Speaker Bios

Speaker Bios

Lindsey Betsill
Lindsey R. Betsill is the Nurse Manager of the Neuro-Trauma Intensive Care Unit at Medical City Arlington in Arlington, Texas. Ms. Betsill has over a decade of clinical nursing experience, which consists of both coronary care and intensive care. As Nurse Manager, Ms. Betsill has led her unit, which consists of 24 beds, to national recognition, earning the HCA Healthcare’s 2019 Unit Distinction Award. That same year, Ms. Betsill collaborated with Trauma Services to receive a successful Level II Trauma Designation from the American College of Surgeons.

Ms. Betsill earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Texas – Arlington and has been certified in critical care by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

Naomi Cahn
Naomi Cahn serves as the Justice Anthony M. Kennedy Distinguished Professor of Law, the Nancy L. Buc ’69 Research Professor in Democracy and Equity, and the Director of the Family Law Center at the University of Virginia. She is an expert in family law, trusts and estates, feminist jurisprudence, reproductive technology, and aging and the law. Prior to joining the University of Virginia faculty in 2020, she taught at George Washington Law School, where she twice served as associate dean. She is the director of UVA Law’s Family Law Center.

Cahn is a co-author of casebooks in both family law and trusts and estates, and she has written numerous articles exploring the intersections among family law, trusts and estates, and feminist theory, as well as essays concerning the connections between gender and international law. In addition, she is the author or editor of books written for both academic and trade publishers. Her books include “Red Families v. Blue Families” (Oxford University Press, 2010, with Professor June Carbone): “Homeward Bound” (Oxford University Press, 2017, with Amy Ziettlow); and “Unequal Family Lives” (Cambridge University Press, 2018, co-edited with UVA professor Brad Wilcox and others).

Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and New Yorker, and she has appeared on numerous media outlets, including NPR and MSNBC. She is also a senior contributor to the Forbes Leadership Channel, for which she regularly writes posts on gender equity.
In 2017, Cahn won the Harry Krause Lifetime Achievement in Family Law Award from the University of Illinois College of Law. She has worked with the Uniform Law Commission as a reporter for two drafting committees. In addition to her work with the commission, Cahn is a member of the American Law Institute, an elected fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, associate editor of the ACTEC Law Journal and a member of the American Bar Foundation, among other commitments. She serves on the editorial board of the Family Court Review. In addition, she has chaired and been on the steering committee for some of the major Association of American Law Schools sections, such as Women in Legal Education, Family & Juvenile Law, Aging and Africa. From 2002-04, Cahn researched gender-based violence while on leave and living in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Prior to joining the faculty at GW Law, Cahn practiced with Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C., and with Community Legal Services in Philadelphia.

Elizabeth Chen
Elizabeth Chen Professor Chen is Acting Assistant Professor of Lawyering at NYU School of Law. Prior to joining the faculty, she was a senior staff attorney at A Better Balance, a national legal advocacy organization, where she advised and litigated on behalf of caregivers and pregnant workers. She previously was a senior associate at Wigdor LLP, where she litigated on behalf of civil rights plaintiffs and served as a Reproductive Justice Fellow at the Center for American Progress, where she researched and wrote about the rights of individuals to parent, not to parent, and to parent the children they have. Professor Chen clerked for the Honorable William Joseph Haynes of the United States District Court of the Middle District of Tennessee.

Professor Chen publishes and speaks frequently on topics including gender and caregiver discrimination, the rights of pregnant workers, sexual harassment and sexual assault, class action litigation, and family preservation. Her scholarship has been published in the American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy and & Law, the Texas Journal of Women & the Law, and the Washington University of Law & Policy.

Nicole C. Dillard
Nicole Dillard is a practicing attorney whose practice focuses primarily on management-side labor and employment law with an additional focus on immigration and corporate visa matters. Ms. Dillard represents corporate clients in trial, appellate area courts, and administrative law forums for employment matters and in alternative dispute resolution proceedings. She also represents clients in federal administrative forums on immigration matters and specializes in securing visas for foreign national artists and entertainers.
In addition to her legal practice, Ms. Dillard is an Assistant Professor at Howard University, the Cathy Hughes School of Communications, where she teaches primarily in the Legal Communications sequence. Ms. Dillard’s research interest focuses in the areas of Immigration law and Labor & Employment Law. Specifically, Ms. Dillard is currently researching immigration policy and hate speech, workplace terminations and social media/speech, and recruiting foreign-national teachers to address the U.S. teacher shortage.

Ms. Dillard earned her Juris Doctor from Catholic University, Columbus School of Law. She has also earned her Master of Education in Bilingual Education from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Virginia.

