Implementation Science IS for All: The Power of Partnerships

Crystle Alonzo is a certified speech language pathologist (SLP) specializing in child language and literacy disorders. She is an assistant professor in the School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at San Diego State University and the director of the Comprehension Opportunities in Reading and Language (CORAL) Lab. Crystle worked as an SLP for several years in a variety of settings with diverse clinical populations. These experiences continue to influence her research aims. Specifically, Dr. Alonzo's research is focused on advancing the understanding of comprehension models of language and reading to improve assessment and intervention practices for young children with developmental language disorder and dyslexia. This is done with an emphasis on accessibility, feasibility, and sustainability for practicing clinicians while supporting students and their families. Her commitment to the translation of research into practice incorporates clinical practice research methodology and implementation science frameworks while aiming to create productive and mutually beneficial researcher-practitioner partnerships in and throughout the San Diego community.

Sydney Bassard is an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist. She received both her B.S. in Public Health and her Master of Speech Pathology from the University of South Carolina. Sydney is licensed in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Her clinical focus areas are working with individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing and those with literacy challenges. Sydney engages in research with these populations as well as clinical practice. She founded The Listening SLP in November 2019. The purpose was to assist with health equity of information for those that may not have access to professionals. Since that time, she has been able to create short graphics based on research and clinical experience to assist families all over the world. 

Cathy Binger is a professor at the University of New Mexico who specializes in supporting language development for children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). She has been an SLP for 30 years and has expertise in building functional language skills with individuals who use AAC. Dr. Binger is an active researcher who develops and evaluates intervention programs and measurement techniques for aided communicators. She has published numerous research articles, book chapters, and books relating to AAC.  

Jason Borges is a literacy leader and specialist. His journey began in teaching over twenty years ago in alternative schools in Massachusetts for students with disabilities. He has served in the Special Education Office in the NYC DOE as Senior Director of Intensive Interventions and Director of Academic Intervention Services in the Office of Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Learning. Jason sees literacy as a foundation for educational justice. He is committed to continue serving NYC DOE schools as Executive Director of NYC Public Schools Literacy Collaborative in developing literacy environments where all students learn skills that will help them engage with and adapt to changing media, contexts, and to use knowledge towards a more just world.

Mindy is an Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center in the department of Hearing and Speech. She is a certified speech-language pathologist, and prior to obtaining her PhD, she was a clinician for 7 years.  Her research interests include the relationship between language and reading development and disorders as well as the development of school-based reading interventions. She is currently an Investigator on three grants funded by the National Institute of Health and one funded by the Department of Education Institute of Education Science. 

Jessica G. Caron is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Penn State University. Dr. Caron's work is focused on improving language and literacy outcomes for learners with high needs who require AAC including children with ASD, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and traumatic brain injury. Specifically, she is interested in improving literacy outcomes for individuals who require AAC through the use of technology and trainings of relevant stakeholders, to close the research-to-practice gap in this area. Dr. Caron is certified as a SLP and has significant experience working on interdisciplinary teams to meet the needs of individuals with complex communication needs, including work in schools and the outpatient setting.

Julie Carpenter is the Clinical Practice Leader for Speech-Language Pathology and a Research Speech-Language Pathologist in the Center for Aphasia Research and Treatment at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. In the practice lead role, Julie works with speech-language pathologists in inpatient, day rehabilitation, and outpatient levels of care to select and implement evidence-based assessments and interventions, supports clinicians in developing clinical research questions and partnering with SRALab research scientists on internal grants, and executes training and education initiatives for SLP and interdisciplinary clinicians.  Julie's current practice initiatives include implementing impairment and participation-based outcome measures in the day rehabilitation level of care, integrating a composite outcomes data dashboard in interdisciplinary inpatient team conferences, and translating the Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System into clinical documentation.  In the Center for Aphasia Research and Treatment, Julie works on various research projects and provides interventions in the organization's Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Program. 

Brittany Ciullo is a PhD student in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a former school-based SLP. She is passionate about supporting language and literacy skills throughout childhood and adolescence. Brittany has a particular interest in school-based practice and loves collaborating with teachers, reading specialists, occupational therapists, and anyone else in the classroom. In her spare time, she enjoys co-hosting the podcast Coffee, Tea, and 3 SLPs with two of her close friends and singing children's songs about learning to read as part of the musical group The Reading Seeds (check us out on YouTube!).

Tim DeLuca is a speech-language pathologist and reading specialist completing his doctoral work under the mentorship of Dr. Tiffany Hogan at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. His work focuses on supporting oral and written language development in schools and interprofessional practice.

Natalie Douglas is a professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Central Michigan University and an editor for the Adults section of the Informed SLP. She has spent the last 20 years supporting people living with dementia, aphasia, and other communication disorders through clinical practice, quality improvement projects, teaching, and research. As a speech-language pathologist, she specializes in improving access to the ability to communicate one's feelings, preferences, and needs to support relationships. To this end, she is currently engaging in work related to pragmatic clinical trials and learning health systems.

