2025 is a landmark year for the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center as well as several of its programs, including the Vanderbilt Consortium LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities) Training Program, which is celebrating 25 years at Vanderbilt.
The Vanderbilt LEND training program was founded within the Division of Developmental Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Department of Pediatrics under the leadership of Division director Mark Wolraich, M.D. The grant was awarded in 1999, with the first LEND trainees enrolled in 2000.
The LEND program prepares graduate-level health and education professionals in 17 specialties as well as family- and self-advocates to assume leadership roles to serve children with neurodevelopmental and related disabilities.
Lisa Craft, M.D., served as LEND director from 2000 to 2008. Then, in 2008, the administration of the LEND grant was moved from the VUMC Department of Pediatrics to the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center under the direction of Terri Urbano, Ph.D., (2008-2013).
LEND leadership then passed down to Tyler Reimschisel, M.D., who served as LEND director from 2013 to 2018. In 2016, Reimschisel significantly expanded the program from the Middle Tennessee partner institutions (VUMC, VU, Belmont University, Meharry Medical College, Tennessee State University, and Family Voices of Tennessee) to include East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in Johnson City, and Milligan College, now University, in Elizabethton.
“Through this new LEND program and our collaboration with the Boling Center in Memphis (now the UT Center for Developmental Disabilities), for the first time we were able to provide neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD) education and leadership training to the next generation of health care professionals throughout Tennessee while also providing statewide continuing education to those who are caring for individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families,” said Reimschisel, in announcing the 2016 expansion.
With the expansion came the name change to the Vanderbilt Consortium LEND (VCL) to more accurately capture its reach.
The VCL is currently led by Evon Batey Lee, Ph.D., who has held the director role since 2019, with Rachel Goode, M.D., serving as associate director in Middle Tennessee and Cynthia Chambers, Ph.D., serving as associate director in East Tennessee.
Evon Lee, Ph.D.
“I believe the former directors, faculty, and trainees would be proud of how the LEND program has been able to adapt through periods of change – the COVID pandemic, incorporation of novel educational strategies, transition to virtual platforms, and advent of telehealth – while remaining true to its mission,” said Lee.
“As a former LEND trainee, I feel very confident in saying that it was an experience that helped shape who I am as an educator, a physician, and a parent,” said associate director Rachel Goode. “LEND provides our trainees with such a rich, interdisciplinary perspective, including the perspective of family members and our self-advocates, to better understand the roles we play in the care of our patients, their families, and our community.”
“The Vanderbilt Consortium LEND has taken a unique approach to our programming by partnering with multiple higher education institutions including my institution, ETSU, and community agencies such as Family Voices of Tennessee,” said associate director Cynthia Chambers. “The strength behind this approach is that our trainees receive diverse perspectives from faculty in rural, urban and suburban communities. In addition, trainees learn from self-advocates and family members who can provide advice from lived experiences of navigating medical and educational settings.
“One of the greatest assets of this partnership is that faculty and trainees leave with a tool chest full of resources including people who can serve as lifelong professional allies,” Chambers added.
In addition to the required hours devoted to the core curriculum and leadership series, LEND trainees from Middle and East Tennessee work with one another both in person and remotely on interprofessional group projects that span across the state and have made significant contributions across the years. Trainees have partnered with local clinics to assist with educational needs, worked closely with the Youth Advisory Council, and developed numerous printable resources to help families, educators, and health care providers best serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in their homes, classrooms, and clinics.
These LEND toolkits, all of which are free and accessible to the public, may be found on the LEND Materials webpage here.
“I am so grateful for the opportunity to have watched LEND grow and evolve over the past quarter of a century,” said Evon Lee. “The collaborations with incredibly talented faculty and students have been very meaningful to me, and it is very gratifying to see the impact that former trainees are making across the country. At this stage of my career, I am more convinced than ever of the importance of interprofessional collaboration and family partnerships in promoting happy, healthy, and fulfilling lives for individuals with disabilities and their families.”
About the Vanderbilt Consortium LEND
The Vanderbilt Consortium LEND (VCL) is part of a national network of 60 LEND programs funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The program’s purpose is to improve the health of infants, children, and adolescents with neurodevelopmental and related disabilities and to increase access to family-centered, community-based, interprofessional services. The program focuses on preparing trainees to assume leadership roles and develop interprofessional, advanced clinical skills, and research skills to meet the complex needs of these children.
To learn more about the Vanderbilt Consortium LEND, click here.
Top photo by Getty Images