Mira Edmonds
Mira Edmonds is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she teaches in both the Pediatric Advocacy Clinic and the Civil-Criminal Litigation Clinic. She has worked as a trial attorney in the Criminal Defense Division of the Legal Aid Society in Manhattan and clerked for the Hon. Shira A. Scheindlin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and the Hon. Ellen Segal Huvelle of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Professor Edmonds was previously a Visiting Associate Professor of Clinical Law with the Prisoner & Reentry Clinic at The George Washington University Law School.

Joan Foley
Joan Foley is the Kermit Gitenstein Distinguished Professor of Health Law & Policy and Professor of Legal Process at Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center. Professor Foley teaches Health Care Law, Legal Process, Legal and Ethics Issues in Medical Malpractice, and American Trial Courts - Theory and Practice in the Federal Courts. She is an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at New York Medical College.
Professor Foley received her legal education at the New York University School of Law, graduating in 1995. After law school, she joined the firm of Gordon Thomas Honeywell LLP. From 2000 through 2006, Professor Foley was a partner of that firm in Seattle, Washington. Her practice focused on health law, complex litigation, appellate litigation, and environmental litigation. Professor Foley represented clients in a wide range of cases, including reimbursement litigation, product liability, personal injury, defense litigation, utilities law, and class actions.

Professor Foley joined the faculty at the University of Washington School of Law in 2007. There, she taught first-year and upper division legal writing courses.

Throughout her legal career, Professor Foley has served on a number of boards of professional and non-profit organizations. Professor Foley is Board Member of the Federal Bar Association – Eastern District of New York Chapter Board. She is an Executive Committee Member of the Association of American Law Schools - Aging and the Law Section. Professor Foley is a Steering Committee Member of the Laurel Rubin Farm Worker Justice Project.

Nelda Godfrey
Nelda Godfrey, PhD, RN, is Professor and Associate Dean of Nursing at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Dr. Godfrey is known for her work in health care ethics and professional ethics and is a leader in forming and fostering professional identity in nursing and other health professions. She serves on the American Nurses Association Ethics and Human Rights Advisory Board and is widely published on ethical issues in healthcare.

Jessica Gunder, Esq.
Jessica Gunder is the Allan G. Shepard Professor of Law at the University of Idaho College of Law. Before joining academia, she served as a Trial Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Idaho. At the U.S. Attorney’s Office, she served as the Affirmative Civil Enforcement Coordinator and the Civil Rights Coordinator. In that role, she was responsible for investigating and pursuing violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Katrina Hawkins
Katrina Hawkins is an Intensivist at The George Washington University Hospital and Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care and the Department of Medicine at The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences. She completed her medical school training, Internal Medicine residency and Critical Care Fellowship at GW prior to joining the faculty. Dr. Hawkins has a particular interest in sepsis, ECMO and Medical Education and is currently the Program Director for the Critical Care Medicine Fellowship.

Patricia Horgas
Patricia Horgas is currently the Vice President of Nursing, Medicine Service Line for the Inova Health System. In this role she works with Medical and Administrative partners to lead strategy and operations for the Emergency Departments, Critical Care and Medicine Units across 5 hospitals as well as associated medical office practices. With more than 30 years of experience in hospitals and healthcare, she has led teams in innovative nursing practice and the creation of systemwide staffing strategies. She has enjoyed a wide base of leadership experience including ED, Oncology, Med-Surg, and Behavioral Health.
Ms. Horgas is a visionary leader who excels at collaboration with fellow executive leaders to ensure the highest level of care for patients, no matter where the care is provided. She is focused on creating a workplace culture that promotes, recognizes, and rewards cohesion among all disciplines in the service of world-class patient care.

Ms. Horgas earned her Master of Science in Nursing from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the Pennsylvania State University.

Ms. Horgas is trained as a Child and Adolescent Therapist. She was fortunate to have the opportunity to be the CEO and Co-Owner of a full-service outpatient psychiatric and substance abuse treatment facility and private special education therapeutic day school for emotionally disturbed youth. She is passionate about the integration of behavioral health care into the holistic care of patients.

Ms. Horgas has served on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Suicidology and the Boards of local Mental Health and Crisis Centers. She was an invited participant in Suicide Survivor Research Workshop sponsored by the National Institutes for Mental Health (NIMH), and the Pediatric Mental Health Emergencies sponsored by Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA). Patti was the co-creator of the Discharge Guidelines for Inpatient and Residential Patients at Risk for Suicide and was part of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention Indicator Project.

She is a board-certified Nurse Executive through the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), a member of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership, and the Honor Society of Nursing - Sigma Theta Tau International.

Peter H. Huang
Peter H. Huang received an A.B. at 17 from Princeton, an applied mathematics Ph.D. from Harvard, and an J.D. from Stanford. Peter’s research and scholarship apply behavioral economics, life improvement science, and neuroeconomics to anti-discrimination, business law, decision-making, lawyer and law student well-being, legal education, leadership, and mindfulness. Peter teaches courses about business law subjects, economic analysis of law, and lawyers and leadership.