Kitty Edstrand is currently the Innovation, Development, and Research Coordinator for NMSBVI, and adjunct O&M instructor for NMSU. Previously, she taught preschool at NMSBVI and has been working as a TSVI or O&M in the visual impairment field for over 10 years. She received her doctorate from FSU in 2016. Instructional and research interests have focused on interventions to teach pretend play, embedding the Expanded Core Curriculum into everyday routines and classroom instruction, teaching orientation and mobility skills, and CVI related instruction and accommodations. 

Mariam El Amin is a doctoral candidate in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Georgia. Her research focuses on expanding the global science of communication development and disorders research. To do so, she has two intersecting research objectives: 1) expanding language assessment and intervention practices for bilingual speakers, and 2) increasing access, transparency, and diversification of science in communication sciences and disorders (CSD) through open science practices.

Mariam believes in enhancing the transparency of science in CSD and improving clinicians' access to science, therefore, she started CSDisseminate, an initiative aiming to promote the culture of self-archiving legal versions of research manuscripts in the field. Mariam also volunteers with OpenCSD, a volunteer collective of researchers, clinicians, students, and educators in CSD aspiring to educate others and foster the use of open science practices within our field.

Susan Fager is the Director of the Communication Center in the Institute for Rehabilitation Science and Engineering at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals in Lincoln, Nebraska. Dr. Fager specializes in augmentative and alternative communication/assistive technology (AAC/AT) for adults with acquired and degenerative neurologic conditions such as brainstem stroke, spinal cord injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Guillain Barré syndrome. Her research interests focus on the development and evaluation of new and emerging assistive technologies for individuals with severe physical impairments as well as the development of tools to support clinical decision-making and communication partners of individuals who use AAC. 

Liana is an inpatient Speech-Language Pathologist at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. As an Advanced Clinician in the rotator position at SRH Boston, Liana as experience working with a variety of patient populations including stroke/neurology, brain injury, and comprehensive rehabilitation. She is an active member of Spaulding's Integrative Health Committee and Aphasia Rehabilitation Implementation Science Exchange (ARISE). Since 2021, Liana has partnered with MGH Institute of Health Professions as a clinical supervisor and wellness instructor for the Spaulding-IHP's Comprehensive Aphasia Program (S-IHP's CAP). 

Julie is an Assistant Professor School of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Central Florida. She obtained her master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology at Boston University and her Doctorate degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of Washington. She completed post-doctoral training in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, with an appointment to Kennedy Krieger Institute's Center for Autism and Related Disorders. Dr. Feuerstein is certified a speech-language pathologist who has practiced in a variety of pediatric settings, including early intervention, private practice, outpatient clinics, and inpatient rehabilitation. Her teaching and research interests center around evaluating the effectiveness of early communication interventions for minimally verbal children with neurodevelopmental disorders and examining mechanisms for moving empirically supported interventions into clinical practice. Currently, she runs the Early Communication and Play (ECAP) lab at the University of Central Florida. 

Jenn is an outpatient SLP primarily treating acquired neurogenic disorders in adults at MGH. She is also the co-facilitator of the MGH SLP department's Structured Learning Community on Research. 

Jessica Gormley is the Interim Director of the Speech-Language Pathology Department and Scottish Rite Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe-Meyer Institute. Her clinical and research interests center upon improving interactions among people with complex communication needs, their families, and their healthcare providers. Through her research, she aims to develop tools, strategies, and programs to equip healthcare providers and caregivers to become effective communication partners with people with limited speech. She currently practices as a speech-language pathologist in the intensive care, acute care, and outpatient settings. ||One of her current research projects involves collaborations with the Rehabilitation Engineering and Research Center on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (RERC on AAC) to develop and evaluate an app designed to create communication partner trainings within clinical settings. She also collaborates with Dr. Susan Fager from Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital on a Researcher-Practitioner Collaboration Grant funded by the ASHFoundation to explore effective ways to support communication partner training in inpatient settings. Jessica has published research articles and presented nationally and internationally on the topics of augmentative and alternative communication and patient-provider communication. She is also a co-organizer for the Patient-Provider Communication Forum|

Dana has been working at P.G. Chambers School for 15 years. She received her undergraduate degree at the Pennsylvania State University and her masters from George Washington University. As a senior speech therapist she has experience both implementing and evaluating students for Augmentative and Alternative Communication systems. In additions to evaluations, Dana provides treatment plans for speech, language, AAC and feeding therapy. She received her AT Certification through Stockton University in 2013. Dana has presented at district trainings across northern New Jersey, the ASAH non-profit organization for private schools in New Jersey conference, the CEC Conference in Boston,  AAC in the Cloud, Closing the Gap, and ATIA. At P.G. Chambers School we strive to work as an interdisciplinary team to view the child as a whole and problem solve communication needs from that point of view.|

Jordan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. Before completing her Ph.D. in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC, she worked as a speech-language pathologist specializing in the assessment and rehabilitation of adults with swallowing disorders and traumatic brain injury. She is a Board Certified Specialist in Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders, has served as the Professional Development Manager for ASHA's Special Interest Group in Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders (SIG 13), and has earned fellowships in Clinical Research Ethics and Interprofessional Education. Dr. Hazelwood teaches Dysphagia, Voice & Resonance Disorders, and Neuroanatomy & Physiology to graduate and undergraduate students. Her research focuses on the training and education of clinicians and students in dysphagia management while considering the impact of standardized procedures, physiologic dysfunction, and quality of life on health outcomes. Her research is currently funded by the ASFoundation Researcher-Practitioner Collaboration Grant. 

