2018 Annual Meeting Speaker Biographies

Swathi Kiran, Ph.D.

Topic: Functional Reorganization of the Language System in Aphasia

Bio: Swathi Kiran is a Professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at Boston University and Associate Dean for Research at Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. She is the co-founder and scientific advisor for Constant Therapy, a software platform for rehabilitation tools after brain injury. Constant Therapy was recently acquired by Digital Health Corporation and is now called The Learning Corporation. Prior to Boston University, she was at University of Texas at Austin. She received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Her research interests focus around lexical semantic treatment for individuals with aphasia, bilingual aphasia, and neuroimaging of brain plasticity following a stroke. She has over 80 publications and her work has appeared in high impact journals across a variety of disciplines, including cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging, rehabilitation, speech language pathology, and bilingualism. She is a fellow of the American Speech-Language- Hearing Association and serves on various journal editorial boards and grant review panels including at National Institutes of Health. Her work has been continually funded by the National Institutes of Health/NIDCD and American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation awards, including the New Investigator grant, the New Century Scholar’s Grant, and the Clinical Research grant.

Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Kiran is a salaried professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at Boston University. Her research is funded by the National Institutes of Health. She has received a waiver of her ANCDS conference fee and an honorarium from ANCDS for her presentation at this meeting.
Non-financial: Dr. Kiran has no non-financial disclosures.

Learner outcomes:

  1. Apply theories of language reorganization after stroke and rehabilitation in aphasia.
  2. Identify the latest evidence of structural and functional predictors of language recovery after stroke.
  3. Describe the nature and complexities of language recovery and reorganization after aphasia rehabilitation.

Sofia Vallila-Rohter, Ph.D.

Topic: Incorporating Learning into Aphasia Rehabilitation

Bio: Sofia Vallila-Rohter is an Assistant Professor at the MGH Institute of Health Professions and Co-Director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Group (CNG).  In her research, Dr. Vallila-Rohter aims to better understand learning and the mechanisms that contribute to relearning in individuals with aphasia. The broad goal of her research is to improve clinicians’ abilities to tailor treatment to individuals by incorporating considerations of learning ability into treatment selection and implementation.

Disclosures:
Financial: Sofia Vallila-Rohter is a salaried Assistant Professor at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. She also works per-diem as a Speech Language Pathologist in acute care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. Dr. Vallila-Rohter received a waiver of her ANCDS conference fee and an honorarium from ANCDS for her presentation at this meeting.
Non-financial: Sofia Vallila-Rohter has a professional relationship with Swathi Kiran, Professor at Boston University and founder of aphasia rehabilitation application, Constant Therapy. Swathi Kiran was Dr. Vallila-Rohter’s doctoral research mentor while Dr. Vallila-Rohter pursued her Ph.D. at Harvard-MIT’s Division of Health Science and Technology, Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology Program.

Learner outcomes:

  1. Describe frameworks of learning, which include implicit and explicit learning.
  2. Describe recent behavioral research that has examined patterns of learning in individuals with aphasia.
  3. Describe how therapy for aphasia might be tailored to help engage optimal learning systems for individuals with aphasia.

Cara Stepp, Ph.D.

Topic: Voice and Speech in Parkinson’s Disease: Motor Control, Physiology, and Acoustics

Bio: Dr. Cara Stepp is an Associate Professor in the Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Department at Boston University in Boston, MA. Cara received her Doctorate from Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. Cara’s research uses engineering approaches to improve assessment and rehabilitation of sensorimotor disorders of voice and speech.

Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Cara Stepp is a salaried professor in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences at Boston University. She has received a waiver of her ANCDS conference fee and an honorarium from ANCDS for her presentation at this meeting. 
Non-financial: Dr. Stepp has no non-financial disclosures.

Learner outcomes:

  1. Describe how the speech subsystems of respiration, voice, and articulation are impaired in Parkinson’s disease.
  2. Compare and contrast the etiological bases of primary limb-motor vs. speech signs in Parkinson’s disease.
  3. Describe the state of the evidence base for assessment and treatment of voice and speech in Parkinson’s disease.

Jordan Green, Ph.D.

Topic: Speech Analysis for Medical Diagnostics - From Senses to Sensors

Bio: Dr. Jordan Green is a Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders at MGH Institute of Health Professions and is Director of Research Programs at the Speech and Feeding Disorders Lab. His research focuses on disorders of speech production, oromotor skill development for early speech and feeding, and quantification of speech motor performance. This work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health since 1993, private foundations, and corporations. His research has been published in national and international journals including Child Development, Journal of Neurophysiology, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, and the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. He has served on multiple grant review panels at the National Institutes of Health. In 2012, he was appointed as a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and, in 2015, Dr. Green received the Willard R. Zemlin award in Speech Science.  

Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Jordan Green is a salaried Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders at MGH Institute of Health Professions and is Director of Research Programs at the Speech and Feeding Disorders Lab. He has received a waiver of his ANCDS conference fee and an honorarium from ANCDS for his presentation at this meeting.
Non-financial: Dr. Jordan Green is a member of an NIH grant reviewing committee and an ASHA member.

Learner outcomes:

  1. Explain the challenges of current best practices for assessing speech impairment in persons with progressive communication disorders.
  2. Describe the impact of Nuedexta on speech outcomes in persons with ALS. 
  3. Describe techniques for conducting quantitative speech testing to assess dysarthria.