Medical Director, School-based Telehealth
Associate Professor, Pediatrics

Manager, School Based Telehealth

Medical Director, Center for Telehealth

Medical Director, Office of Telemedicine
Medical Director, Pediatric Telemedicine
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Research Assistant Professor, Health Behavior & Health Education

Director of Operations for IDHI TeleSANE Program, Institute for Digitial Health and Innovation

Primary Care Physician in Family Medicine

Associate Professor
Director of Telehealth Education, Center for Telehealth

Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, School of Medicine
Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology, School of Medicine

Assistant Professor of Family Medicine
Medical Director, Office of Digital Health

Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine

Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Faculty Director, Digital Health Equity and Process Improvement

Emergency Attending Physician
Medical Education Fellow – Graduated

Telehealth Medical Director, Children’s Hospital Colorado
Associate Professor of Pediatrics & Telehealth Curriculum Director, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus

Senior State Policy Analyst, Georgetown

Natalie Lawson is a Senior State Policy Analyst with the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, a non-partisan research center focusing on increasing access to health care coverage, specifically Medicaid and CHIP. She began her career as a community mental health social worker in Chicago for low-income adults with severe mental illnesses and substance use disorders. Natalie went on to hold various positions relating to health and behavioral health, including research and analysis at policy advocacy non-profits and working on federal and state technical assistance contracts. Prior to her current role, she was a Graduate Research Associate on the Healthy Michigan Project examining the impact of Michigan's Medicaid expansion in the state and an intern at the Center for Health and Research Transformation. Natalie holds an MHSA from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a BS in Psychology from Loyola University Chicago.

Accessibility Resources Program Manager, North Carolina Division of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Tony Davis, MSW is the Accessibility Resources Program Manager for the North Carolina Division of Services for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.  Tony received his Master’s Degree in Social Work from Gallaudet University.  He has over 25 years of work experience in the health and human services field.  His passion is breaking down barriers that impede communication access for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind populations and assistive technology of all types.  Among the biggest accomplishments of the Accessibility Resources Program Team at DSDHH which he manages is the creation of a suite of telehealth guidance materials created for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind Patients, Patient Companions, American Sign Language Interpreters and Healthcare Providers.

Program Analyst, Office of Policy Analysis and Development, Center for Policy and Evaluation, Administration for Community Living

Lisa Bothwell is a Program Analyst in the Office of Policy Analysis and Development at the Administration for Community Living. Lisa provides recommendations on and develops health policies that promote independent living and incorporate disability rights and the rights of older adults based on feedback from the aging and disability networks, congressional reports, statutes, health studies, legislations, and other supporting data and materials. Areas of focus include telehealth, 1115 Medicaid waivers, effective communication, and assistive technology. Before ACL, Lisa worked as a Disability Integration Advisor in several different divisions of FEMA over six years, deploying to more than 15 disasters. Prior to joining the federal government, Lisa was a student attorney in law school focusing on Fair Housing Act conciliations and landlord-tenant racial and disability discrimination cases. Lisa also has experience working for several nonprofit organizations, including the Louisiana Protection and Advocacy agency and TDI. Lisa holds a Juris Doctor with a Civil Law Certificate from Loyola University-New Orleans and a B.A. in Mass Communications from Texas State University-San Marcos.

Director, North Carolina Division of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Past President, TDI
Board Member, National Association of State Agencies of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Jan Withers is the Director of the Division of Services for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing (DSDHH), North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.  The Division is charged with providing technical assistance on policy and practice and developing resources designed to foster communication access in a wide range of settings, including but not limited to health care, social services, law enforcement, emergency preparedness and response, housing, and public health.

Director Withers served for five years as the President and Chair of the Board of Directors for TDIforAccess, the nation’s leading advocate for full accessibility in Information and Communications Technology. She began her professional career as a Licensed Professional Counselor for Deaf and Hard of Hearing children, specializing in family systems.  She is a founding member and has served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of State Agencies of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. 

Director Withers received her Master’s Degree in Counseling from Gallaudet University and a Bachelor’s Degree from Davidson College.

