TAASLP Leadership

Alyssa Conger graduated in 2012 with a Master of Science in Speech and Hearing Science. While in graduate school, she worked in the schools as a Speech-Language Teacher (Speech-Language Pathology Assistant) starting in 2008. Alyssa worked in the public school system until 2014 when she began a new adventure as an independent contractor in the Upper Cumberland area of Tennessee, working with both pediatric and adult patients. In addition to seeing patients in person, she works in the exciting and growing field of teletherapy, carrying additional health licenses in California and Idaho.

With the diverse treatment delivery options, her main priority is providing quality, family-centered care for her patients, encouraging the parents to be active participants in treatment. Her goal is to bridge the gap of school-based services with private services by creating an approachable, open communication corridor between therapists for continuity of care, while protecting the privacy of the patients.  Alyssa served as TAASLP President for the 2017-2018 term.

Contact Alyssa at taaslp.pastpresident@taaslp.org

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 presidentelect@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.

Danielle Garland attended East Tennessee State University for both her undergraduate and graduate education. Danielle is currently employed at Niswonger Children's Hospital in Johnson City, Tennessee, where she works with patients in the NICU, PICU, and pediatric wards, as well as children served by the Tricities St. Jude Affiliate Clinic. She has previously worked in-home early intervention and in public school system. Danielle is also a writer for The Informed SLP.

Her clinical interests include dysphagia, improving the outcomes medically complex children, family-centered care, and pediatric brain injury. Danielle is enthusiastic about the clinician's role in improving evidence-based practice and the dissemination of research.

Contact Danielle at communications@taaslp.org

Kelley Corcoran has been working at Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center since September 2016. Areas of clinical practice are diagnostic adult hearing evaluations and balance evaluations, as well as cochlear implant evaluations and programming for adults and pediatrics.   Prior to working at Vanderbilt, she worked in an audiology private practice in Anchorage, Alaska for two years. She obtained her AuD from the University of Washington in 2014. She is currently serving on the American Academy of Audiology 's Ethical Practices Committee and on the TAASLP Executive Council as VP of Convention.

Kelley's areas of interest include: adult and pediatric vestibular assessment; adult and pediatric cochlear implant programming and evaluations; and research in those areas.

Contact Kelley at convention@taaslp.org.

Jill Omer received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Middle Tennessee State University in 1995. She taught in the public schools until leaving to attend The University of Memphis, where she earned her Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology in 1999. After graduate school she began providing therapy through the Child Language Intervention Program (CLIP) at Vanderbilt University on the research team of Dr. Stephen Camarata. Over the past 19 years, she has worked in the public schools in Franklin Special School District, in private practice, and as a Speech, Language, and Autism Coordinator for the Tennessee Department of Education.  In 2016 she returned to Vanderbilt University Medical Center as Autism Research Coordinator with Dr. Mark Wallace and Dr. Tiffany Woynaroski. She now works as an Educational Consultant for the Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (TRIAD) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she provides training and support for professionals and parents working with children with disabilities. She also serves on the TRIAD Community Engagement Team and is a member of the Inclusion Network of Nashville (INN).

Jill enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters. She loves reading, decorating, and traveling. She has previously served as Continuing Education Chair, Vice President for Membership and Vice President for Convention for TAASLP. She served on the Governor’s State Rehabilitation Council, The TN Autism Summit Team, and on the State Education Agencies Communication Disabilities Council as well as co-coordinated the Partners in Education Conference while at TDOE.

Contact Jill at membership@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.