The Clinical Aphasiology Conference is an annual event for researchers, clinicians, and students dedicated to understanding and treating aphasia—a language disorder typically caused by brain injury or stroke. This conference has a special focus on clinical aspects of aphasia research including assessment tool construction or treatment development.

As a student fellow, Soomin received a travel grant to attend the conference, along with exclusive opportunities including a mentorship opportunity, a lunch with keynote speakers, and participation in a special poster presentation session. These experiences provided invaluable professional development and networking opportunities.

“It felt so wonderful to see my pre-dissertation project complete and to present it to the world,” Soomin shared. Her research, Agrammatic Feature at the Discourse-Level in People with Different Aphasia Types, was met with enthusiasm and thoughtful discussion from fellow attendees. “I was thrilled to meet and connect with other researchers and students who care about aphasia in diverse research topics.”

The fellowship not only recognized Soomin’s academic excellence but also connected her with a community of professionals who share her passion for improving the lives of individuals with communication disorders. Her participation in the conference reflects a promising future in clinical aphasiology and a commitment to bridging research and practice.

Fueled by a passion for helping singers and other professional voice users, Downey was inspired to apply his expertise in vocal pedagogy to help individuals suffering from voice problems.

“I wanted to be able to help my students by understanding the nuances of voice rehabilitation and found that speech-language pathology was where this work occurred,” Downey explains.

Downey steps into this specialty with outstanding regional support.

Clinically, Downey has demonstrated remarkable training and clinical excellence in voice disorders throughout his M.S. program. In the final semester of the program, he completed a highly competitive clinical externship at neighboring Duke University at the Duke Voice Care Center, where he trained under leading experts in voice and upper airway care. The experience gave him intensive, hands-on exposure to evaluating and treating complex voice disorders, bridging his academic preparation with real-world clinical application. This clinical placement reflects his outstanding clinical skills, interdisciplinary approach, and ability to excel in a specialized medical voice care setting.

Downey plans to continue his voice and upper airway training during his clinical fellowship year at Emerge Pediatric Therapy starting in July. He plans to gain additional hands-on experience with increasing independence refining his clinical skills in both voice evaluation and therapeutic intervention, providing a critical bridge between academic knowledge and real-world application.

“I’m excited because it will give me many clinical skills outside of voice, and I hope to become a well-rounded clinician at Emerge,“ Downey shares. “It will allow me to improve children’s lives throughout the Triangle and work closely with their families.”

Downey’s career journey coincides with major graduate curricular advancements in ������’s M.S. program in Speech-Language Pathology. The program recently revamped its voice and upper airway disorders coursework. Starting with the incoming cohort, all enrolled graduate students will be required to take a new 3-credit intensive course on these conditions in their first semester. This curricular shift complements the broader ecosystem of voice and upper airway care thriving within the Research Triangle and Triad. With specialized clinical placements in North Carolina for graduate students who are passionate about voice and upper airway disorders, this is an exciting time for these professional networks to grow. Institutions across the region have ample opportunities for future collaborations on cutting-edge basic and clinical research in vocal health and upper airway disorders.

As ������ continues to build momentum in this field, graduates like Ryan Downey, D.M.A., M.S. stand as testament to the region’s strengths in training the next generation of voice-specialized speech-language pathologists. Downey exemplifies the powerful intersection of clinical training and artistic expertise that the Research Triangle and Triad fosters.

The ceremony included recognition of clinical preceptors Shannon Culbertson, AuD and Emory Roper, M.S., CCC-SLP. Followed by the presentation of degree candidates and student reflections.

48 candidates were recognized on Saturday including: 1 candidate for Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Speech Hearing Sciences; 10 candidates for Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) in Clinical Audiology; and 37 candidates for Master of Science (M.S.) in Speech-Language Pathology.

Congratulations to the Class of 2025!

On March 25, the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions announced that 21 members have been selected to participate in its , including the Director of the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences’ Hannah Siburt, AuD, PhD.

Established in 2005, this program provides a broad spectrum of training opportunities for future Deans and leaders in health professions education. Modules will include management skills, budgeting and conflict resolution, among other administrative topics that are critical for successful leadership.

The 2025 program will be implemented in two phases: Part I is scheduled for April 15-16 in Nashville, TN, focusing on leadership styles and budgeting. Part II will take place October 14-16 in Indianapolis, IN immediately prior to the 2025 ASAHP Annual Conference.

