The Vanderbilt Consortium LEND (VCL) prepares graduate-level health professionals in 15 professions to assume leadership roles to serve children with neurodevelopmental and related disabilities.
Leadership Education
The purpose of the Vanderbilt Consortium LEND is to reduce and prevent NDRD (neurodevelopmental disabilities and related disabilities) in children and to increase access to family-centered, community-based, culturally competent, interprofessional services.
The program focuses on preparing health professionals to assume leadership roles and develop interprofessional team skills, advanced clinical skills, and research skills, in order to meet the complex needs of children with NDRD.
The Vanderbilt Consortium LEND includes faculty and trainees from Belmont University, East Tennessee State University, Meharry Medical College, Milligan College, Tennessee State University, the University of Tennessee, and Vanderbilt University, as well as affiliates from Family Voices of Tennessee and The Arc of Washington County.
The Vanderbilt Consortium LEND works closely with a variety of university, family and state agency partners to provide workshops, conferences and distance education at the community, state, regional and national levels. We also provide technical assistance to health delivery systems and organizations that support services to individuals with ASD/NDD, especially underserved populations in rural settings and those with diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
LEND Contacts and Advisory Council
Email: LEND@vanderbilt.edu
LEND programs are interprofessional leadership training programs federally funded through HRSA's Maternal and Child Health Bureau.
There are 52 LEND programs located in 44 US states, with an additional six states and three territories reached through program partnerships. Collectively, they form a national network that shares information and resources and maximizes their impact. They work together to address national issues of importance to children with special health care needs and their families, exchange best practices and develop shared products.
The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) provides technical assistance and consultation to address the needs of the LEND and other MCHB long-term interprofessional training programs in developing leadership systems of quality education for health providers within the Title V Maternal and Child Health network.
The Vanderbilt Consortium LEND is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number T73MC30767. Content herein should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.