Jeremy French-Lawyer is an Instructor in the SUNY Upstate Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMR) department, and manages the Disability and Health Research Team. As the Instructional Design and Evaluation Manager, she focuses on the incorporation of disability content into medical education, as well as related evaluation and research. In her work she uses systems-based thinking to address health disparities.

Ms. French-Lawyer has been involved in the development of the Disability Integration Toolkit (DIT) since its initiation in 2017. Through collaboration with the Association of Academic Physiatrists and partners at several academic institutions, the DIT promotes the integration of disability content in medical school curriculum using active learning tools and principles of adult education. Ms. French-Lawyer’s work has included instructional design and curriculum development, along with managing submissions, the peer review process for the DIT, and sustainability planning for the DIT.

Recently, Ms. French-Lawyer and her team redesigned the Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Summer Experience which she co-coordinates. This program is an eight-week clinical externship and educational experience for rising second year medical students. She leads the educational activities for the program and assists in the facilitation of journal club for PMR residents that focuses on critical evaluation of research.

In addition to her work in education and instructional design, Jeremy’s publication history includes systematic search and reviews related to disability content in medical education and health information seeking. She is involved in several research and evaluation projects, including evaluation and translational research for the Disability Research and Dissemination Center. Recently, her work has also included the impact of COVID-19 on disability services and related topics in collaboration with the NYSDOH Disability and Health Program.