2023-24 LEND Fellows

Abigail Barlow is in the Physical Therapy doctoral program at Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences at Mary Baldwin University. Her area of interest is children’s growth and development. She looks forward to gaining clinical experience and making an impact in her patients’ lives.

Allison Sweeney studies Occupational Therapy at Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences at Mary Baldwin University. She is interested in a career in pediatrics, working with children with neurodevelopmental and musculoskeletal conditions.

Brendan Oakes is a self-advocacy fellow in the Blue Ridge LEND program. He hopes to learn how to be a better advocate for the autism community. Brendan also looks forward to making more connections in the autism and neurodivergent field.

Caroline Quigley is a student of Occupational Therapy at Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences at Mary Baldwin University. She is pursuing pediatric occupational therapy. She is passionate about mental health, advocacy, and education.

Catherine Salmon is earning her degree in Speech Language Pathology at the University of Virginia. Her areas of interest include speech-sound disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, augmentative and alternative communication, and the evaluation process of diagnosing autism spectrum disorder. In the LEND program, she hopes to gain experience collaborating with other professionals across disciplines.

Emily Warren is a doctoral student in the Psychology program at the University of Virginia. She has a special interest in serving individuals of all ages and abilities in crisis stabilization and inpatient hospital settings. Through LEND she hopes to gain experience in advocacy toward effective crisis intervention services to help prevent unnecessary psychiatric inpatient hospitalization for individuals with developmental disorders.

Kelly Hicks is a certified pediatric nurse practitioner at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters. She currently works in inpatient pediatric and adolescent psychology. She hopes to leverage her LEND experience to provide the best care possible for her patients, many of whom have an underlying neurodevelopmental disorder.

Morgan Davis is a registered dietitian nutritionist in the Family LEND discipline. Her long-term goal is to support families of children with autism and other developmental delays who need additional feeding and nutrition support. She is driven to help others fuel for optimal energy, physical and mental health, and to help them find other community resources that can improve their quality of life.

Olivia Wallace is a Special Education LEND fellow. She is interested in promoting inclusion by embedding communication supports across environments. She hopes to learn more about inclusion from a multi-disciplinary standpoint so that her research can better support individuals with disabilities in all aspects of life.

Ruby Tan joined UVA’s Developmental-Behavioral Pediatric Fellowship program in January 2023 after practicing general pediatrics. Her current research is focused on the diagnostic evaluation of autism spectrum disorder and how this relates to clinicians’ diagnostic certainty. She is interested in promoting inclusion by increasing awareness and understanding of different communication methods and by embedding communication supports across environments.

Sophie Brunt is a graduate student in the school and clinical psychology doctoral program at the University of Virginia. Her research interests include the experiences of caregivers of children with ASD as well as disparities in diagnosis and treatment of ASD among underserved populations. Her interests lie in improving therapeutic services for autistic individuals and supporting parents as they navigate these services.

Suzanne McClain is a doctoral student in Special Education at the University of Virginia. Her research interests are centered around the training of pre-service and in-service teachers in evidence-based practices to improve outcomes in literacy and other academic skills for students with disabilities.

Westley Fallavollita is a doctoral student in the clinical and school psychology program at the University of Virginia. He hopes to become more familiar with interdisciplinary youth services and interventions for individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities, and how psychology can work collaboratively with other disciplines.