TAASLP Leadership

Jennifer Wilson has been a Speech-Language Pathologist for over 25 years, working primarily with pediatrics in medical settings.  She received her M.A. from University of Memphis in 1993 and began gaining  experience through working for two Children’s Hospital systems, owning a private practice for 12 years and  working for the past 3 1/2 years at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center as a Clinical Instructor. She specializes in the area of Pediatric Dysphagia, educating  graduates clinically and academically, and providing community education on feeding and swallowing disorders in children.  She also serves on the Admissions Board and as a Internship Coordinator with the University of Tennessee FUTURE program, a post-secondary education program for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Additionally,  she serves as a Community Ambassador with Feeding Matters, a Site Visitor for the Council of Academic Accreditation, and is on the Member Advisory Board for the ASHA Alternative Payment Models Committee.

Contact Jennifer at president@taaslp.org

Susan Amberg received her Doctorate of Audiology from Vanderbilt University. She has been a Clinical Audiologist at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center (VBWC) in Nashville, TN for 30 years, providing clinical services and graduate student supervision. Dr. Amberg is Assistant Director Cochlear Implant Program at VBWC and works primarily with the adult hearing impaired population. She has worked with cochlear implants for 27 years and has presented locally and regionally on hearing loss and cochlear implants. She has been a member of TAASLP since 1986 and has been Secretary-Treasurer of TAASLP since 2009 and of TAA since 2003.

Contact Susan at treasurer@taaslp.org.

Janani completed her M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology from Alabama A&M University in 2017. After that she began serving children in the Shelby County Public schools. Her focus area includes early intervention and K-12th grade. Janani enjoys working in the public schools as she can service underprivileged populations. Janani also supervises and mentors graduate students seeking a career in Speech Language Pathology. Her professional interests include travel therapy, cultural and linguistic diversity, and administration and supervision. In her free time, Janani enjoys serving at her local church, knitting, and kickboxing.

Contact Janani Webb at communications@taaslp.org

Lucas J. Magee is currently employed at VUMC in the adult acute care SLP department and he is the primary SLP on the geriatric team. Prior to working at VUMC, he has worked at a level 2 trauma hospital, an LTACH, and at a SNF. His primary areas of interest include dysphagia, TBI, and aphasia. Over the course of his career, he has presented at conferences and continuing education seminars for both SLPs and other medical professionals, primarily at the local level of the facilities where he was employed. Since joining TAASLP, he has been a member of the convention planning committee for the medical SLP track for 2019 and began the process of planning the medical SLP track for the 2020 convention, prior to it being cancelled due to COVID-19. From his past experiences, he feels that he can continue with and improve upon the high-quality continuing education resource that is the TAASLP state convention.

Contact Lucas at convention@taaslp.org

Andrea Green, Au.D., is a clinical audiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.  She graduated with her Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.  Dr. Green has clinical experience in diagnostics, amplification, and vestibular sciences for both adult and pediatric populations.  Since beginning her career in audiology, she has demonstrated her passion for volunteer leadership as an active member in many state and national professional organizations.  She is currently the Past Chair for the AAA Leadership Council and active in the community as a Board member for HEAR Nashville.

Contact Andrea at membership@taaslp.org

Corinne Zazzaro is currently a second-year audiology student at Vanderbilt University. She came to Vanderbilt to pursue the field of audiology after graduating from the University of Connecticut with a degree in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. In her time at the University of Connecticut, she also minored in Political Science with hopes to use that background to advocate for legislation that would positively affect audiologists and speech language pathologists. She is currently the Tennessee Ambassador for the Student Academy of Audiology. In the future, she hopes to work in a private practice where she specializes as a vestibular audiologist.

Contact Corinne at students@taaslp.org

Rachel received her undergraduate degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from North Carolina State University in 1995 and her master’s degree in 1996 from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. She began her career as an SLP in private practice serving contract positions in schools, government agencies and healthcare settings. After working with a variety of populations, Rachel began to focus her work helping preschool aged children and specifically children with an early diagnosis of autism. She received her certification from The Hanen Centre in 2002 and began providing courses in early language development and early communication skills for parents and caregivers of young children. Most recently Rachel has worked as a school-based speech language pathologist in the public schools at all levels (preschool-secondary education). Her focus in the public schools has been to promote social language skills and augmentative communication using low and high-tech systems. She has training in PECS and Social Thinking Curriculum.

Outside of the therapy room, she has a personal interest in raising awareness of the role of the speech language pathologist in the educational setting as a member of the school based team. Due to her husband’s career, Rachel and her family have lived in 6 states across the country. “Living in multiple states has broadened my perspective personally and professionally as well as offered countless career and volunteer opportunities within the field.” Rachel resides in Lookout Mountain, TN and in her spare time she can be found gardening, walking her dogs, or cheering on her kids at a sporting event. Rachel looks forward to serving as your Member at Large and helping to represent the members of TAASLP.

Contact Rachel at mal@taaslp.org

Courtney Atnip began lobbying over a decade ago for persons with disabilities needing healthcare and she has never stopped being a tireless advocate for clients. She manages complicated public policy issues and develops multi-tiered, targeted strategic plans to achieve positive outcomes largely through managing legislative agendas, grass roots initiatives, and public information campaigns. Atnip has built a reputation throughout Tennessee for rolling up her sleeves to find the best solution for clients. She and her husband live in Nashville with their daughter Lizzie. She holds undergraduate and Master's degrees from the University of Tennessee and is a native of Knoxville.

Heather Meshell has a background in advocacy that includes work with the Sexual Assault Center of Middle Tennessee as a Sexual Assault Response Team Coordinator (SART) where she collaborated with police, nurses, prosecutors, and advocates to help four counties (Davidson, Cheatham, Sumner, and Williamson) formalize protocols on responding to sexual assault. Prior to that, she worked at the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence as the Director of Community Engagement and Advocacy, conducting legislative research and teaming up with community partners and legislators on policy initiatives. She received her Juris Doctorate from Nashville School of Law and holds a degree in Sociology from Middle Tennessee State University.