Mary Jennings Van Sant, M.S., CCC-SLP, currently serves as TBI MedSLP’s Vice President. She is a certified speech-language pathologist with a passion for helping individuals improve their communication and overall quality of life. With over eight years of experience across diverse clinical settings, Mary Jennings specializes in the evaluation and treatment of speech, language, cognitive-communication, voice, and swallowing disorders across the lifespan.

She earned her Master’s degree in Communication Disorders from the University of Texas at Dallas and holds certification from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Mary Jennings has worked extensively with adolescent, adult, and geriatric populations in inpatient and outpatient hospital settings, home health, and outpatient clinics.

She is a certified provider of the McNeill Dysphagia Therapy Program (MDTP), AmpCare ESP, and SPEAK OUT!®, and brings additional expertise in treating voice disorders.

Known for her compassionate approach and commitment to evidence-based practice, Mary Jennings is dedicated to empowering clients and their families through individualized care, education, and support.

Outside of her professional work, she enjoys hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, spending time with friends and family, and traveling.

Lauren Barnathan, MS, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist with more than a decade of clinical experience across acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, outpatient, school-based, and telepractice settings. Her primary area of expertise is acute care, with a particular interest in dysphagia, traumatic and acquired brain injury, disorders of consciousness, and the management of medically complex patients.

Lauren currently practices at Penn State Health- Hershey Medical Center, where she works with both pediatric and adult populations and is a member of the pediatric interdisciplinary tracheostomy and ventilator team. Her clinical experience includes evaluation and treatment of patients with complex swallowing, cognitive-communication, speech, language, and feeding disorders, including those requiring mechanical ventilation, tracheostomy, ECMO, and other advanced medical support.

A strong advocate for early and meaningful rehabilitation following neurologic injury, Lauren has helped develop initiatives to improve the identification and management of patients with disorders of consciousness and traumatic brain injury. She is passionate about interdisciplinary collaboration, translating complex clinical concepts into practical bedside care, and supporting patients and families throughout recovery.

Lauren also brings a unique perspective to her work as a stroke survivor herself. Her lived experience has shaped her approach to patient care and strengthened her commitment to compassionate, evidence-informed rehabilitation that recognizes both the clinical and human experience of neurologic recovery.

Beyond clinical practice, Lauren is committed to education, mentorship, and advancing the role of speech-language pathology in acute and critical care. She has presented to students, clinicians, and community audiences and currently serves on the board of TBI MedSLP, supporting education and advocacy surrounding traumatic brain injury and medical speech-language pathology.

Laura serves as Vice President of Marketing and Communications for TBI MedSLP. Laura Morgan, M.S., CCC-SLP, CBIST, started her clinical fellowship in Frederick, Maryland, but was a passenger in a motor vehicle accident. Despite wearing a seatbelt, Laura sustained

serious injuries that delayed her return to work. This gave Laura a unique perspective as both a provider and recipient of cognitive therapy.

Once able to work again, Laura had to repeat her clinical fellowship and retake the SLP licensing exam. For more than six years she served as a speech and language pathologist at Head Injury Rehabilitation and Referral Services, Inc. in Rockville, MD. Inspired by a passion for cognitive rehabilitation, Laura passed the exam to become a Certified Brain Injury Specialist for the field of Speech Pathology. She has shared her clinical reflections as both a provider and a recipient of this discipline in many articles and dozens of multimedia presentations. She posts reflections on her Instagram account, @slp_tbi, and is creating a website, www.soundmindstrategies.com, to manage speaking opportunities.

Hannah serves as the TBI MedSLP Vice President of Community and Donor Relations. Hannah is an ASHA-certified and licensed Speech Language Pathologist in NY with experience in acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, and early intervention. In graduate school, she completed a Master’s thesis highlighting the perspectives of individuals with TBI on their deficits and others’ reactions to their deficits. Through the Outpatient TBI program at her graduate school, she was able to create meaningful connections with program members, which sparked an interest in learning more about TBI. She is very excited to join the TBIMedSLP team and continue learning and growing!