Clare Huntington
Clare Huntington is the Joseph M. McLaughlin Professor of Law and the Dean for Strategic Initiatives at Fordham University School of Law. Professor Huntington is an expert in the fields of family law and poverty law, publishing widely and serving as an Associate Reporter for the American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law, Children and the Law. Professor Huntington is currently Fordham Law School’s Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives; she served as the Associate Dean for Research from 2014 to 2019. Professor Huntington has won numerous teaching awards, including the Teacher of the Year award in May 2021
Professor Huntington’s legal experience includes serving as an Attorney Advisor in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel as well as clerking for Justice Harry A. Blackmun and Justice Stephen Breyer of the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge Merrick B. Garland of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Judge Denise Cote of the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York. Prior to joining the Fordham faculty in 2011, Professor Huntington was an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Law School. Professor Huntington earned her JD from Columbia Law School and her BA from Oberlin College.

Richard L. Kaplan
Richard L. Kaplan is the Guy Raymond Jones Chair in Law at the University of Illinois, specializing in federal income taxation and policy and elder law. In addition to numerous books and articles involving taxation and tax policy, he is the co-author of Elder Law in a Nutshell, published by Thomson/West (7th ed. 2019), as well as articles on various elder law topics, including Social Security, Medicare, long-term care financing, and retirement funding. He has served as the faculty advisor to The Elder Law Journal, the oldest scholarly publication devoted to this subject, since that publication was created in 1992. He was a Congressionally designated delegate to the National Summit on Retirement Savings and is an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Nina A. Kohn 
Nina A. Kohn is the David M. Levy Professor of Law and Faculty Director of Online Education at Syracuse University College of Law, a faculty affiliate with the Syracuse University Aging Studies Institute, and a member of the American Law Institute. She is also the Solomon Center Distinguished Scholar in Elder Law with the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School. She has served as a Visiting Professor at Yale Law School and at the University of Maine School of Law.

In her prior role as Associate Dean for Online Education, Professor Kohn developed JDinteractive, the nation’s first fully interactive online J.D. program. In her current role as Faculty Director of Online Education, she guides the program’s ongoing development and supports faculty teaching online.
Professor Kohn’s scholarly research focuses on elder law and the civil rights of older adults and persons with diminished cognitive capacity. Her work has appeared in diverse fora including the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, Washington University Law Review, and The Washington Post. Her recent articles have addressed family caregiving, supported and surrogate decision-making, financial exploitation of the elderly, vulnerability and discrimination in old age, the practical and constitutional implications of elder abuse legislation, the potential for an elder rights movement, and legal education.
The author of Elder Law: Practice, Policy & Problems (Wolters Kluwer, 2d ed. 2020), consistent with her research interests Professor Kohn teaches elder law, family law, trusts and estates, torts, and an interdisciplinary gerontology course.

Professor Kohn has served in a variety of public interest roles, including Reporter for the Third Revision of the Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act. She currently serves as the Reporter for the Uniform Law Commission’s Study Group on the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act; Co-Chair of the Elder Rights Committee of the Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section of the American Bar Association; Co-Director of the Aging, Law, and Society Collaborative Research Network; and Vice Chair of the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Mental Disability.

Professor Kohn earned an A.B. summa cum laude from Princeton University and a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard University. She clerked for the Hon. Fred I. Parker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Following her clerkship, she was awarded a fellowship by the Skadden Fellowship Foundation to provide direct representation to nursing home residents and frail elders. She is a past recipient of the College of Law’s Res Ipsa Loquitur award recognizing excellence in teaching, and Syracuse University’s Judith Greenberg Seinfeld Distinguished Faculty Fellowship.

Elena B. Langan
Prior to her current position as Dean and Professor of Law at Touro Law, Elena B. Langan served as the Dean of Concordia University School of Law in Boise, Idaho and Interim Dean at Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad College of Law in Fort Lauderdale Florida, where she also served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Director of the first year lawyering skills and values program.

At Concordia University, Dean Langan served as a member of the student success subcommittee of the President’s Advisory Council and was responsible for: creating, among other things, the 5th & Front Program, described as a place where law and social justice meet in service to the community; engaging in the strategic design and development of innovative JD and non-JD programs; and enhancing the reputation of the law school.

As Interim Dean at Nova she led the effort to more than double enrollment in online non-JD masters programs, increased opportunities for student experiential learning by expanding clinical offerings and led successful fundraising efforts to support student scholarships and law school programs. She had also served on numerous task forces and committees including the Bar Pass Task Force, the law library and technology center strategic planning task force, and the professionalism curriculum committee. She also was responsible for curricular and assessment changes consistent with student learning outcomes and bar passage.

