leadership development, and organizational vitality. Her scholarly work makes the case for interconnectedness between restorative justice, JEDI, AI, and tech.

Dr. Ranak Trivedi is a clinical health psychologist and health services researcher, an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, Core Investigator at the Center for Innovation to Implementation, Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, and Director of Caregiving and Family Systems with the Stanford Center for Asian Health Research and Education (Stanford CARE). She earned her PhD at Duke University in clinical psychology and is an elected Fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. She has an expertise in how people with chronic and serious health conditions and their family caregivers co-manage health and well-being, and the role of cultural norms in this process. For over 15 years, Dr. Trivedi has been committed to improving the outcomes of vulnerable populations, including military veterans, family caregivers, and South Asians managing breast cancer. 

Dr. Trivedi has been principal investigator and co-investigator on multiple Department of Veterans Affairs, National Institutes of Health, and foundation grants, including the competitive VA Health Services Research & Development Career Development Award. She has published over 100 manuscripts and book chapters and has presented widely at national and international conferences in the areas of health psychology, caregiving, aging, and dyadic self-management. In 2023, she co-authored and published the first ever clinical handbook to treat family caregivers. She advanced the Dyadic Health Behavior Change Model, one of the first dyadic self-management theories, and has used this theory to develop and pilot tested two, technologically enabled, behavioral interventions aimed at improving the self-management of chronic and serious illnesses by improving the communication and collaborations between patient-caregiver dyads. These are currently being tested in an ongoing hybrid type 1 effectiveness randomized clinical trial funded. She has expertise in diverse study designs, qualitative methods, quantitative methods including the analysis of large, longitudinal datasets, and implementation science.

She is the Director of Education and Training at the Center for Innovation to Implementation and the Fellowship Director for the Elizabeth Dole National Center for Veteran and Caregiver Research. In these capacities, she oversees the training and mentorship of several postdoctoral and post-residency fellows from diverse disciplines and clinical specialties. Dr. Trivedi is passionate about mentoring learners at all career stages and has mentored high school, undergraduate, and graduate students; clinical psychology interns; early career investigators; and aspiring women leaders in psychology. 

Dr. Trivedi serves as a research advisor for the National Alliance of Caregiving, the pre-eminent caregiver policy organization in the United States and serving on the Steering Committee for the Caregiving in the US: 2025 survey. She was part of a special federal panel that evaluated the caregiver stipend program when the MISSION Act was approved. She serves as one of three co-conveners of the Dyadic Interest Group and leads the VA National Caregiver Research Interest Group. 

Dr. Trivedi has been featured in NY Times, Washington Post, US News and World Report, and Huffington Post, on local television news outlets, and on healthcare podcasts. Her work on South Asian families managing breast cancer was also featured in Stanford Medicine magazine. 

Jennifer is a Chinese-Vietnamese American and 3rd-year PA student transplanted from Little Saigon, Orange County, California. Jennifer has a background education in psychobiology and disability studies from UCLA where she became better equipped to fulfill her passions for serving underinsured and underserved communities, debunking the stigmas against mental health, and empowering individuals with disabilities. Jennifer is also a first-generation student, a child of immigrant parents, from a low-income background, and who also identifies as having a physical disability and as living with a chronic autoimmune condition. Due in large part to these intersectional identities, Jennifer has had a very difficult time navigating her time at Stanford, and still at times feels isolated, crushing imposter syndrome, heart-wrenching homesickness, and struggles to stay afloat in the murky waters that are establishing care, establishing a routine, and establishing a role and identity. However, Jennifer wouldn't be who she is or where she is without her supportive networks back at home and the ones she has been so fortunate to gain here at Stanford. Because of this Jennifer’s mission is to ensure that people feel included, heard, and cared for as she strives to do this in her roles as an Ear4Peer mentor, Medical Students with Disabilities and Chronic Illness (MSDCI) executive board member, loyal friend, and classmate.

John D. Kemp, Esq., President & CEO of Lakeshore Foundation, is an internationally recognized organization providing opportunities for individuals with physical disability and chronic health conditions to lead healthy, active, independent lives. Located in Birmingham, Alabama, Lakeshore also serves as a U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training site, a center for research and with the disability community, a strong advocate for inclusion. Mr. Kemp launched his most recent and widely acclaimed book, Disability Friendly: How to Move from Clueless to Inclusive, published by Wiley Publishing, in October, 2022 and which is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online booksellers’ sites. 

