Deana M Bonno, MD

Dr. Bonno is Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Dr. Bonno received her undergraduate degree from Union College in Schenectady, NY and her medical degree from the University of Connecticut. Her clinical training included an internship in Medicine and residency in Neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center. This was followed by a one-year fellowship in Clinical Neurophysiology and a one-year fellowship in Epilepsy, also completed at the University of Rochester Medical Center. After completing her fellowship in Epilepsy, Dr. Bonno joined the University of Rochester faculty and served the community in Ithaca through Cayuga Medical Center and Cayuga Medical Associates until 2018. She returned to the University in 2018 and cares for patients with difficult to control seizures.Dr. Bonno is board certified in Neurology with subspecialty certifications in clinical neurophysiology and epilepsy.

She has a special interest in utilizing dietary therapies in adults for the treatment of medically refractory epilepsy and is director of the Adult Dietary Therapy Center at the UR Epilepsy Center. She works closely with a ketogenic dietitian, Leeann Habben, to offer various dietary therapies (including Modified Atkins, low glycemic and classic ketogenic diets) to patients.

Sanjeev V. Kothare, MD, FAAN, FAASM, FAES

Dr. Kothare is the Director of Pediatric Neurology and Co-Director of the Pediatric Sleep Program at Cohen Children’s Medical Center. He is also a Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at the Zucker School of Medicine, Hofstra/Northwell. Dr. Kothare earned his medical degree in Pediatrics, a diploma in child health, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine and Surgery from the Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College in Mumbai, India. His post-graduate training included a rotating internship and residency in pediatrics at the K.E.M. Hospital in Mumbai, followed by a one-year internship in pediatrics at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, where he also served as chief pediatric resident. He later went on to complete another residency in pediatric neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.

In addition, Dr. Kothare completed a fellowship in clinical neurophysiology/EEG and sleep disorders at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. Dr. Kothare is a fellow of several medical organizations, including the American Academy of Neurology, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the American Academy of Pediatrics, as well as a member of the Child Neurology Society and the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society. He has co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, 50 review articles, and 50 book chapters. In addition, Dr. Kothare served as editor of three books: Sleep in Childhood Neurological Disorders, Parasomnias, and Sleep in Adolescents. He has been a recipient of the Harvard catalyst research award and several grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His research revolves around sleep and epilepsy, as well as Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP).

Kerri Neifeld

Kerri Neifeld serves as the Commissioner of the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) following her nomination as Commissioner by Governor Kathy Hochul in early November of 2021. Prior to her nomination, Kerri most recently served as Assistant Secretary for Human Services & Mental Hygiene in the governor's office. 

Before working in the governor’s office, Kerri was Assistant Deputy Commissioner at the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) where she managed the Division of Shelter Oversight and Compliance. Kerri joined OTDA as Special Assistant to the Deputy Commissioner while serving as an Excelsior Service Fellow, before being promoted to Assistant Deputy Commissioner. Prior to joining the Excelsior Service Fellowship Program, Kerri was a Fellow on Women & Public Policy at Rockefeller College's Center for Women in Government & Civil Society. A passionate advocate for others, Kerri also worked as a Project Manager at the Mental Health Association of Columbia-Greene Counties, a Child Protective Services Caseworker and a Foster Care Caseworker as well as a Youth Care Worker at WAIT House Homeless Youth Shelter.

Kerri plans to use her years of public service experience to inform new and innovative ways to support and serve people with developmental disabilities. Kerri holds a B.A. from Elmira College and an M.S.W. from the University at Albany School of Social Welfare. 

Allison Nichol

Prior to joining the Epilepsy Foundation as the Director of Legal Advocacy, Allison Nichol had the privilege of serving the Department of Justice for more than twenty years as both Deputy Chief and then Chief of the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division (CRD or the Division) which enforces the Americans with Disabilities Act and, most recently, as Special Counsel (Special Counsel) on Disability Employment to the Deputy Associate Attorney General for Diversity and Inclusion, Office of the Associate Attorney General in which capacity she also served as a member of the Executive Staff of the Attorney General’s Diversity Management Advisory Council and liaison to the Attorney General’s Committee on the Employment of Persons with Disabilities.

During her tenure, she served as the Department’s long-time expert on HIV law and policy, overseeing all HIV litigation and representing the Department on the federal working group on the National Strategy on HIV/AIDS and the federal working group on the Intersection of HIV/AIDS. Violence against Women and Girls and Gender-Related Health Disparities. She wrote the Division’s policy guidance, United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Best Practices Guide to Reform HIV-Specific Criminal Laws to Align with Scientifically-Supported Factors www.aids.gov, and co-authored Prevalence and Public Health Implications of State Laws that Criminalize Potential HIV Exposure in the United States, AIDS and Behavior, March 2014.  http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10461-014-0724-0 .  She also serves as an adjunct professor teaching Disability Discrimination Law at Georgetown Law School. 

Marc Palmieri

Mr. Palmieri is a playwright, author, screenwriter, director, dramaturge, and actor who has taught for CCNY's English and MFA program in Creative Writing and is a full-time Assistant Professor at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry. He is the author of numerous plays (published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.) and the memoir She Danced with Lightning (Post Hill Press, 2022). Marc wrote the original screenplay for Miramax Films’ Telling You and has been published in numerous literary journals and magazines. Marc is a fully vested member of SAG-AFTRA and Actors Equity and played the lead role in Shooting Gallery’s IFP Spirit Award-nominated feature film, Too Much Sleep, which received national theatrical distribution and television distribution on Starz. He has done national commercial campaigns for Pizza Hut, Heineken, Burger King, Verizon, Microsoft, Toyota, and many others. Marc directed the film of Shakespeare’s Sonnet #138 for the Sonnet Project NYC, which is housed online by the London Shakespeare Globe’s website. He wrote, directed, and acted in the web series The Thing. As a playwright, Marc has worked with Axis Company, Theatre at Saint Clements, South Coast Repertory, Penn State Centre Stage, Redhouse Theatre, The Lark Play Development Center, Rattlestick Playwright’s Theatre, and many more. His plays include the first American professionally produced play written for a streaming platform in 2020, Waiting For The Host, the 2009 New York Times “Critic’s Pick,” Levittown, The Groundling, Poor Fellas , and Carl The Second. He is represented by Alex Glass of Alex Glass Literary, and by Carole Ingber & Associates for television commercials. Marc was also once a baseball player, drafted in 1989 in the Major League Amateur Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays. 

Jodi Streich, Ph.D.

Dr. Streich serves as the Director of Mental Health at Rutgers University World Trade Center Health Program Clinical Center of Excellence. She is responsible for the development and implementation of mental health services for the World Trade Center first responders. Dr. Streich has worked in many therapeutic settings including hospitals, outpatient rehabilitation facilities, and universities. Dr. Streich earned her M.A. degrees and Ph.D. degree in Clinical Psychology from Adelphi University, Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies. Her passion and clinical focus have always been in trauma and healing. Dr. Streich volunteers for the Epilepsy Foundation Northeastern New York as a member of their Professional Advisory Board.  She also provides support groups and facilitates a treatment program, Project UPLIFT, that empowers people with epilepsy to improve their own mental health through mindfulness and cognitive-behavioral skills.