Prior to entering academia, Dean Langan practiced law in Maryland and in Florida. Her scholarship focuses on law school pedagogy and law school admissions, as well as family law. A student-centered Dean, Elena Langan has been active in the American Association of Law Schools, the Inns of Court, and state and national bar associations. She is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland School of Law.

Dean Langan has successfully designed and developed innovative JD and non-JD programs, increased opportunities for student experiential learning, and enhanced law school reputations. She has a proven record in fundraising to support scholarships and program development.

Deirdre Lok
Deirdre Lok is the Assistant Director and General Counsel for The Weinberg Center. She manages the operations of the shelter, including providing legal services to victims in Supreme Court, Housing Court, and Family Court. An Adjunct Professor at Brooklyn Law School, Deirdre directs the law school’s HELP (Helping Elders through Litigation and Policy) Clinic. She is a frequent speaker on the issue of elder abuse and the law, and has guest lectured at Penn State Dickinson School of Law, Cardozo Law School, Touro Law, Hofstra Law School, and CUNY Law School and is a faculty member of Lawline. She has provided training to attorneys through the New York State’s Judicial Institute, the Queens Bar Association, and the Bronx Bar Association. Deirdre was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio to the Age-Friendly NYC Commission, is chair of the American Bar Association’s Senior Lawyer’s Division, Elder Abuse Prevention Committee, and serves as Chair of the Policy and Procedure Subcommittee of the New York State Committee on Elder Justice. Prior to joining The Weinberg Center, she was a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Oahu, Hawaii and an Assistant District Attorney in the Queens County District Attorney’s Office where she focused on domestic violence cases. She is the recipient of the New York Law Journal 2017 General Counsel Impact Award.

Jessica Mantel
Jessica Mantel is the George A. Butler Legal Research Professor and Co-Director of the Health Law & Policy Institute at the University of Houston Law Center. She came to the Institute after eight years of service with two government agencies in Washington, D.C. She worked most recently as a senior attorney in the Office of the General Counsel for the Department of Health and Human Services. In that position, she advised Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on legal issues dealing with Medicare matters, including implementation of the prescription drug benefit, hospital payments, incentive payments for the adoption of electronic health records, and health care reform. She previously worked as a health policy analyst in the Government Accountability Office evaluating Medicare payment issues. Prior to her service with government agencies, she practiced as an associate in the Health Care Department of the firm of Ropes & Gray in Boston and clerked for the Honorable Karen Nelson Moore of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cleveland. Her research interests include the impact of various legislative and regulatory schemes on emerging trends in the health care delivery system and the allocation of limited health care resources. In 1997, Mantel received both her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and an M.P.P. from the University of Michigan School of Public Policy. She also holds a B.A. in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Denise Marzano-Doty
Denise Marzano-Doty is an Adjunct Professor of Law and Senior Staff Attorney for the Senior Citizens Law Program at Touro Law Center. She joined the program in 2010, which is federally-funded and provides legal services at no cost to individuals age 60+, residing in Suffolk County. She is a 1994 graduate of Touro Law Center, where she served as a Research Editor on the Touro Law Review.

In her current position, Ms. Marzano-Doty provides legal services including preparation of community Medicaid and pooled trust applications, advance directives (durable powers of attorney, health care proxies and living wills) and representation in landlord-tenant, town zoning violations and small claims court matters. She teaches lawyering skills in her clinic seminar course and manages many law students each year who assist in serving approximately 1,000 seniors.

Ms. Marzano-Doty previously worked in private law firms and maintained her own practice. Currently, she also works with Family Services League to provide training for their ombudsmen who volunteer in nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Suffolk County and she is a regular speaker at senior citizen and caregiver groups. She volunteers for the Suffolk County Access to Justice Program, and has been a lecturer in the Touro, “Perfect for Practice” legal education program, as well as the TCUS symposium on Healthy Aging in the Era of COVID-19. She is also a participant in the Touro Interdisciplinary Institute for Healthy Aging (“TIIHA”).

Ms. Marzano-Doty is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the Suffolk County Bar Association and donates her time to several community-based organizations.

Barbara Pfeffer Billauer
Barbara Pfeffer Billauer is currently Visiting Senior Faculty: Academic College of Law and Science, Hod HaSharon, Israel. She also holds faculty appointments at the International Program in Bioethics of the University of Porto, Portugal, where she is Professor of Law and at the Institute of World Politics, Washington, DC where she is Research Professor of Scientific Statecraft. She earned a B.S. in Biology/Education from Cornell University (Hons.), an M.A. in Occupational Health from N.Y.U., a J.D. from Hofstra University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Haifa Faculty of Law. Dr. Billauer was certified in Public Health Risk Policy by Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and is also EPA-certified in Asbestos Management. She has edited Professor Amnon Carmi’s Casebook for Judges on Bioethics, writes regularly for the American Council on Science and Health, and has just published Health Inequity and the Elderly: The Impact of Pandemic-Policy, Bioethics and the Law.

