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WashU Medicine expands disabilities curriculum

Medical students will have more opportunities to learn about clinical accommodations for patients with disabilities

by Maggie Singleton•May 23, 2025

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Two grants and contributions from the Hilary Yablon Gallin, MD, MBA, Disability Curriculum Fund will help deepen medical students’ understanding of how to compassionately care for patients with disabilities.

How do you know if patients who use wheelchairs require assistance transferring to an exam table or if they feel more comfortable managing on their own? What medical accommodations could best support their needs? How should a physician interact with a patient who uses American Sign Language through an interpreter to ensure the patient’s needs are met?  

Two grants awarded to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis will help students discern answers to these questions and many more. With new accessible equipment, learners will gain hands-on experiences to deepen their understanding of how to compassionately care for patients with disabilities.

The Dana and Christopher Reeve Foundation recently awarded a grant to WashU Medicine for accessible equipment, including three adjustable-height exam tables to help students learn various methods to transfer patients from a wheelchair to an exam or diagnostic table. Students will also train in simulated settings to listen and understand patients’ preferences with respect to clinical accommodations.

A grant from the American Academy of Developmental Medicine & Dentistry National Inclusive Curriculum for Health Education will further enhance WashU Medicine’s curriculum for treating patients with intellectual or developmental disabilities. As students work through simulated scenarios, they will learn strategies for partnering with patients in their care — such as techniques for assessing a patient’s understanding during an exam. Collaborations with the St. Louis Arc, an organization that serves people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities, and other community groups will provide additional opportunities for WashU Medicine students.

Kristina Petersen, PhD, assistant dean of student success and access, and Nichole Zehnder, MD, associate dean of educational strategy, lead efforts to enhance WashU Medicine’s disabilities curriculum.

“This work is all about treating the person and accommodating any disability-related needs,” Petersen said. “These grants will help us bring to life our vision — to make disabilities curriculum accessible to more students and make it available earlier in their academic careers.”

KIM WALKER

In January, several medical students visited a WashU Medicine Occupational Therapy lab embedded within Paraquad, a center for independent living, as part of their fourth-year elective course on disability. WashU Medicine professors Thy Huskey, MD, (left, front row) and Kerri Morgan, PhD, (right, front row) lead the Comprehensive Approach to Disability Keyston-Integrated Science Course. Also pictured are Kristina Petersen, PhD, (second row, fifth from right) and Peppar Cyr (far left), a student advocate who helped develop the disability curriculum.

These efforts complement contributions from the Hilary Yablon Gallin, MD, MBA, Disability Curriculum Fund. A longtime member of the WashU Medicine National Council, Pamela Gallin Yablon, MD, established the fund to honor her daughter, Hilary Yablon Gallin, a WashU Medicine alumna. Inspired by a close friend’s experience with disability and Hilary’s observation that her medical training lacked instruction on caring for patients with disabilities, the fund aims to elevate disability education within the medical curriculum.

Hilary helped develop an early version of this training as a student, and today, the fund will support annual lectures — featuring both physician and patient perspectives — beginning this fall. The Gateway Curriculum builds on Hilary’s original efforts by offering students progressive, hands-on experiences that normalize disability as part of the human experience.

“Every patient deserves equal care and dignity, regardless of their abilities,” said Pamela Gallin Yablon and Hilary Yablon Gallin. “By supporting this curriculum, we are teaching health care providers the knowledge and skills to address the unique needs of patients with cognitive or physical disabilities. We hope this initiative serves as a template for all medical schools, fostering a more inclusive and compassionate health care system for everyone.”

By embedding disability-focused learning into clinical skills training, clerkships and specialty electives, the curriculum prepares future physicians to continue Hilary’s legacy of advocacy and inclusion. Together with the Gateway Curriculum and recent grant support, the Hilary Yablon Gallin, MD, MBA, Disability Curriculum Fund ensures that future physicians are better prepared to provide accessible, informed, compassionate care to all patients.

“At WashU Medicine, we go through great lengths to ensure our students are academically prepared for their next steps,” said Eva Aagaard, MD, vice chancellor for medical education, senior associate dean for education, and the Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb Professor of Medical Education. “Equally important is preparing their hearts. These grants and the Gallin family’s generous support enable us to open the minds and hearts of even more students.”

Senior medical advancement writer Jeanne Norris contributed to this story.