Coalition Speakers Bureau
Elisa P. Laird, JD
Elisa’s specialties include training for employees new to disability services work and guidance to schools regarding legally sound disability office process and procedures, Technical Standards, and particularized accommodations for health science, law, and other specialized academic training programs.
Elisa has an extensive background in law, disability, and public health. She has worked as a university sign language interpreter and deaf services coordinator, and later as a disability rights attorney and public health policy attorney, before subsequently returning to work in higher education. She is currently the Director of the Disability Resource Center at Samuel Merritt University in Oakland, California.
Elisa is a regular trainer for AHEAD (the Association on Higher Education and Disability) through their Management Institutes and Master Classes, presents often at professional conferences, and provides customized consulting and training services to universities around the country. Her publications include a number of articles and chapters, including several in The Guide to Assisting Students with Disabilities: Equal Access in Health Science and Professional Education, and she served as the former Legal Advisor for the Coalition for Disability Access in Health Science and Medical Education. Elisa is passionate about creating green spaces and agriculture in urban environments, and volunteers extensively with San Francisco non-profits and city agencies to promote people-friendly environments within the city. Elisa can be reached at elisalaird@gmail.com
Lisa Meeks, PhD, MA
Dr. Meeks specializes in medical/health Science education disability policy, programmatic review, faculty trainings, consults on complex disability cases and serves as an expert witness.
Dr. Meeks has over twenty years of experience working with students with disabilities and has developed specific expertise in the field of disability services for learners in health science programs and medical education. In addition to training and supporting institutions of higher education, Dr. Meeks has conducted trainings for the Association of Higher Education and Disabilities (AHEAD), The Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM).
She is co-developer of the AAMC Webinar Series on Working with Students with Disabilities in Medical Education, and the UCSF Faculty Training Series. She is co-founder and Past President of the Coalition for Disability Access in Health Science and Medical Education , co-editor and an author of two leading texts on disability and health science (Disability As Diversity and The Guide to Equal Access), and lead author of the AAMC/UCSF Report ,Accessibility, Inclusion, and Action in Medical Education: Lived Experiences of Learners and Physicians With Disabilities. Her work as been featured recently on NPR, in the Washington Post, on CNBC, in Slate, cleveland.com, and in The New Physician magazine from the American Medical Student Association (AMSA). Lisa can be reached at Meeksandcompanyconsulting@gmail.com.
Jan Serrantino, EdD
Jan specializes in faculty training specific to the Health Sciences, Program review, Staffing DS offices and consults with students regarding NBME accommodation requests.
Dr. Jan Serrantino is the former Director of the Disability Services Center at the University of California, Irvine and worked specifically with students in the Schools of Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health and Medicine. She has worked in the disability field since 1989 in K-12, Community College and in the university setting and frequently assists Disability Services providers to find solutions to unique, complex cases.
Jan is the President Elect for The Coalition for Access in Health Science and Medical Education, serves on Mental Health, Veteran and Electronic Accessibility committees and presents at professional conferences on disability related topics such as confidentiality, ally training, autism spectrum disorders, academic and clinical accommodations and challenges faced by students in higher education. She is co-author of two chapters in The Guide to Assisting Students with Disabilities: Equal Access in Health Science and Professional Education (Springer Publishing) and a contributor to the AAMC Webinar Series and the UCSF Disability Training Series. Jan can be reached at jan.serrantino@gmail.com.