Patricia E. Salkin
Patricia Salkin served as Dean and Professor of Law at Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center from 2012-2016. She currently serves as Provost, Graduate and Professional Divisions, and Professor of Law.

Prior to joining Touro Law Center, Salkin was the Raymond & Ella Smith Distinguished Professor of Law, as well as Associate Dean and Director of the Government Law Center of Albany Law School. Salkin is co-chair of the NYS Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar and she was a member of the City Bar’s Task Force on New Lawyers in a Changing Profession. She is a past chair of the American Association of Law School’s State & Local Government Law Section, and is the author of hundreds of books, articles, and columns including a recent piece in the Journal of Legal Education on incorporating best practices into the teaching of land use law. She served two terms as an appointed member of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, a Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

A member of the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates, Salkin holds and has held many leadership positions within both the ABA and the New York State Bar Association including: Past Chair of the ABA State and Local Government Section and current member of the Standing Committee on Governmental Affairs (ABA); Past Chair of the NYSBA Municipal Law Section and Founding Member and Past Chair of the NYSBA Committee on Attorneys in Public Service; and she has chaired numerous NYSBA task forces including one focusing on: government ethics, eminent domain, and town and village justice courts.

A nationally recognized scholar on land use law and zoning, Salkin is the author of the popular blog, Law of the Land. Her land use publications include: The 4-volume 4th edition of New York Zoning Law & Practice (1999-present); the 5-volume 5th edition of American Law of Zoning (2008-present); Bordering on Madness: An American Land Use Tale Companion (with Popper and Avitale)(2008); Land Use & Sustainable Development: Cases and Materials, 8th ed. (Thomson West) (with Nolon) (2012); Climate Change and Sustainable Development Law in a Nutshell (Thomson Reuters) (with Nolon) (2010); Land Use in a Nutshell (Thomson West) (with Nolon) (2007); The Greening of Local Governments (with Hirokawa, eds.) (ABA Press 2012); and the annual Zoning and Planning Law Handbook, ed. (Thomson Reuters).

She has served on the Board of Directors of the New York Planning Federation, and has been active in land use reform efforts including membership on the Land Use Advisory Committee of the NYS Legislative Commission on Rural Resources. She is a reporter for the American Planning Association's Planning & Environmental Law and on the Editorial Advisory Board for The Urban Lawyer produced by UMKC School of Law for the ABA. Dean Salkin continues to serve as the long-term chair of the American Planning Association's Amicus Curiae Committee. She has consulted on land use issues for many national organizations including: the American Planning Association, the American Institute of Certified Planners, the National Academy for Public Administration, and the National Governor’s Association.
Salkin is committed to advancing the status of women in the legal profession. She is the editor of PIONEERING WOMEN LAWYERS: FROM KATE STONEMAN TO PRESENT, Editor (American Bar Association Press, 2008), and she has delivered speeches and earned recognition from womens' bar associations, women's business organizations, and non-profit organizations focused on women. She is a member of the Suffolk County Women's Bar Association, the National Association of Women Lawyers, and a former member of the Capital District Women's Bar Association. At Touro Law, Salkin and her family have established two scholarships, one awarded to a rising 2L (F/T of P/T) or rising 3L (five-year PT) female student who shows commitment to women’s and/or diversity issues, and a second scholarship awarded annually to a law student who is either currently or was previously a K-12 teacher pursuing school while also raising a family; or someone raising a family who has expressed an interest in education law.

Esperanza N. Sanchez
Esperanza N. Sanchez is a registered nurse on the Rapid Response Team at the George Washington University Hospital. Ms. Sanchez specializes in intensive care and uses her critical care expertise to improve patient outcomes by identifying and treating early clinical deterioration in all areas of the hospital. In addition to her nursing practice, Ms. Sanchez works as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Solicitor. As an attorney, Ms. Sanchez has represented the U.S. Department of Labor in both enforcement actions as well as defensive litigation; assisted in the development of regulations, standards, and legislative proposals; and provided legal opinions and advice concerning federal programs in the employment and training context.

Ms. Sanchez earned her Juris Doctor from Catholic University, Columbus School of Law, and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Texas - Arlington.

