Meet The Experts: Our 2023 Bloom Panel

Plans are well underway for our 10th (yes, TENTH!) annual Bloom: A Mini Conference for Moms, and as always we are so excited to share this event with you.  We hope you can join us for an amazing afternoon filled with awesome local resources, pop-up shops, fancy snacks, amazing giveaways, socialization with fellow moms and our absolute favorite part: Q&A with a panel of experts on all things parenting! (Don’t have your tickets yet? Grab them here!)

Bloom is hosted by Iowa City Moms, University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, The Bails Team at Urban Acres Real Estate, and Team Iowa Physical Therapy.  Title sponsors include Modern Woodmen (Allison Couch), Country Financial (Christa Payne & Peg Fraser) and Willowwind School. We are so grateful for the support of these local businesses to help bring this wonderful event to all of the mothers in our community!

We are so, so grateful to these incredible experts from our community who have agreed to come and share their knowledge with us.  For those of you who have never been to the event before, the panelists will each take about 2-3 minutes to introduce themselves and tell you more about what they have to offer to moms and families in our community.  After that, we will open it up for questions from the audience.  This is such a powerful part of the event; we absolutely LOVE watching moms ask all of the questions they’ve wanted to ask, and to have all of the right people there to answer them!

Without further ado, here are the 2023 Bloom Panelists.  Special thanks to each and every one of them for giving their time and joining us this year!

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Allison Couch

Financial Representative, Modern Woodmen of America

In addition to the title of financial representative for Modern Woodmen of America, Allison is also an Iowa mom of two little boys who would love to help YOU plan for your life. If you’re losing sleep at night (who isn’t, right?) over your finances and/or your long term goals and plans, Allison is here to help. In her own words, “The best part of my career is the fulfillment and joy I feel from meeting and helping people with such important, life-changing decisions. This career also allows me the flexibility to not only serve my community, but to be there for my family, too.”  

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Tegan Donahue

Sleep Consultant, Bedtime Babble LLC

Tegan Donahue is a Certified Sleep Consultant specializing in infant and toddler sleep, owner of Bedtime Babble, LLC and mom of two. She received her certification from the Center for Pediatric Sleep Management and has a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Southern Illinois University. Her journey in pediatric sleep began when she was determined to still sleep even after becoming a new mom. Tegan is supporting families with a client-led approach. This means your family will be met where you are, and coached through sleep training methods that align with your parenting style and feel safe and comfortable for you.

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Amber Goodrich, CNM, ARNP, MSN, FACNM

Certified Nurse-Midwife and Division Director of Obstetrics and Genecology, University of Iowa Health Care

Amber Goodrich is a Certified-Nurse Midwife who practices at University of Iowa Healthcare (UIHC). The midwives at UIHC have clinics at North Dodge, Iowa River Landing, main campus, Cedar Rapids, Muscatine and Washington. The midwives have excellent outcomes, including a low c-section rate, and are able to care for patients desiring vaginal birth after one or two cesareans. The midwives are able to provide low intervention care at UIHC with the luxury of having Maternal Fetal Medicine and a Level IV NICU available if needed. Amber’s favorite part about her job is caring for a woman throughout her life. She loves seeing her grow as a person- from teenage years, childbearing years, and through menopause. She feels privileged to be included in the most vulnerable, sacred times of her patients’ lives.

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Deborah Lin-Dyken, MD

Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrician, Center for Disabilities and Development, University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital

Deborah Lin-Dyken received her bachelor degree in biology from Purdue University, then received her MD from Indiana University.  She then completed a pediatrics residency at St. Louis Children’s Hospital at Washington University in St. Louis, followed by a fellowship in Developmental Disabilities.  Currently, she is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and her clinical and research interests include sleep disorders, autism and ADHD.  She is married to a neurologist who works at the VA Hospital, and she is the mother of two adult children.

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Liz Loney

Second Vice President, Retail Managing Officer, MidWestOne

Liz Loney, 2nd Vice President, Retail Manager, at  MidWestOne Bank in Coralville, has worked in finance for 10 years. She has extensive experience in checking, savings, budgeting, and planning. Liz also spent time as a Fraud Investigator and has great tips for how to keep your financial information safe online!

