Susan Zimmermann

Susan Zimmermann, PhD, is Family Faculty and the Leadership Placement Coordinator for NH-ME LEND. In the seminars she leads, she weaves together her experiences raising her son with Down syndrome and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with her background in medical sociology to provide trainees with a rich understanding of the larger social contexts that shape individual and family experiences with disability. In her role as Leadership Placement Coordinator, she maintains and establishes community partnerships across the state of New Hampshire to offer trainees opportunities for projects that will enhance their own leadership skills and development.   

In addition to her work with NH-ME LEND, Susan is an Adjunct Training Facilitator for the Transition Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities (TPSID) project where she develops virtual trainings for families to educate them about postsecondary options for their adult children with intellectual disabilities.  Formerly, Susan was a Project Coordinator for NH-ME ECHO SCOPE (Supporting Children of the Opioid Epidemic). This was a series of  virtual sessions aimed at increasing providers’ knowledge of strategies, skills and resources to help children of this epidemic.  She also was a consultant for the Heightened Scrutiny Process for the Home and Community-Based Settings Regulation. In this role, she conducted site visits at residential homes and day programs for persons with disabilities to provide feedback for state summaries and on-going monitoring reviews. As a consultant, Susan also worked with a team at the New Hampshire Council on Developmental Disabilities to develop and conduct trainings for direct support professionals on how to promote a more robust community life for their clients with disabilities. This work was part of the Living Well Quality Framework grant through the Institute on Disability.  

Susan completed her doctorate in medical sociology at Brown University in 1996 and a post-doctoral fellowship in mental health services research at Rutgers University two years later. In 1999, she accepted a position as a research associate at Dartmouth’s Psychiatric Research Center in Lebanon, NH, where she coordinated a study at the VA hospital in White River Junction, VT, that focused on interventions for elder veterans with mental health and alcohol-related disabilities. This research was part of a larger, multi-site Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) study.   

Prior to joining NH-ME LEND faculty in 2019, Susan was actively involved in the disability community on a volunteer basis while raising her two sons.  Susan graduated from the University of New Hampshire’s Leadership Series in 2018 and NH-ME LEND in 2019. These two programs helped Susan understand how to connect her personal experiences with raising her son to her educational and professional backgrounds to find meaningful work in the field of disability.