Pat Edmiston Leadership in Advocacy Award
This award was established by the Tennessee Council on Autism Spectrum Disorder, in honor of the woman who was instrumental in the creation and early leadership of the council.
2026 Award Recipient
Dr. Megan Schwalm
Dr. Megan Schwalm is a tireless family advocate, nonprofit leader, and systems-level changemaker whose work has resulted in measurable improvements for caregivers and individuals with autism across Tennessee.
As President and CEO of the Tennessee Caregiver Coalition (TCC), Dr. Schwalm leads a statewide organization serving thousands of caregivers annually. Under her leadership, TCC distributes more than 1,000 respite vouchers each year, provides a caregiver helpline, facilitates support groups, leads volunteer respite programs, and advances statewide advocacy efforts. Her leadership has strengthened Tennessee’s caregiver infrastructure, increased access to respite, and amplified the voices of families who are often overlooked in policy conversations.
Dr. Schwalm’s advocacy is not only professional, it is deeply personal. As the mother of a son with autism, she brings lived experience to every space she enters. She understands firsthand the exhaustion, isolation, financial strain, and resilience that characterize the caregiving journey. Rather than allowing those challenges to remain private burdens, she has transformed them into fuel for systemic change.
She has worked to expand respite access, improve outreach to underserved families, build partnerships across disability and aging sectors,and elevate caregiver voices in legislative and policy discussions. She has also championed inclusive leadership development, ensuring that caregivers, especially those from historically marginalized communities, have opportunities to lead, organize,and advocate within their own regions.
The nominator has been profoundly affected by Dr. Schwalm’s innovation and dedication over the years that they have worked together. In 2025, they were the joint grant recipients of the Vanderbilt University Community Engagement Collaboration Fund. Together, we led a psychosocial arts-based project supporting adolescents with family caregiving responsibilities in a Nashville high school, the first of its kind in Tennessee. Her ability to adeptly pivot from polished executive philanthropic leader to the vulnerability required to facilitate intimate matters of family disability, grief and hardship with society’s most marginalized children is a strong testament to her warmth,kindness,and authenticity.Dr.Schwalm is one of the rare professionals on this earth who leads from the heart.
Indeed, Dr. Schwalm’s leadership reflects the spirit of Patricia Edmiston’s legacy: collaborative, persistent, and grounded in both compassion and action. Her advocacy has produced concrete improvements in services, visibility, and policy engagement for Tennessee’s autism community. She leads with courage, authenticity, and a deep commitment to making Tennessee a more supportive state for autistic individuals and the families who care for them.
2025 Award Recipient
Dr. Beth Malow
Malow's work as a neurologist, researcher, educator, and advocate has had a profound impact on families, health care providers, and policymakers. Her efforts have led to tangible improvements in the quality of life for countless individuals on the autism spectrum.
Malow is a nationally recognized expert in sleep disorders and their intersection with autism. As the Burry Chair in Cognitive Childhood Development and Director of the Vanderbilt Sleep Disorders Division, she has dedicated her career to helping children and adults on the autism spectrum overcome significant sleep challenges. Recognizing that sleep difficulties can severely impact daily functioning and family well-being, Malow has developed evidence-based educational materials and practical programs to help families establish better sleep habits.Her work has provided relief to parents who have struggled for years to help their children sleep through the night, allowing for better overall health and daily functioning.
Beyond her clinical work, Malow has championed systemic change through her involvement in Project ECHO (Extending Community Healthcare Outcomes), an innovative model that trains healthcare providers across Tennessee and the nation to better serve individuals with autism. As a key leader in ECHO Autism, she has played a pivotal role in connecting specialists, family members, and autistic individuals in a collaborative effort to expand access to high-quality care.This initiative has significantly enhanced healthcare professionals' understanding and ability to support autistic patients, particularly in underserved areas where expertise in autism care is limited.
Malow's advocacy extends beyond healthcare into policy and legislative impact. She was instrumental in the formation of the Tennessee Council on Autism Spectrum Disorder, serving as its first vice chair. Her leadership in the Autism Summit Team helped lay the foundation for this council, ensuring that individuals with autism and their families have a voice in shaping statewide policies. Her contributions have helped secure resources, improve service coordination, and influence legislation that benefits the autism community.
In addition to her professional accomplishments, Malow brings a deeply personal perspective to her advocacy as the parent of two young adults on the autism spectrum. Her lived experience as a mother, fuels her passion and determination to create meaningful change. She understands firsthand the challenges families faceand uses her expertise to bridge the gap between research, policy, and real-world needs.
Malow is also a leader in science communication, making complex medical and policy issues accessible to the public. Through her work with organizations like Braver Angels and her TEDx talk on "The Art of Communicating Science," she has demonstrated a remarkable ability to engage diverse audiences in meaningful dialogue about autism, health care, and science policy. Three products she has worked on through her work with the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center highlight her passion for encouraging advocacy in others. A toolkit to help adolescents and young adults on the spectrum plan how to be become more self-determined and learn to advocate for themselves, a series of videos that she scripted to encourage adults with IDD to educate themselves on the effectiveness of vaccines, and a toolkit for researchers on how to consent adults with IDD for research so that they may fully participate in improving health outcomes are primary examples of her commitment to translating research to practice to education to advocacy.
Her unwavering commitment, tireless advocacy, and compassionate approach have made a mark on Tennessee's autism community. Whether through direct patient care, training healthcare providers, influencing policy, or empowering families with knowledge and resources, Beth Malow has been at the forefront of improving systems.