Elizabeth Scott
Elizabeth Scott is the Harold R. Medina Professor of Law at Columbia University School of Law. Her areas of scholarly interest are family law and youth law, and she has published extensively in legal and social science journals on the legal regulation of youth crime, and on marriage, divorce, child custody, and adolescent decision-making. Much of her research is interdisciplinary, applying social science research, developmental theory, and behavioral economics to legal policy issues involving children and families. With Laurence Steinberg, she is the author of Rethinking Juvenile Justice (Harvard University Press, 2008), which received the 2010 award for the best social policy book by the Society for Research in Adolescence. Scott is the co-author of a widely used casebook on Children in the Legal System (6th ed. 2020). In 2015, she was appointed by the American Law Institute to serve as the Chief Reporter of a new Restatement of Children and the Law. From 2011- 2016, Scott was a member of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Neuroscience and Criminal Law. From 1995-2005, she was a member of a MacArthur Foundation Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice, an interdisciplinary research group that conducted influential studies of adolescents’ competence to stand trial, desistance from criminal activity, and public attitudes toward youthful culpability. She was also a member of a National Academy of Science Committee on Juvenile Justice, which authored a National Research Council Report, Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach.

Before coming to Columbia, Scott was on the faculty of the University of Virginia School of Law, where she received her J.D. degree. At Virginia, she was a founder and co-director of the Center for Children, Family and the Law, an interdisciplinary Center that promotes research and informs policy makers and practitioners on issues relating to children and families. She has served on the board of Directors of the University of Virginia Law School Foundation. Scott has also served on numerous task forces and committees dealing with legal policy toward families.

Lior Strahilevitz
Lior Strahilevitz is the Sidley Austin Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, where he has taught since 2002. Strahilevitz was elected to the American Law Institute in 2015 and is a co-author of the leading Property law textbook in the United States, along with James Krier, Greg Alexander, Mike Schill, and the late Jesse Dukeminier. At Chicago, he is a two-time winner of the Graduating Students’ Award for Teaching Excellence. Strahilevitz’s research focuses on property law, privacy law, and the law of consumer contracts. His conference presentation will focus on two new research projects that concern American law in an aging society – Property Law for the Ages (with Michael Pollack) and Scaling Down Senior Living: The Post-Pandemic Future of Elderly Housing (with Joanna Martin).

Tristan Sullivan-Wilson 
Tristan Sullivan-Wilson is a Staff Attorney at The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Center for Elder Justice at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale. In this role, she provides legal services for older adults who have experienced abuse, trains professionals about elder abuse identification and intervention, and writes on issues of elder justice. She is a 2018 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, where she concentrated in Poverty Law and Economic Justice. Prior to joining the Weinberg Center, she worked on local public health policy issues as a Georgetown Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellow in Washington, D.C.

AveMaria Thompson
AveMaria Thompson is the Director of the Mediation Clinic at Touro Law Center. Clinic students in the Mediation Clinic are trained in the basics of mediation and Landlord-Tenant law. They are given the important responsibility to facilitate mediations in active landlord-tenant cases in Suffolk County District Court.

Upon graduation from law school in May 2000, Ms. Thompson started her career in public service by working as an Assistant District Attorney for the Queens County District Attorney’s Office. In 2003, she joined the staff of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. Ms. Thompson served as an Assistant District Attorney for ten years in Suffolk County.

Ms. Thompson is admitted to practice in New York State, The United States District Court, Eastern District of New York (EDNY) and the Southern District of New York (EDNY). Ms. Thompson received her Bachelor's and master’s Degrees at Buffalo University. In 2000, she received her Juris Doctorate at Touro Law Center. In law school, Ms. Thompson earned a Merit Scholarship, was a member of Law Review, and President of the Minority Student Bar Association.

Through the years, Ms. Thompson has held membership and office in various organizations including a member of the Board of Directors for the Suffolk County Women’s Bar Association; The Links, Inc. Services to Youth Co-Chair; Jack and Jill of America Suffolk County Chapter Parliamentarian, Legislative Chair, Community Service Chair and Bylaws Chair; the National Bar Association Government Attorneys Executive Board Member; the National Black Prosecutor’s Association Election Chair; Amistad Long Island Black Bar Association Constitution Law Day Committee Chair (2015 and 2016); Lectured at the Suffolk County Bar Association CLE on the topic of Narcotics and the alternatives for Pending Drug Cases- 2007; and member of the New York State Bar Association.

Ms. Thompson was a Torts Adjunct Professor of Law at Touro Law Center. She is a currently a Staff Attorney and Clinical Faculty for the Senior Citizens Law Program at Touro Law Center. She is an Access to Justice Program Volunteer and a recipient of the 2019 Pro Bono Honoree Award for her work as a volunteer.

