The 38th Annual Justus F. Lehman Symposium, titled "Disability, Access and Opportunities in Healthcare: Reflecting on the 50th Anniversary of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act," took place on June 10, 2024, at the Center for Urban Horticulture. The event began at 8:00 AM with a reception and coffee, providing attendees an opportunity to connect.
Department Chair Janna Friedly, MD, MPH, delivered the opening remarks, followed by a warm welcome from the Committee Co-Chairs, Mark Harniss, PhD, and Heather Feldner, PT, PhD.
Harvard Medical School’s Lisa I. Iezzoni, MD, MSc, presented a keynote address titled "Are We Finally at a Tipping Point? Providing Equitable Care to People with Disability."
Following a brief break, Dawn M. Ehde, PhD, presented three awards:
- the Teresa L Massagli, MD Award for Excellence in Clinical Mentorship to Cindy Lin, MD;
- the Kathryn M Yorkston, PhD Award for Excellence in Student/Trainee Mentorship to Chet Moritz, PhD;
- and the Joseph M Czerniecki, MD Award for Excellence in Clinician-Scientist Mentorship to Mark Jensen, PhD.
Next, Beth Brown, PhD, named the 2025 recipients of the Walter C. and Anita C. Stolov Endowed Research Fund:
- Kathleen Cummer PT, DPT, PhD, for "Experiences of Diabetes in Physical Therapy; The Patient and Clinician Perspective";
- Jihong Min, MD, for "Imaging and Sedation Utilization Patterns In Non-operative Lumbosacral Interventions (UTILIzE)';
- and Sarah Simmons, MD, PhD, for "ExerciseRx for Remyelination in Multiple Sclerosis: A Pilot Study".
Finally, Dr. Friedly returned to discuss the Richard H. Adler, Attorney at Law and Law Firm of Adler Giersch PS Endowed Fund for the Advancement of Traumatic Brain Injury Research and Clinical Care Research award. She also introduced the first lightning talk of the day, given by one of the 2024 recipients, Candice Golembo, MS. Golembo spoke about, “Intersectional Considerations, Access to Physiatry Consultation, and Withdrawal of Life-Supporting Measures following TBI at a Level-one Trauma Center.”
Several short lightning talks followed, including presentations on intersectional considerations in physiatry, co-designing switch accessible play for children, and the impact of speech-language pathology services for skilled nursing facility residents with dementia.
Another keynote by the University of Michigan’s Lisa M. Meeks, PhD, MA, titled "A Better Model of Medicine: Harnessing the Value of Disability Inclusion," was presented before lunch.
The afternoon session featured diverse research presentations, culminating in a discussion on advancing disability equity at UW. The symposium concluded with closing remarks and expressions of gratitude from the Committee Co-Chairs, Dr. Mark Harniss and Dr. Heather Feldner.
Thank you to all the participants, the organizing committee, and especially our keynote speakers for making this event a resounding success.
The date has been set for the 2025 event: the 39th Annual Justus F. Lehmann Symposium will be held on Friday, May 9, 2025. We hope you will join us.
Lightning Talk Speakers
In the gallery above are many of the Lehmann Day Lightning Talk speakers. From left:
Reham Abuatiq, Cait Brown, Candice Golembo, Tracy Herring, PhD, Mia Hoffman, Lindsey Knowles, PhD, Peter Schwab, MD, and Melody Yang.