Kelli Gary Talley, Ph.D., MPH, OTR/L, CBIS is an assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Counseling (RC) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, VA. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in OT from Chicago State University in Chicago, IL, a Master of Science and Master of Public Health from Columbia University in New York, NY, and a Ph.D. from VCU all while having residual cognitive and emotional deficits from a traumatic brain injury. She has 29 years of clinical practice, 19 years of research, and 13 years of teaching experience at VCU. She is a member of the leadership team for Culture, Race, and Health Core in the VCU Institute on Inclusion, Inquiry, and Innovation. Dr. Talley has authored/co-authored more than 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and five book chapters primarily focused on racial and ethnic minorities and caregivers with TBI and other disabilities. She has written grants to fund the development of an after-school program in Petersburg, VA, to develop her research in TBI and health disparities, and to pay off student loans. She is a past member of the board of directors and the conference planning committee for the Brain Injury Association of Virginia (BIAV), and the national committee for Veterans with special disabilities that reports directly to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in Washington, DC. She has presented at numerous conferences and has been invited as a keynote speaker around the nation and internationally in Toronto, Canada, and Johannesburg, South Africa to present her research and her experience of living with a TBI and relying on education and training to become successful and productive.