Between the programs in April and October, there will be numerous opportunities for participants to collaborate on team projects that will be based on timely events affecting institutions of higher education. Participants will have the opportunity to pursue issues of interest while also developing personal leadership skills.

“For twenty years, ASAHP’s Leadership Development Program (LDP) has equipped future academic leaders and Deans with top notch leadership skills for success in higher education administration,” said ASAHP President , MSW, JD, FASAHP, Dean of the School of Allied Health Professions at Loma Linda University. “This year is no exception. With a stellar lineup of speakers, participants will engage in workshops designed to enhance their leadership abilities, foster professional growth, and strengthen their institutions.”

The 2025 Leadership Development Program participants include:
(listed alphabetically by last name)

• Darcy Carter, DHSc, MHA, Department Chair, Weber State University
• Catherine M. Cooper, M.S., Chair, Department of Radiologic Sciences, University of South Alabama
• Ramona Dorough, PhD, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Faculty Development, UT Southwestern School of Health Professions
• Katie Eliot, PhD, RDN, Associate Professor, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences
• Irina Ellison, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Global Programs, College of Health Professions, Sacred Heart University
• Yvonne Golightly, PT, MS, PhD, Assistant Dean for Research and Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Allied Health Professions
• Ryan Krzyzanowicz, DAT, ATC, Program Director Athletic Training Education and Clinical Associate Professor – University at Buffalo
• Shonda Lawrence, Ph.D., MSW, MS, Assistant Dean/Associate Professor, Governors State University
• Sarah McKinnon, OTD, Interim Chair, Department of Occupational Therapy, MGH Institute of Health Professions
• Kim Mace, DAT, ATC, Interim Chair, Department of Health Science, MGH Institute of Health Professions
• Amy Mattila, PhD, MBA, MS, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Department Chair of Occupational Therapy, Duquesne University
• Patrick Pabian PT, DPT, PhD, Professor & Department Chair, University of Kentucky
• Yovanna Pomarico, Director & Assistant Professor, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
• Oaklee Rogers, PhD, OTR/L, Associate Dean, Northern Arizona University
• Shannon W. Salley, SLP.D., CCC-SLP, Associate Dean, College of Education, Health, and Human Services, Longwood University
• Sara Scholtes, PT, DPT, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Physical Therapy, North Central College
• Bruce Searles, PhD, CCP, Executive Assistant Dean, SUNY Upstate Medical University
• Hannah Siburt, AuD, PhD, Division Director, Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Janet Simon PhD, Associate Dean for Research, Ohio University
• Lesley E. Tomaszewski, PhD, MS, BA, MHA Director, Stony Brook Medicine
• Tracy Wall PT, PhD, Program Director and Professor, Quinnipiac University

Sjoblad started her journey to becoming an audiologist when she was one of three children in her family to be born with congenital hearing loss. She began to wear hearing aids at six years of age and eventually received a cochlear implant (CI) in 2009. She now enjoys a better quality of life with bimodal hearing (one ear has a cochlear implant and the other has a hearing aid).

She joined the faculty at ������-Chapel Hill Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences in August 1999 and currently holds the roles of Professor and Clinic Director. Outside of teaching at ������, Sjoblad has spent her career promoting more affordable and accessible hearing care to those with hearing loss. In ways to follow her passion, she served on a committee at the National Academies of Science Engineering, and Medicine in D.C., where she helped investigate the Use of Selected Assistive Products and Technologies in Eliminating or Reducing the Effects of Impairments. She served four years on the Executive Board of the Academy of Doctors of Audiology and presently serves on a Practice Accreditation Committee for the Academy of Doctors of Audiology. She has also been involved in her community on the local level, serving eleven years on the Board of Directors for Beginnings for Parents of Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, Inc., and six years of service on the Board for the American Academy of Audiology – North Carolina. She was also a charter member of the North Carolina Audiology Association and served as a Member-at-Large for two years.

“I was surprised to learn that I won! I never thought I would win a national award from the American Academy of Audiology,” said Sjoblad when she found out she was selected.

According to Sjoblad, she knew she was nominated by her former student and colleague Dr. Patricia Johnson, but she was not expecting to win.