Mentors

Jean C. Accius
Dr. Jean Accius is a passionate champion and catalyst for changing how the world sees and values aging. He is an internationally recognized thought leader on aging, longevity, equity, health systems transformation and modernizing the delivery and financing of long-term care. With tri-sector experience and deep knowledge, he has a strong track record of building high-performing teams, managing cross-functional operations and processes, and developing innovative and actionable solutions, policies, and programs to close the opportunity gap so that everyone can live longer, healthier and more productive lives.

As Senior Vice President of Global Thought Leadership at AARP, he leads a team in positioning AARP as a global thought leader by identifying emerging trends around the world, cultivating and elevating new ideas, forging global strategic alliances that become the foundation for collaboration and sparking bold solutions to change systems and improve the lives of the global population as it ages.

Dr. Accius has been generously recognized for his transformational leadership, business acumen, and systems change approach, including:

• Next Avenue’s Influencer in Aging Award (2020)
• Florida State University’s Alumni Association Circle of Gold (2020)
• The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Sharecare Award for groundbreaking work on male family caregivers (2019)
• The Maryland Daily Record 2019 Influential Marylander Award
• Black Enterprise magazine’s 2018 Modern Man of Distinction
• Prince George’s County Social Innovation Fund 40 under 40 Award (2018)
• Gerontological Society of America Fellow (2018)
• The National Academy of Social Insurance New Generation of Social Insurance Leaders Award (2017)

A highly sought-after author and speaker, Dr. Accius has been quoted by or appeared in numerous media outlets, including The New York Times, Forbes, TIME Magazine, USA Today, Reuters, Politico, Next Avenue, ESPN’s Undefeated, Rolling Out, NationSwell, Congressional Quarterly, and Huffington Post. In 2020, he facilitated several sessions at the 50th annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and also engaged nearly 300 leaders across industries and sectors, including 20 ambassadors and many delegates, at the United Nations.

Accius is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors and has held a variety of board and advisory positions including Justice in Aging, the American Society on Aging, Leadership Maryland and the American University School of Public Affairs Board of Advisors. Previous Board appointments also include Florida State University Alumni Association, the South Florida Institute on Aging Policy Council and the Editorial Advisory Committee for Generations, the journal for the American Society on Aging.

He is an Executive Leadership Council Fellow, member of G100’s Transformational Leadership Network, and holds a bachelor’s degree in hospitality administration and a master’s degree in aging studies from the Claude Pepper Institute at Florida State University. He also holds a Ph.D. in public administration from American University. Dr. Accius is a graduate of Leadership Maryland’s Class of 2014, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health program on health reform, and Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business Corporate Innovation program.

Robin Burner Daleo
Robin Burner Daleo is the founding Partner at the Law Offices of Robin Burner Daleo, PLLC. After spending seventeen years at a well-regarded Elder Law firm, the first seven as a legal assistant and then upon her admission to the Bar, the last ten as an Associate Attorney, Robin decided to open her own firm. She focuses her practice in the areas of Estate Planning, Trust and Estate Administration, Guardianship, and Elder Law. Robin is a zealous advocate for her clients offering personal, compassionate legal counsel.
Robin is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the Suffolk County Bar Association where she served as a co-chair of the Suffolk County Elder Law Committee for two years. Robin lectures frequently to the public as well as to professionals on topics related to Elder Law, Medicaid, Special Needs Planning and Estate Planning.

Ms. Daleo is an adjunct professor at both the Touro Law Center and The Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University where she teaches Trusts and Estates and Elder Law, respectively.

In 2020, for the seventh consecutive year, Minneapolis based Law & Politics, publishers of Super Lawyers magazines, announced that Robin had been named as a Rising Star Attorney. Super Lawyers, published in the New York Times Magazine, is a listing of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement in their respective fields. Each year, no more than 5 percent of the lawyers in the state receive this honor.

In 2018, Ms. Daleo was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumni Award by Touro Law Center and in 2016, Robin was named as an 'Outstanding Woman in Law' by Hofstra University School of Law Center for Children Families and the Law and Long Island Business News.

Ms. Daleo is certified to serve as counsel, guardian and court evaluator in Supreme Court Guardianship matters pursuant to the Part 36 List. She is also an accredited attorney for the preparation, presentation and prosecution of claims for Veterans Benefits before the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Ms. Daleo received her undergraduate degree from St. Joseph's College where she graduated with Senior Honors. She received her Juris Doctor from Touro Law School, Magna Cum Laude. At graduation she was awarded the National Association of Woman Lawyer's Outstanding Law Student Award and the Award for Exemplary Contribution to the Growth of the Law Center. She is admitted to practice law in the State of New York. She lives in East Moriches with her family.

