Michelle Jarman Ph.D
Michelle Jarman will be leading a session in Considering Social and Relational Contexts of Disability to Inform Engaged, Inclusive Health Care Practice from 10:10-11:00 (MST).
Michelle Jarman, Ph.D. Disability Studies Professor & Interim Executive Director, Wyoming Institute for Disabilities
Michelle Jarman is Professor of Disability Studies, and Interim Executive Director of the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities.
Dr. Jarman has been the primary faculty in the undergraduate Minor in Disability Studies since 2007. This has become a very popular undergraduate minor, with nearly 200 graduates and 50-60 students actively enrolled. Dr. Jarman received her Ph.D. in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2006, with concentrations in disability studies and gender studies. Her research interests include narrative medicine, disability memoirs, and intersectional cultural representations of disability. Dr. Jarman’s scholarship has appeared in journals such as Disability Studies Quarterly, Feminist Formations, the Journal of American Culture, and in prominent literary and disability studies anthologies.
Amy Spieker, DrPH
Amy Spieker will be leading a session in Social Determinants of Health and Disability from 11:00-12:00 (MST).
DrPH, Director of Community Health and Analysis, Cheyenne Regional Medical Center
Amy has been the Director of Community Health and Analysis at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center and as the Executive Director of the Laramie County Community Partnership since the end of 2018. In this role she oversees the CRMC Community Benefit program that focuses on identifying and addressing barriers faced to achieving health in our community. Current efforts focus on community safety (including housing), access to care, and economic stability.
Previously, she worked as a maternal and child health epidemiologist at the Wyoming Department of Health. Amy received her Master’s in Public Health from the University of Washington and her Doctorate in Public Health from the University of Illinois – Chicago. Amy defines herself as a public health practitioner and loves being a part of opportunities to make Cheyenne healthier for everyone.
Katrina Johnson, MD
Dr. Johnson and Dr. Prokup will be leading a session in Multidisciplinary Perspectives: Clinical Pearls for the Care of Adults with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities from 1:00-2:15 (MST).
Clinical Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Dr. Katrina Johnson, MD, serves as an Assistant Clinical Professor at The Ohio State University, a position she has held since completing her Internal Medicine and Pediatric residency at Wright State University in 2013. Dr. Johnson directs the Primary Care for Congenital Heart Disease Transition program and is developing The Ohio State University Complex Care Program at The Ohio State University. Her clinical focus is on providing accessible, preventative, and primary healthcare to patients with complex health conditions originating in childhood. She collaborates with congenital heart disease specialists within The Columbus Ohio Adult Congenital Heart disease program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University as well as the Nationwide Children’s Complex Healthcare clinic and Multidisciplinary 22Q clinic to create a seamless transition between pediatric and adulthood, as well as hospital transition.
In addition to her clinical responsibilities, Dr. Johnson is passionate about medical education, actively engaging in the teaching and mentorship of medical students and residents at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. She is an elected college governance representative and holds the title Vice President of The Ohio State University College of Medicine Faculty Council. She has been an invited reviewer for the American Academy of Pediatrics and Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine and has presented regionally within the Society of General Internal Medicine, and The Ohio State University Med-Peds Symposium. She is a fellow in the American College of Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics and is a member of the AAP Council on Children with Disabilities.
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Dr. Johnson is a devoted mother of three children. Outside of her professional life, she cherishes time spent outdoors with her family and is an avid trumpet player alongside her husband of 23 years.
Jessica Prokup, MD
Dr. Prokup and Dr. Johnson will be leading a session in Multidisciplinary Perspectives: Clinical Pearls for the Care of Adults with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities from 1:00-2:15 (MST).
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Medicine Physician, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Having a sibling with neurodevelopmental disabilities, Dr. Jessica Prokup has both a personal and professional interest in improving access to and quality of care for this population. During medical school at The Ohio State University, she completed the Nisonger Center's LEND program (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities). She completed her residency in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).
Dr. Prokup is currently an assistant professor in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and provides psychiatric care as part of an interdisciplinary team in Nationwide Children's Hospital's Adult Cerebral Palsy Clinic. Her outpatient clinical practice focuses on the care of adult and adolescent patients with neurodevelopmental and pediatric-onset disabilities. Her clinics also focus on pediatric-to-adult health care transition, aging with pediatric-onset and developmental disabilities, spasticity management, management of braces and orthotics, and evaluation and management of durable medical equipment and assistive technology. Her prior research focuses on the health care disparities of Ohioans with developmental disabilities through the lifespan and the creation and implementation of disability education in medical schools.
Brian Be
Brian Be will be leading a Lived- Experience Panel from 2:15-3:00 (MST).
Brian Be is the Self-Advocacy Coordinator for JFK Partners. He is an Autistic Artist/Advocate
living with various disabilities.
Brian has been a caregiver, job coach, peer advocate, case manager, family member
of persons of different abilities, community and family leader, Performing Artist,
public presenter, and co-facilitator - individually and with various disability organizations.
Sandy Root-Elledge
Sandy Root-Elledge is a senior lecturer and a former executive director of the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities. She is also the mother of two adult children with disabilities and health care diagnoses who is interested in helping to inform health care systems improvements in Wyoming and beyond.
Liberty Hicks
Liberty grew up in lots of places, from Nebraska to Kansas and then to Wyoming, living first in Cheyenne then finally to Laramie. Liberty graduated from Laramie High School.
Liberty is a self-advocate, working primarily with the WIND research team, helping improve access for people with disabilities to WIND work and research.
Outside of her work at WIND, Liberty is also an artist and animal lover.
Abe Lentner
Abe Lentner is an Advocate and ad hoc member of the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities (WIND) Consumer Advisory Council. as the Business Manager in March of 2021. Abe is the pre-award research coordinator at the University of Wyoming.