“Dr. Johnson can be quite persuasive, but I also knew the field of potential honorees is quite deep,”

Sjoblad was nominated for her unique teaching style. She uses hands-on, role-playing, and somewhat old-fashioned teaching methods to engage her students. She also has a semester-long business plan project that students develop in her Business Practices in Audiology class. Several students have gone on to win a national award for the business plan they created in her class. Not every student is a fan of learning about business in a clinical degree program, but once they have their careers, Sjoblad says that she hears from her former students thanking her for all she taught them.

“I believe one learns best by doing. I’m not a huge fan of rubrics, because life doesn’t have rubrics. Sometimes my teaching strategies will earn a less-than-stellar evaluation. Students don’t always know what they don’t know. However, it’s not uncommon for students to reach out later to thank me for pushing them to learn to think for themselves.”

Along with her teaching methods, Sjoblad says that her successes as an educator, including winning this award, are because of her colleagues and her students.

“My successes are connected to the great team of colleagues I’ve been blessed to work with all these years. I’m also fortunate that I can teach bright students who come to Carolina engaged and ready to learn.”

There will be multiple ������ faculty and students attending and presenting at the event in Seattle, Washington at the Seattle Convention Center, taking place December 5-7.

Those attending the 2024 ASHA convention can view the complete list of ������ faculty and student presentations below. ​

������ Faculty and Student Presentations at ASHA Convention 2024

Thursday, Dec. 5 and Friday, Dec. 6:

Graduate School Fair
10 a.m. – 1 p.m. PT | Seattle Convention Center

Friday, Dec. 6:

Biological Sex Differences in Communication Among Young Autistic Children: Insights From Pictorial Infant Communication Scale 
2-3:30 p.m. | 8567L Screen 140
Aishah Almathkour, Jean Jarrett and Lillian Woolf

Saturday, Dec. 7:

Carolyn Novaleski, PhD, CCC-SLP: Advancing Research in Chronic Cough

Dr. Carolyn Novaleski focuses her research on chronic cough in adults, an area she transitioned to after recognizing the unmet needs of patients suffering from this condition.

“My work initially centered on chemically-induced cough methodologies in healthy individuals,” she said. “Over time, I recognized the substantial unmet needs of patients suffering from chronic cough and wanted to pivot the direction of my work to patient-oriented research.”

Recently awarded a prestigious 5-year NIH K23 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Novaleski aims to explore whether cough symptomology can predict responses to various treatments for chronic cough. Her research includes plans for a pilot randomized control trial to evaluate a behavioral intervention, reflecting her dedication to improving clinical outcomes for patients.

Novaleski is enthusiastic about her collaboration with physician colleagues at ������ and the Research Triangle, valuing the mentorship and support she receives as she aims to transition into an independent investigator.

“I feel privileged that I will continue receiving excellent research mentoring throughout the 5-year grant to eventually transition to an independent investigator in chronic cough clinical trials.”

Novaleski hopes this work continues to progress the field of chronic cough forward and inspire new ways of optimizing the treatment of this condition across various medical specialties.

Sallie Nowell, PhD, CCC-SLP: Championing Autism and Developmental Disorders

Dr. Sallie Nowell’s research centers on autism and developmental disorders. As a teenager, Nowell babysat a child with Down syndrome and autism with whom she became very close. Experiencing the disability purely from a family perspective ignited her interest in speech-language pathology, driving her to seek solutions that enhance communication outcomes for children with developmental disabilities.

Currently, Nowell is involved in the EAT Study, funded by the Eagles Autism Foundation, with Clare Harrop here at ������ and Anna Wallisch at the University of Kansas Medical Center. This study examines the trajectories of challenging eating behaviors in 4–8-year-old children with autism as compared to non-autistic children and investigates sex differences in challenging eating behavior symptom presentation and trajectories. The long-term aim of this project is to develop personalized treatment approaches for subtypes of eating behaviors that consider assigned sex at birth to ultimately prevent long-term health issues like eating disorders, obesity, and nutritional deficits.

Additionally, Nowell is an investigator on a new project, : Early Markers of Expressive and Receptive (language) Growth in Ethnically diverse autistic toddlers; funded by National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (PIs: Connie Kasari at UCLA and Brian Boyd at ������). She’s “very excited to begin to elucidate the language trajectories of autistic children growing up in poverty.”

Nowell also collaborates with the Samantha Pflum at the ������ Gender Equity and Wellness Initiative and at the Autism Program called the Gender and Autism Project (GAP), which seeks to support youth at the intersection of autism and gender diverse identities. Funded by the ������ Autism Research Center, the group spent the last year surveying and interviewing community members to develop a support group guide and resources for youth, families, and healthcare providers.

