2025 Stanford Conference on Disability in Healthcare and Medicine | MSDCI and SMADIE
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Director of Disability Studies Program, Assistant Professor
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine
University of Washington
Moving the Needle and Watching it get Stuck: Mixed Results from Piloting Disability Allyship Modules in Health Professions Education and Beyond
Heather Evans, PhD, is a sociologist and critical disability studies scholar at the University of Washington. Dr. Evans holds multiple appointments at UW, serving as the Director of the Disability Studies Program, the Research Director at the NW ADA Center, and is an assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. Heather is a mixed methodologist, having conducted statistical analyses, ethnographic fieldwork, and evaluation research. Heather specializes in “invisible disability”, focusing on disclosure, identity management, and accommodations among people with physical, mental, and sensory differences that are not readily apparent. Heather’s current work examines ableism in healthcare and integrating disability allyship into medical education.
Associate Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine, Core Faculty, Disability Studies Program, Faculty Affiliate, Center for Health Workforce Studies
University of Washington
Danbi Lee, PhD, OTD, OTR/L, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and Core Faculty in the Disability Studies program at University of Washington in Seattle. She earned her Doctor of Occupational Therapy or PhD in Disability Studies degrees from University of Illinois at Chicago and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Health Services and Outcomes Research at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. As a co-investigator with the Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) and co-founder of the Occupational Therapy and Disability Studies Network, she leads research focused on evaluating and addressing disability-related diversity, inclusion, and equity issues within healthcare and health workforce education. In addition, her work involves the development and evaluation of ecologically-focused self-management interventions designed to support post-stroke community transition and participation.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Kara B. Ayers, PhD is an Associate Professor and the Associate Director of the University of Cincinnati Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, housed within the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. With a robust foundation in psychology, Dr. Ayers leads the National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality.
Her research portfolio encompasses a wide range of critical issues, including health equity, the portrayal of disability in media, ethical considerations in disability, and the experiences of parents with disabilities. This work underscores her dedication to dismantling barriers within healthcare through a lens of anti-ableism, aiming to ensure equitable treatment and outcomes for all.
Director of Research
The Council on Quality and Leadership
Carli Friedman, PhD, is the Director of Research for The Council on Quality and Leadership (CQL), an international disability not-for-profit. Dr. Friedman’s mixed methods research, which is informed by Disability Studies, focuses on ableism, quality of life of disabled people, community integration of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), and social determinants of health. She received her PhD in Disability Studies and MS in Disability and Human Development from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Associate Professor, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine;
Core Faculty, Disability Studies Program; Associate Director, Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences (CREATE)
University of Washington
Dr. Heather Feldner, PT, PhD, PCS, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, core faculty in the Disability Studies Program, and an Associate Director of the Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences (CREATE) at the University of Washington. Dr. Feldner’s research is centered at the intersection of mobility, disability, ableism, and technology. She examines ableism, allyship, and disability equity in various contexts, particularly in health professions education and practice in addition to studying the design and impacts of mobility technology for children. Her current work incorporates multidisciplinary, mixed methods, and participatory approaches drawing from her background as a pediatric physical therapist, doctoral work in disability studies, and postdoctoral fellowship in in mechanical engineering.
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