Director, Mid-Atlantic Telehealth Resource Center

Kathy is Director of the Mid-Atlantic Telehealth Resource Center (MATRC).  TRC’s are federally funded to assist with telehealth program development and sustainability in order to increase access to quality care for rural and other underserved populations.  Kathy is also Director of Research for the Karen S. Rheuban Center for Telehealth, Associate Research Professor of Public Health Sciences at the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine and faculty member at the Healthy Appalachia Institute.  Kathy’s public service career reflects over 30 years of experience in public health, public policy, program development, program evaluation and strategic planning.   Kathy is an Appointed Member and Chair of the Rural Health Committee for the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) Board and is Vice President of the Virginia Telehealth Network Board.  In her not so copious free time, Kathy enjoys playing competitive volleyball, recreational softball and trying her hand at wildlife photography.

Medical Consultant - Disability Determination Services, Unit 21 - NC Department of Health and Human Services

Dr. Nutt currently serves the citizens of North Carolina as a Medical Consultant within NCDHHS Disability Determination Services. In clinical practice, Dr. Nutt has effectively applied clinical, educational, research, and public health themes to optimizing care for children with complex developmental and behavioral conditions and their families, demonstrating his dedication to the whole child and family and believes strongly in the accessibility and equitability of medical and public health services. Dr. Nutt has integrated telemedicine with clinic practice as school-based and community-based remote clinical encounters within residents’ continuity clinics, maintaining care of children with complex health needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and most recently in private clinical practice as an integrated model for remote follow up encounters. Through his public service work, Dr. Nutt has driven improvements in health through state-wide initiatives, healthcare systems, regional and local agencies.

He has served on numerous task forces and advisory committees, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Leadership Team on Early Hearing Detection and Intervention. In North Carolina, he was an invited member of the joint Institute of Medicine (NCIOM) Task Force, serves as the AAP Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Chapter Champion and on the Governor’s Council on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Co-chair of Advisors, Pieces of Me Foundation
Lawyer, Consensus-builder, Coach, and Columnist

Gary C. Norman is a consultant as well as a public servant.  Mr. Norman infuses his work with the invaluable perspectives gained from lived experience and through legal expertise, particularly in the realm of disability inclusion. With degrees from Washington College of Law at American University, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University, and from Wright State University, Mr. Norman provides clients an erudite approach and a wealth of knowledge, making his counsel a true asset. The handler of a guide dog, he has a passion for infusing considerations related to pets and service animals as part of public policy.

Mr. Norman is a part-time law professor of healthcare law and finance at Cleveland-Marshall. He serves as a member of the Healthcare Law Advisory Council. 

Mr. Norman’s journey in public service began as a Presidential Management Fellow. He presently serves on the Board of the Presidential Management Alumni Association as its Attorney Advisor and Training Committee Co-Chair. He later served as Chair of the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights and as a Visiting Fellow at the Robert J. Dole Institute for Politics, advancing a positive conversation as to disability inclusion. Mr. Norman is a member of the Dean’s Leadership Council at the College of Liberal Arts at Wright State University.

Associate Professor, Family Medicine
Associate Professor, Information, School of Information
Editor-in-Chief, JMIR mHealth and uHealth, Michigan Medicine

Dr. Buis is an expert in the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of digital health tools for chronic disease self-management. She has worked in both consumer-facing and clinical informatics, with an emphasis on behavior change interventions for uncontrolled hypertension, diabetes, and cancer prevention. Much of her work is rooted in understanding and reducing health and healthcare-related disparities through a health equity lens. Dr. Buis is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan (UM) and she also holds an appointment in the UM School of Information. She serves as the Faculty Lead for the Telehealth Research Initiative in the UM Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation (IHPI) and is a fellow of the Society for Behavioral Medicine. Dr. Buis also serves as the Editor-in-Chief for JMIR mHealth and uHealth, one of the leading journals in health informatics (Impact Factor = 5.0), with a specific focus on mobile health.

