To students and teachers, she is the 'brain lady.' To the psychology department head at Eastern Virginia Medical School, she is an agent of change. Marylin Copeland has been a tireless advocate for individuals with a brain injury and their families, fighting for funding before the legislature.

In these times of budget cuts, she believes bringing the issue to the public helps ensure services for this community. Copeland is one of the leaders in the fight to bring crisis-intervention training to Norfolk police, knowing that trained teams help resolve situations for people with brain injuries or mental illness and thus avoid jail.

She realizes that education is key to better treatment, and she tirelessly brought her message to groups of all sizes, whether 15 students in a high school club or 100 at a conference.

At a time when the brain injury community has grown due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I was disappointed to learn that Copeland has left her position with the Brain Injury Association of Virginia. I want to publicly thank her for her commitment to the brain injury community. I am sure she will continue her work, whether paid or unpaid, in bringing about change for the treatment of the brain injured.