Denny Chan
Denny serves as Justice in Aging’s inaugural Directing Attorney for Equity Advocacy. In this role, he is responsible for developing and leading Justice in Aging’s Strategic Initiative on Advancing Equity, with a primary focus on race equity for older adults of color, and he also coordinates the organization’s equity team. He joined Justice in Aging as an attorney on the health team in 2014 and is based in Los Angeles, CA. The son of working-class Chinese immigrant parents, Denny has worked significantly on non-discrimination, language access, and healthcare delivery reform issues for low-income older adults and brings all of these experiences to his advocacy. He previously served as a rotating law clerk for the US District Court in Los Angeles and participated in the Fulbright English Teaching Program as a fellow in Macau, China. Denny is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine School of Law. He received his BA from the University of Michigan. State Bar Admission: California.

Tiffany Graham
Professor Tiffany Graham is an Associate Professor of Law and the Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion at Touro Law Center. She joined the faculty at Touro Law Center in Long Island, New York in May 2020 after serving for six years on the faculty and as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the University of South Dakota School of Law. Professor Graham primarily teaches in the areas of constitutional law and race and the law, but has also taught criminal procedure, law and sexuality, and torts.
She has written and spoken nationally on topics broadly related to LGBTQ+ equality, including marriage equality, LGBTQ+ youth homelessness, conversion therapy, and the integration of LGBTQ+ communities in rural spaces. Her work has appeared in multiple journals, most recently in the Creighton Law Review and the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review, and has been cited at various stages of appellate litigation.

In addition to her scholarly work, Professor Graham is active in the professional community, where she recently served as the Chair of the South Dakota State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, and has now been appointed to the corresponding New York State Advisory Committee. She has also served on various boards of directors and fulfilled an appointment to the Magistrate Judge Selection Panel for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

A graduate of Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges and the University of Virginia School of Law, she previously clerked for the Honorable Richard W. Roberts on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and did commercial litigation in the Los Angeles office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver and Hedges, LLP. Professor Graham was named a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in 2014.

Nina Kohn
*Ms. Kohn is also the Keynote Speaker. See her bio in the Speaker section above.

Joan Robert

An advocate for clients challenged by age and disability-related issues, Ms. Robert offers representation to those dealing with elder care matters.

Ms. Robert is a graduate of Skidmore College, where she was a member of Periclean, the Skidmore College Honor Society, the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied pursuant to a Ford Foundation Fellowship, and Touro College School of Law, summa cum laude, where she was the recipient of a Deans Fellowship and was valedictorian of the part-time division. Prior to entering the practice of law, Ms. Robert taught French with the Valley Stream Central High School District.

Ms. Robert served as Chair of the New York State Bar Association Elder Law Section from 2003-2004 and served as Co-Chair of its Special Needs Planning Committee from 2006-2009. She is now Co-Chair of the Section’s Mentoring program. She is a past member of the Committee of Persons with a Disability and of the Committee on Committees of the New York State Bar Association. She is an attorney member of the Guardianship Advisory Committee formed by the Office of Court Administration. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Elder Law Section in January, 2014. She has been named a Super Lawyer for 2014.

A past Director of the Nassau County Bar Association and a past chair of its Elder Law/Social Services/Health Advocacy Committee, Ms. Robert served as Dean of the Nassau Academy of Law. She served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Nassau County Bar Association and as a member of its nominating committee.

Ms. Robert is Past President of the New York Chapter of NAELA, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and was a Co-Chair of the Special Needs Planning Summit sponsored by NAELA. She is a member of the Publications and Programs Task Force and is Co-Chair of the State Chapters Committee of NAELA. She received the NAELA award as outstanding member of the New York Chapter in 2012 and also received the Theresa Foundation Award for outstanding service and advocacy to persons with special needs, sponsored by NAELA.

Ms. Robert has been honored for outstanding service by the Long Island Alzheimer’s Foundation, Project Real and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.. She served on the Board of Editors of the Bill of Particulars, the publication of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, which honored her as outstanding downstate speaker. She is a past Editor in Chief of the New York Elder Law and Guardianship Newsletter. She co-wrote the chapter on Special Needs Planning in the book Guardianship Practice in New York State and wrote the chapters on Medicaid liens and planning in Personal Injury Actions in New York published by the New York State Bar Association. The author of numerous articles for community groups and professional groups concerning elder law and disability law, Ms. Robert has been a faculty member at various Bar Association programs concerning Elder Law, Supplemental Needs Trusts and asset preservation, and has been an instructor at certified training programs for Guardians, Supplemental Needs Trust Trustees and Court Evaluators.

Prior to joining Robert Legal Group, Ms. Robert was a partner in Kassoff, Robert & Lerner, LLP, a premier Long Island elder law firm.

Ms. Robert and her husband, Charles, are the proud parents of Heather Robert Coffman, Esq. and Jay Robert, Esq.. They are the doting grandparents of Naomi Coffman and Leo Coffman, residents of San Francisco, and Edie Robert and Ike Robert, of Brooklyn.