Nowell is committed to closing the research-to-practice gap in her field. By collaborating with interdisciplinary teams and engaging in community-based research, she aims to effect meaningful change in the lives of children with autism and their families.

“I have really enjoyed interacting with master’s and doctoral students more as a faculty member,” said Nowell. “The students in our programs are so talented and having them involved in my work makes me a stronger researcher and clinician. Teaching the Hearing Loss and Developmental Disorders course with SLP and AuD students has been a highlight of my first semester on faculty.”

Molly Beiting, PhD CCC-SLP: Innovating Pediatric Speech Sound Disorders

Dr. Molly Beiting specializes in pediatric speech sound disorders, particularly childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), a relatively rare speech disorder that can have long-lasting impacts on multiple domains. Her clinical experience as a speech-language pathologist has shaped her research focus, as she aims to enhance assessment practices for children with diverse and challenging profiles.

“In my clinical practice, children with CAS were some of the most interesting cases. The children I encountered in the clinical world were also more complex than those generally reflected in the research literature, presenting challenges for carrying out appropriate assessment and treatment,” said Beiting. “As a researcher, my goal is to improve speech assessment and treatment for children with complex profiles due to factors such as multiple comorbidities, as well as those who are generally at risk of long-term adverse impacts due to the nature of their disorder(s).”

This semester, Beiting is teaching a course on Pediatric Speech Sound Disorders, which incorporates real clinical cases to foster student learning and engagement. She is also establishing her research lab at ������, including a current project investigating oral and speech motor skills among preverbal toddlers with autism in collaboration with colleagues from Washington State University.

Beiting’s goal is to support students in becoming knowledgeable clinicians, empowered to implement evidence-based practices, and equipped with the know-how to continually expand their skillset and tackle new clinical challenges with excellent critical thinking skills. “I hope that my research improves clinical practice, helping clinicians to deliver more effective, precision treatments, and supporting children and their families in their communication journey,” she said.

Novaleski, Nowell, and Beiting each bring a unique perspective and a commitment to addressing critical issues in their fields, promising to make lasting contributions to the understanding and treatment of speech and hearing disorders in the Speech and Hearing Division.

• Clinical Doctorate in Audiology (AuD) Program
• Master’s (MS-SLP) in Speech-Language Pathology Program

Programs scheduled for review are responsible for soliciting public comment from students and consumers by holding a public meeting during the scheduled site visit. The public meeting regarding the re-accreditation of these two programs is scheduled for:

Thursday, October 3, 2024
4:15 p.m.
Bondurant Hall Room G074

A copy of the Standards for Accreditation and/or the CAA’s Policy on Public Comment may be obtained by contacting the Accreditation Office at ASHA, 2200 Research Boulevard, #310, Rockville, Maryland 20850, calling ASHA’s Action Center at 1-800- 498-2071, or accessing the documents online at https://caa.asha.org In accordance with the CAA’s Public Comment policy and procedures, the CAA is seeking public comment as part of its review of these programs.

Join the meeting virtually by accessing the Zoom link at go.unc.edu/SHSpublicmeeting

Download the flyer.

Darla and Sydney took first place with a $5,000 prize and Gabriella took second place, with a $3,000 prize.

The students began their plans as a project in Dr. Stephanie Sjoblad’s Business and Practice Management Course in the spring of their third year of the AuD program. Following the course, Dr. Sjoblad continued to mentor the students who decided to enter the ADA Student Business Plan competition. There were several rounds to advance to the top three and receive an invitation to present to a national audience at AuDacity 2024. Dr. Sjoblad has mentored several teams over the years, with wins in four out of five years. This year was the first year with two teams from ������ took the top prizes.

The ADA Business Plan Competition is geared for audiology students seeking meaningful hands-on business experience, and the opportunity to showcase their knowledge and creativity. Early-round activities included development of a written executive summary and business plan, which was judged on creativity, feasibility, completeness, cohesiveness, professionalism and polish. Finalists received an all-expense-paid trip to the ADA Annual Convention where the Competition culminated with a live general session featuring student presentation pitches, and rapid-fire questions from the judges.

Congratulations Darla, Sydney and Gabriella!

Gabriella Norton Discusses her Business Plan

Finalists and Judges

Darla McDonald and Sydney Mingle Win 1st Place

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