Widely respected for his many achievements in the corporate and nonprofit worlds and his leadership in the disability movement, Mr. Kemp, a person with a disability, co-founded the American Association of People with Disabilities and has held a variety of CEO and senior executive positions with national and international nonprofits.

He was honored with the Henry B. Betts Award, widely regarded as America's highest honor for disability leadership and service. He is also the recipient of the Dole Leadership Prize, joining a prestigious group of international recipients including Nelson Mandela and two former U.S. Presidents. In addition, Mr. Kemp serves on Delta Air Lines’ Advisory Board on Disability.  

A graduate of Georgetown University and Washburn University School of Law, Mr. Kemp and his wife, Sameta enjoy spending time with their family, including five grandsons. 

Mr. Kemp is a renowned global speaker who inspires others to achieve greatness through knowledge, experience, vision, and persistence. We are delighted to our welcome him to our podium today.

Lisa M. Meeks, PhD, MA, is an Associate Professor of Learning Health Sciences and Family Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and the executive director of the DocsWithDisabilities Initiative. Dr. Meeks currently serves on the ACGME Advisory Committee on DEI matters.

She is widely considered the preeminent expert on disabilities in medical education globally. As an administrative leader and researcher her work informs policy and best practice in disability inclusion. Her work has been published in the NEJM, Lancet, JAMA, and Academic Medicine and featured on NPR, in the Washington Post, CNBC, Bloomberg Law, Time Magazine, and AAMC News.

Dr. Meeks is co-developer of the AAMC Disability Webinar Series and lead author of the AAMC Special Report: Accessibility, Inclusion, and Action in Medical Education: Lived Experiences of Learners and Physicians with Disabilities. Additionally, she edited and co-authored the leading books on the topic, including Disability as Diversity, the Disability as Diversity, casebook companion, and Equal Access for Students with Disabilities: The Guide for Health Science and Professional Education, Second Edition. She is also the host of the Docs with Disabilities Podcast, and creator of the #DocsWithDisabilities social media campaign.

Suchita Rastogi is a clinical phase MD/PhD student at Stanford University and an MPH candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A basic scientist by training, she spent her dissertation years using single cell RNA sequencing to examine how the microscopic brain parasite Toxoplasma gondii hijacks host cells without infecting them. A mentor at heart, she has 10 years of experience in science and medical education. Her lived experience navigating college, graduate school, and medical school with multiple chronic illnesses inspired her to advocate for her medical school classmates with disabilities, pivot into disability scholarship, and join the SMADIE Board of Directors. In 2021, she co-founded the Disability in Medicine Mutual Mentorship Program (DM3P) to provide mentorship and community for disabled clinicians and trainees. Running DM3P has and continues to be her most meaningful accomplishment. Outside of her academic work and advocacy, she enjoys meditation, embroidery, watercoloring, singing, and finding ways to make her family and caregivers laugh.

Cameron T. Whitley, Ph.D. (he/they) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Western Washington University. He studies issues concerning the environment, human-animal relationships, and transgender-affirming medicine. He became interested in trans-affirming medicine in graduate school when he was diagnosed with kidney failure and received a kidney transplant. After receiving his PhD and a donated kidney, he coauthored one of the first articles addressing the discrepancies in kidney function evaluation for transgender people. Needing to repeatedly seek disability accommodations in systems that have few resources and where disability is stigmatized, he has become increasingly interested in the conditions under which people identify with and reject disability labels in academia. Cameron has over five dozen publications featured in places like Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Academic Emergency Medicine, Clinical Chemistry, and the Annual Review of Sociology.

Alina Engelman is an Associate Professor of public health at California State University, East Bay. Dr. Engelman was the recipient of the 2023 Disability and Disasters Award from the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado. Her scholarly work focuses on health disparities for the deaf and disabled, including emergency preparedness and response and global disability justice in climate disasters. Other work explores the emergency preparedness and response role of community-based organizations serving older adults and people with disabilities. Engelman received her doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley; her Master of Public Health in global health from Yale University; and her bachelor’s at Brown University.