Associate Professor, Systems and Information Engineering
Associate Professor, Public Health Sciences
University of Virginia

Dr. Rupa Valdez is an associate professor at the University of Virginia with joint appointments in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the School of Medicine. She is also a core faculty member of Global Studies and the Disability Studies Initiative. Dr. Valdez merges the disciplines of human factors engineering, health informatics, and cultural anthropology to understand and support the ways in which people manage health at home and in the community. Her research and teaching focus on underserved populations, including populations that are racial/ethnic minorities, are of low socioeconomic status or are living with physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities. Her work draws heavily on community engagement and has been supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), among others. She has testified before Congress on the topic of health equity for the disability community and received the Jack A. Kraft Innovator Award from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) for her pioneering work in creating and developing the subdiscipline of patient ergonomics.   

Among other appointments, she serves on the Board of Directors for the American Association of People with Disabilities, on PCORI’s Patient Engagement Advisory Panel, and as a member of the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s (NCQA) Health Equity Expert Work Group. Dr. Valdez also currently serves as an Associate Editor for Ergonomics, the Journal of American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA) Open, and Human Factors in Healthcare. She has previously served on the AHRQ Director’s Roundtable on Patient Safety, as Chair of HFES Internal Affairs Division, and in multiple advisory roles for the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. She is the founder and president of Blue Trunk Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to making it easier for people with chronic health conditions, disabilities, and age-related conditions to travel. Dr. Valdez herself lives with multiple chronic health conditions and disabilities, which have and continue to influence her research, teaching, and advocacy. She has been quoted in publications ranging from Politico to Teen Vogue.

Assistant Professor, Law
Co-Director, Center for Health Law and Policy
Cleveland State University College of Law

Dr. Laura C. Hoffman is an Assistant Professor of Law at Cleveland State University College of Law (CSU Law), Co-Director of the CSU Law Center for Health Law and Policy and Inaugural Fellow for the American Society of Law, Medicine, and Ethics (ASLME) 2022-23 Expanding Perspectives Fellowship Program.  Prior, Dr. Hoffman served as a Senior Research Fellow with the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School where she contributed to the development of projects and events involving palliative care policy, Elder Law, brain injury, and Disability Law and Assistant Professor of Law/Faculty Researcher for Seton Hall University School of Law’s Center for Health and Pharmaceutical Law and Policy where her work focused on making policy changes to improve healthcare access for people with disabilities and children. Previously, Dr. Hoffman worked for Data Federal Corporation as a contract Attorney Advisor for the U.S. Department of HHS - Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals in Cleveland, OH. She drafted appellate decisions for Administrative Law Judges involving legal disputes over Medicare payments. Dr. Hoffman’s legal scholarship has been published in numerous law reviews and journals including the Notre Dame Journal on Legislation, the Pittsburgh Journal of Environmental and Public Health Law, the Iowa Journal of Gender, Race, & Justice, and the American Journal of Law and Medicine. Her legal scholarship has been cited by the National Council on Disability and the RAND Corporation.

Co-Executive Director/Director of Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services
Hearing, Speech & Deaf Center (HSDC)

Dr. Genevieve Whiting, MD, FAAP, is a board-certified pediatrician and advocate for improving the care of pediatric patients in the state of Maine and beyond. Genevieve completed her MD at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and residency and chief residency at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of Columbia University before moving to Maine. Genevieve is a primary care pediatrician and associate medical director at MaineHealth Pediatrics- Westbrook, ME and primary care lead for the implementation of Project CORE for pediatrics at MaineHealth. Genevieve is assistant professor of Pediatrics at Tufts University and secretary of the Maine Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. In these various roles, two passions continually emerge (amongst others): health access equity and practice improvements through innovation. These have combined to fuel research into how innovation can promote equity. She is currently an American Pediatric Association and Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital Research Scholar studying the health access equity implications of eConsult implementation. She hopes to translate research into evidence-based health systems improvements while advocating for supporting primary care to implement change that benefits patients, providers, communities and the population.

Erik is a general pediatrician at Dartmouth Health Children’s.  He is the chair for pediatric primary care at DHC and the eConsult lead.  He completed medical school at McGill University in Montreal and his pediatric residency at Dartmouth.  He is also the immediate past president of the New Hampshire Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.