Disability Advocacy Coalition in Medicine Conference

Peter Poullos, MD

Dr. Poullos received his M.D. degree at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at the University of California-San Francisco in 2002. He stayed at UCSF as a Gastroenterology fellow, but he decided to retrain in Radiology after a spinal cord injury in 2003. As an incomplete quadriplegic, he did his Radiology residency at Stanford University and completed a fellowship In Body Imaging in 2009. Dr. Poullos is now faculty in both Radiology and Gastroenterology and Hepatology.  

In 2018, he founded the Stanford Medicine Alliance for Disability Inclusion and Equity (SMADIE), for which he serves as Co-Chair. In that role, Dr. Poullos advocates for students and healthcare providers with disabilities and for health equity for disabled patients. He is a Faculty Advisor to the Stanford Medical Students with Disability and Chronic Illness (MSDCI) and the MSDCI National organizations. Dr. Poullos and SMADIE have made significant contributions to the disability community, including starting the Stanford Conference on Disability in Healthcare and Medicine, drawing over 1000 participants from 39 countries. He is the Co-Host of the popular “DocsWithDisabilities” podcast, has spoken internationally about disability access in medicine, and has written and researched in the field. One of his proudest achievements is co-creating the Disability in Medicine Mutual Mentorship Program, serving the needs of disabled medicine and healthcare students and practitioners. In 2022, Dr. Poullos received the Stanford President’s Award for Excellence through Diversity. Dr. Poullos enjoys teaching radiology and inclusion at Stanford and across the nation. In his free time, he “relaxes” with his wife and 4-year-old son.

PATCH Teen Educators

Providers and Teens Communicating for Health (PATCH) Teen Educators: Healthcare professionals can play a key role in the health and development of youth. However, there are unique challenges that young people face in accessing and receiving high-quality, youth-friendly health services. During this interactive teen-led workshop, trained PATCH Teen Educators will talk about their experiences with health care and will share advice for ways providers can better connect with teens to ensure high-quality, youth-friendly services.

Angela Evenich, MS

Angela Evenich (she/her) is a disabled SLP, disability activist, researcher, writer, and speaker with cerebral palsy. She received her M.S. in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and AAC Certificate from San Francisco State University. Her research and activism interests include community building, dismantling ableism from an intersectional approach, and addressing the recruitment and retention of disabled clinicians.

Mari Magler, JD

Mari Magler, JD (she/her/hers) is the Director of UW–Madison’s McBurney Disability Resource Center. She has been working in the field of disability since 1994 and higher education since 2005. She holds a J.D. from Hamline University School of Law and a B.A. in Linguistics from Metropolitan State University. She co-authored The Mentor's Companion and A Plan for Mentorship of Educational Interpreters in Minnesota.

Stephanie Moss, MD

Stephanie Moss, MD, is a PGY-1 Psychiatry Resident Physician at Rosalind Franklin University in North Chicago. She is a dedicated advocate for diversity, health equity, and marginalized communities. In medical school she was able to overcome STEP1 failures, a leave of absence, and invisible disabilities.  She is a prominent mentor to similar non-traditional, first-generation doctors. Dr. Moss shares her journey and insights through public speaking and writing, with her work featured on platforms like MedPageToday, PsychiatryNews, KevinMD, the American Medical Women's Association, Endometriosis Foundation, and Doximity as a 2024-25 OpMed Fellow. This year her disability advocacy efforts have focussed on sharing stories of medical students and health care providers in medicine through hosting her podcast Life as a Patient-Doctor

The 2024 planning committee included Brinkley Pauling (MS2 at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine), Alyssa Levitt (MS2 at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine), Junyao Li (MS2 at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine), Mona Hamza (MS3 at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health), Anika Advant (MS3 at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont), Victoria Koenigsberger (MS4 at the Warren Alpert College of Medicine at Brown University), Esther Hibbs (MPH student at University of Michigan School of Public Health, Jason Konop, MD (Medical Educator at UC San Diego), and  Sanjana Ayagarri (OMS IV at Sam Houston State University College of Osteopathic Medicine).