Speaker Infomation

Therese Clower, MPA

Theresa Clower has over 35 years of non-profit management at the local, state, and national-levels. She established INTO LIGHT Project shortly after the death of her son, Devin, in 2018. She is the lead portrait artist. Prior to that, her professional career included Senior Advisor to the CEO at the Corporation for National and Community Service, Executive Director of the DE Mentoring Council at the Americorps VISTA Programs at the University of Delaware, Executive Director of the Cecil County (MD) Chamber of Commerce, Founder and Executive Director of the Cecil County (MD) Arts Council. She considers The INTO LIGHT Project a culmination of her non-profit management experience and the value she places on the role of the arts in bringing awareness and action to society’s issues. She lives in Western North Carolina.

Leesha Coleman, MLIS

Leesha Coleman is an early career librarian who has worked in libraries, both public and academic, in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. Her areas of interest include Graphic Medicine and early career librarianship support. She is a graduate of the University of South Alabama.

Lisa Ennis, DrPH, MA, MS, MPH

Lisa is an avid gardener with a deep affinity for native plants and their essential role in nature. She began sketching to learn plant identification and, along the way, discovered its profound wellness properties. She holds a Certificate in Native Plant Studies from the Birmingham (Alabama) Botanical Gardens and completed Alabama Extension’s Master Gardener course in 2012. She is the dean of the Gregg-Graniteville Library at the University of South Carolina Aiken (USCA). She also holds several academic degrees and honors. When not working, she is often found outside gardening, sketching, or enjoying time with her three rescue pups.

Willie Dinsih, III

Willie Dinish, III, is the Publisher and Co-owner of The Black Ink Coalition, a local publishing service that helps independent authors to self-publish their works and share them with the world. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Degree from the University of South Alabama (2009).

Rachel Fenske, MLIS

Rachel F. Fenske is the Information Services/Outreach Librarian at the Charles M. Baugh Biomedical Library at the University of South Alabama (USA). She established a patient/family education program using tablet computers for the USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital, USA University Hospital and several USA clinics providing access to resources from the National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health and health videos from the Patient Education Institute. She provides reference to the students, faculty and staff of the USA Colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health and is embedded in online nursing classes. She has been the recipient of numerous awards from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Southeastern Atlantic Region (NNLM SEA) to conduct outreach programs and received the Michael E. DeBakey Library Services Outreach Award from the Friends of the National Library of Medicine in 2019.

Sa'Mya Jones

Sa’Mya Jones is a second-year student in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at the University of South Alabama. She currently serves as the president of the Chi Sigma Iota Upsilon Sigma Alpha Chapter and as a graduate assistant and Wellness Advocate at the Marx Library. Additionally, she is a counseling intern at USA Career Development and Spring Hill College Counseling and Wellness Services. Her areas of interest include helping college students plan their undergraduate careers, assisting organizations with wellness training to improve employee satisfaction, and working with college students who have experienced trauma, guiding them as they navigate personal challenges and develop resilience.

Gail Kouame, MLIS

Gail Kouame is the Director of the Charles M. Baugh Biomedical Library at the University of South Alabama. Shortly after her arrival, in coordination with the USA Libraries Art Galleries, she implemented a gallery space at the Biomedical Library: ArtSpace@BioMed. The ArtSpace has hosted several exhibitions since its inception in October 2022 composed of media from paintings, photography, textile arts, and ceramics. Additionally, the Biomedical Library has participated in the USA Libraries annual JAWSFest (Jazz Arts Writers South Festival), hosting artwork, Jazzy Lunch musical performances, and spoken word events. Gail has been a health sciences librarian for 25 years and is interested in the integration of arts and humanities into healthcare and healthcare education. She also has worked to improve health literacy in underserved, underrepresented populations such as people who are incarcerated and immigrant communities.

Sheila McElhany, BSW

Sheila McElhany serves as Associate Manager of Patient Supportive Care Services. Sheila graduated from Troy University with a bachelor’s degree in social work and currently is pursuing a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in healthcare. She has a passion for serving others, and her goal is to connect individuals and their families to local, state and national resources during their cancer journey. Sheila assists in grant implementation to deliver supportive care services to oncology patients. She also oversees and coordinates the patient lodging and transportation program funded by the American Cancer Society. She is a compassionate lay navigator encouraging individuals and families to build relationships and to be motivated in pursuing assistance.

Peyton McElroy, PhD

Peyton found her way to the medical humanities from the humanities side of things. She graduated from Yale University with a bachelors in Anthropology and Theater Studies, then pursued theater professionally, creating a small theater company, Breakthrough Theater, with her husband, Jamie. With Breakthrough Theater, Peyton directed plays like Caryl Churhill’s “Top Girls,” David Henry Huwang’s “The Sound of a Voice,” and Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex,” before setting aside her director’s chair for further studies in religion at the Institute of Sacred Music, Yale Divinity School. At Yale, Peyton received a masters in Philosophy of Religion, then, later, a doctorate in philosophy from Stanford University. It was in her first faculty position at the University of South Florida, Tampa, where she was introduced to the world of medical humanities from an early mentor and fell in love, yet again, with another discipline. Peyton has taught bioethics, medical ethics and philosophy to many wonderful students, and, along the way has had the distinct pleasure of working alongside wonderful clinicians and medical humanities colleagues at University of Mississippi’s Medical Center’s “Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities.” In her current position at the College of Medicine, she is indebted to Dr. T.J. Hundley for recognizing the healing role the arts can play in the lives of patients, clinicians, future doctors and the broader Medical community.

Quincy Roundtree

My name is Quincy Roundtree. I was brought up on a steady diet of Saturday morning cartoons, comic books, video games, and mythology. Born with an overactive Imagination and a pencil in my hand, I've been drawing and creating for as long as I can remember.

Being a child of the 80's I was fortunate enough to experience the golden age of pop culture. Strange new lands, galaxies far away, terrifying villains, and more courageous heroes than most young kids would know what to do with. But I was never most kids.

Being African-American I've been able to enjoy the worlds and characters presented in most pop culture media without being able to identify with most of it. That has always caused me to have to look at the world of art and entertainment through the lens of "what if".

My plan with my art is to tell the kinds of stories that encompass everything I love. To tell the kinds of stories and present the kinds of images I needed in my youth. And to create the kind of art that encourages others to do the same.

Margaret Wielbut, Med, ATR

Margaret Wielbut received her master’s degree in art therapy from Wayne State University and has a postgraduate certificate in gerontology from Eastern Michigan University. Margaret has over ten years of experience of providing art therapy services in oncology centers such as Van Elslander Cancer Center, St. John Hospital, USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute, and Children and Women’s Hospital. In addition, Margaret has experience with working as an art teacher to residents and developing art programs in senior living communities when she lived in Michigan. In addition, Margaret taught and mentored students at Wayne State University. In her free time, Margaret enjoys swimming, biking, weaving, and traveling.