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Kim Passini, DPT

Pregnancy and Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist, Team Iowa Physical Therapy

Kim graduated from the University of Iowa Doctor of Physical Therapy program in 2017. Kim is a Pregnancy and Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist, focusing on orthopedic and pelvic floor conditions. She is also trained in integrative dry needling. She works with a variety of ages and conditions, but particularly enjoys helping moms throughout and after their pregnancies. Outside of the clinic, Kim is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Iowa and teaches at Barre3 in Iowa City.

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Stacey Pawlak, PhD

Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Iowa Health Care

Stacey Pawlak is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the University of Iowa Departments of Psychiatry, Psychology & Quantitative Foundations, and Obstetrics & Gynecology. Since it opened in 2007, Dr. Pawlak has worked at the Women’s Wellness & Counseling Service at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, which is a perinatal mental healthcare clinic. She has been Director since 2017. Dr. Pawlak is also the Health Psychologist for the Center for Advanced Reproductive Care, where she provides infertility counseling and third-party reproduction consultations. Her areas of clinical and research interest are infertility and perinatal loss. Dr. Pawlak is an Executive Board member for the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Linn County and Postpartum Support International-Iowa, and is a member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine Mental Health Professional Group and Resolve.

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Sonia Reighard, M.A., CCC-SLP

Speech-Language Pathologist, Enrichment Therapy and Learning Center

Sonia Reighard is a Speech-Language Pathologist and owner of Enrichment Therapy and Learning Center, in Coralville, IA.  Her passion is to work with kids who have difficulties communicating with others.  Whether it be articulation, social skills, comprehension or expressive language; she, and the other speech-language pathologists and learning specialists devoted considerable time in acquiring training for research-proven techniques.

Sonia was originally an SLP in the schools and saw a need for additional services.  Like many schools, the resources and qualification criteria were limited, resulting in many kids “falling through the cracks.”   This is why Sonia started Enrichment TLC.  They now service kids and students from birth through early adulthood. They are experienced in working with students who have a variety of diagnosis; everything from a minor articulation delay, to apraxia of speech, reading delays, comprehension, ADD/ADHD, Autism, and language impairments.   Sonia and her team have recently started a half-day and full-day academic program for kids who struggle in school.  They act as a bridge, to help kids who are struggling, form foundational skills that are needed for academic success.

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Brenda Vergara, CPST-I

Injury Prevention and Community Outreach Program Coordinator, University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital Safety Store

Brenda Vergara is the Injury Prevention and Community Outreach Program Coordinator for the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Brenda manages the Safety Store, which offers products that reduce or prevent injuries  and coordinates outreach for the Injury Prevention programs, including but not limited to Child Passenger Safety, ATV Safety, and Bicycle Safety. Brenda is also a certified child passenger safety technician and instructor for the state of Iowa. She has been a technician since 2015 and became an instructor in early 2022. She is passionate about keeping kids safe and enjoys traveling the state promoting messages related to that. She is a mom of 3 very active teenagers; a daughter – 17, and two sons – 16 and 14. They are new to the driving scene and keeping them and other children safe on the road in the state is one her biggest goals. She loves to stay active and spending time with her family.

Portrait on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022.

Megan Wubben, MD

Pediatrician and Clinical Assistant Professor of General Pediatrics, University of Iowa Health Care

Megan Wubben is a general pediatrician and Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, providing care to children birth to age 21 at Iowa River Landing Pediatrics and at the UIHC Mother Baby Unit. Dr. Wubben was born and raised in Eastern Iowa and attended Iowa State University with a B.S degree in Microbiology and received her Doctorate of Medicine degree at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. She completed her pediatric residency training at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital and was the Pediatric Chief Resident at the University of Arizona in Tucson prior to becoming faculty at the University of Iowa. Dr. Wubben loves her work with children and developing long standing relationships with her patients and their families. Outside of work, she loves to spend time with her husband and chocolate lab, enjoy the outdoors and travel.

Grab Your Tickets!

If you don’t have your tickets to Bloom yet, ACT QUICK.  Ticket sales end Friday, April 21st, and may end sooner if we sell out! Click here to get yours!

Iowa City Moms Blog
At Iowa City Moms Blog we’re a group of local moms who are passionate about connecting other moms to one another and to our community! Whether you’re an experienced mom, a newbie, expecting, or aspiring to be a mom someday, this blog is for you! Join us as we navigate this journey that is motherhood in the Iowa City area!

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