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Meet Our Providers
Michael M. McKee, MD, MPH is a family medicine physician with clinical and research expertise in disability health. As a physician with a hearing loss, he is especially interested in advocating for the rights of Deaf and hard of hearing patients to obtain equitable health care. His research focus includes health disparities for individuals with various disabilities, health information accessibility, health literacy, and telemedicine applications. He is also interested in the application of eye trackers and mixed methodologies to study how individuals acquire health information through visual and incidental learning opportunities. Dr. McKee is the current president of the Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Losses (AMPHL).
Philip Zazove, MD is a clinical and research expert in disability health, specifically, health services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals. Dr. Zazove graduated from Northwestern University, and received his MD from Washington University. He completed his residency training in family medicine at the University of Utah Hospitals. He is now Professor and Chair of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan, and has been active in clinical, educational, research and outreach activities. His main area of research focus has been health services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals, and he has published extensively in this arena as well as obtained grant funding. He also serves on national boards and committees related to this topic, including serving as the current Vice President of the International Group Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Loss (link is external), and serves on the Advisory Board for the National Center for Deaf Health Research.
Leslie Pertz, LMSW, NIC is a clinical social worker with many years of experience working with the Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing communities. She has a BA in psychology from Central Michigan University and later completed her MSW from Michigan State University. She has been a contract interpreter with Michigan Medicine since 2003, after completing her interpreter training at Lansing Community College. For the past several years she has been on staff with the Department of Social Work, with various roles in outpatient clinics, serving patients of all ages, including providing psychotherapy and support groups, case management, teaching, presenting, and research. Leslie’s clinical and research interests include a focus on hearing loss and how that relates to mental health and barriers to behavioral healthcare.
Video Transcript
Hello, my name is Leslie Pertz, from University of Michigan Health System, now known as Michigan Medicine.
I became an interpreter at Lansing Community College many years ago and worked as an interpreter for some time, I continue to do work as an interpreter today. I then decided to pursue my graduate degree and became a social worker. Later I began my career at Michigan Medicine currently working with Drs Zazove and McKee.
A social worker works with people of all ages, from babies to older adults, for counseling (also available on VP), support groups, questions about insurance, SSI/SSDI. transportation, community resources, advocacy, and educational support. For mental health, I see people for a number of concerns including, stress, depression, anxiety, chronic pain, pregnancy support, grief, relationship/ family problems, and problems with alcohol or drugs. I hope to meet you soon! Take care.
Kathleen Diehl, LMSW, ACSW is the Ambulatory Care Services Social Work Manager. She has an Associate’s degree from Delta College and earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s Social Work degrees at the University of Michigan. Most of her career has been as a clinician providing diagnostic assessments and psychotherapy in outpatient clinics at the University of Michigan and Washtenaw County Community Mental Health. She supervised social workers in school-based health centers prior to taking her current job. Her research projects have focused on integration of behavioral health and wellness outside of psychiatric settings.
Dylan Secord, MSW, LLMSW, is a clinical social worker, who is deaf and ASL fluent. His focus is interpersonal practice and mental health, and he has received various formal trainings, including those provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and Medical University of South Carolina. He is a clinical social worker at Deaf Community Access Network (Deaf-CAN). Dylan provides virtual mental health services and is available by video phone only.