Equal Access for Students with Disabilities

Lisa M. Meeks, PhD, an assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, is on a mission to reframe disability as a valued part of diversity in health professions programs. Her contributions to the advancement of inclusion in health science include serving as past-president and co-founder of the Coalition for Disability Access in Health Science Education, serving as a board member and trainer for AHEAD, co-PI and lead author of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Special Report: Accessibility, Inclusion, and Action in Medical Education, co-creator of the social media campaign #DocsWithDisabilities, and host of the Docs with Disabilities podcast. As a researcher and policy leader, Dr. Meeks is helping to inform best practice in the area of disability inclusion for medical education, training and practice. Her research interests include: Improving access to medical education for learners with disabilities, medical student and resident well-being, and the performance and trajectory of learners and physicians with disabilities. Dr. Meeks serves as a consultant to medical schools across the country and has published numerous articles, chapters and books on the topic of disability in medicine. Her work has been published in the NEJM, Lancet, JAMA, and Academic Medicine and has been featured in the Washington Post, CNBC, Bloomberg Law, The Chronicle of Higher Education, AAMC News and on NPR. Neera R. Jain, MS, CRC, is a researcher, rehabilitation counselor, and passionate advocate for disability inclusion in health science education. She is a board member for the Coalition for Disability Access in Health Science Education and a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Auckland, Faculty of Education and Social Work. Weaving together perspectives of students with disabilities and school officials, her dissertation explores how four U.S. medical schools enact disability inclusion. Formerly, Neera led disability services for two major health science campuses in the United States: Columbia University in the City of New York and the University of California, San Francisco. In New Zealand, Neera managed a free legal service run by and for disabled people, Auckland Disability Law. She co-authored the 2018 Association of American Medical Colleges research report, Accessibility, Inclusion, and Action in Medical Education: Lived Experiences of Learners and Physicians with Disabilities.

Elisa Laird, JD has an extensive background in law, disability, and public health, which provide her with a unique perspective on the future of disability in higher education. Elisa is currently the Director of the Disability Resource Center at Samuel Merritt University, an institution devoted exclusively to health science education. She formerly worked as a university Deaf Services Coordinator/Interpreter and later a disability rights litigator and public health policy attorney before subsequently returning to university disability resources. She is on the Board of the Association for Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) and served four years on the Board of the Coalition for Disability Access in Health Science and Medical Education. Elisa is author of numerous publications and a seasoned presenter: she regularly provides trainings through AHEAD's Management Institutes and Master Classes, presents often at professional conferences and symposia, and provides customized consulting and training services to universities around the country.