Dr. Maria McWhirt is an accomplished and respected expert in Medicaid and Medicare services, care delivery models, and regulatory research. She founded MPower Me after a 30 year career in community social work and federal and state healthcare administration as an advisor to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She has developed both a passion and a proven track record for finding untapped resources for underserved populations and then empowering them to fully use them to improve their lives. Dr. McWhirt left her role as a regulatory researcher for HHS stakeholders in order to focus on her own family’s needs as her youngest of five sons was losing special education and pediatric supports. Transitioning into adult services that consisted of a long waiting list for her son with autism was a very different experience than it was for her son with severe visual impairment. Her decision to apply her Medicaid regulatory expertise to her own desperation as a parent became the catalyst for groundbreaking disruption throughout the U.S. and beyond. Working with clinicians, teachers, and technology companies, Dr. McWhirt and her son with visual impairment developed customizable software to support functional cognition – to help people think for themselves and express their internal thoughts, feelings, and sensations with anyone they choose. Because the Medicaid system is so complex, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), like Dr. McWhirt’s son, were unable to access this and other technologies that empower them with their own voice and choice. She founded MPower Me as a Medicaid provider of technology that serves ten states and their managed care organizations (MCOs). Today Dr. McWhirt dedicates the resources of her company and her own expertise to increasing access, reimbursement, and education for modernizing complex healthcare systems that serve people who have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 public health emergency.