Calliope Holingue is an assistant professor at the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at Kennedy Krieger Institute. She also has a joint academic appointment in the Department of Mental Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Holingue received a BA from UC Berkeley in Public Health and Molecular Cell Biology in 2013, before earning a MPH in epidemiology/biostatistics from UC Berkeley in 2015. That was followed by a PhD in mental health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2019. More recently, Dr. Holingue completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Kennedy Krieger and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2021. Dr. Holingue's research focuses on promoting the health of individuals with neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, especially autism, by studying the intersection of physical and mental health, particularly the gut-brain axis. She is also interested in identifying the role of early-life immune- and microbial-related exposures on the etiology of neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Holingue teaches two courses at Johns Hopkins University: ""Mental Health and the Gut"" and ""Public Health Approaches in Autism and Developmental Disabilities.""

Tiffany is Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at MGH Institute of Health Professions, Research Associate at Harvard University, Director of the Center for Translational research, Implementation science, and Dissemination for Equity (cTIDE) in Communication Disorders, and a pediatric speech-language pathologist. Dr. Hogan’s research, community engagement, and dissemination aims to improve school-based assessment and intervention for children with language-based learning disabilities, including dyslexia and developmental language disorder (DLD). Her research is funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. Dr. Hogan provides doctoral research training for students in the PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences program at the MGH Institute, the PhD in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology program at Harvard University, as well as undergraduate and graduate students from numerous fields of study. She teaches graduate courses in school-based literacy assessment and intervention, leading literacy change, and professional issues in academia. She is a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, an elected board member of the Society for the Scientific Studies of Reading, a conference organizer for The Dyslexia Foundation, International Dyslexia Association and MGH Institute’s Implementation Science IS for all program, co-founder of the informational website DLDandme.org, and podcast creator and host for seehearspeakpodcast.com.

Amy is a senior bilingual (English/Spanish) speech-language pathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital's Chelsea HealthCare Center who primarily sees young children between two and five years of age. Amy is committed to advancing care that honors cultural and linguistic diversity, considers the whole child and their family structure/supports/social determinants of health, and empowers caregivers. Always interested in evaluating service efficacy and providing evidence-based care, Amy founded the MGH Chelsea Community Research Program and co-founded the MGH Speech & Language Department's Structured Learning Community for Research. Amy also works part-time leading Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for Community Health Improvement's Early Childhood Initiative which brings together hospital-based and community stakeholders to improve opportunities and systems serving young children and their families.

Devin is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut (UConn). He researches reading disabilities—including dyslexia—in school-age children. His research focuses on developing reading instructional programs to support students with reading difficulty—with a focus on linking educational practice to cognitive science and neuroscience. Devin is a research scientist for the Center for Behavioral Education & Research at UConn and for Haskins Laboratories at Yale University. He collaborates with researchers in special education, neuroscience, and cognitive science. Devin and his colleagues examine the neurobiological change that occurs as students learn to read. They are also developing new reading interventions designed to help students read words better by teaching about their meanings. They examine how the interventions affects students’ academic outcomes and patterns of cognitive processing. Devin has seven years of classroom experience as a teacher, literacy coach, and reading specialist. He continues to help schools and districts implement high-quality reading instruction—including demonstrating how to implement evidence-based reading instruction.

Beth Kelley is an associate professor in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences at the University of Missouri. Her research focuses on improving language outcomes for children in the preschool and early school years by identifying, developing, and evaluating effective approaches for language intervention in educational settings. She has a strong interest in implementation research and is currently partnering with school-based speech-language pathologists to develop targeted professional development and implementation support materials to support academic language intervention in schools. 

Rouzana Komesidou is an implementation scientist, a consultant, and the founder of Mosinian Research & Consultancy. Her research aims to create the necessary conditions to implement and sustain quality education and services for children with communication disorders. She has published in the areas of early screening, language intervention, interprofessional collaboration, and implementation science. As a consultant, she helps clients use implementation science to create robust solutions that promote good health, social, and economic outcomes. She shares useful implementation tips and resources on social media, @rkomesidou, and through her free newsletter, Make Implementation Happen.

Mirza Lugo-Neris is a bilingual speech-language pathologist experienced in working with and counseling Spanish-speaking families, licensed in both Puerto Rico and Texas. She has 15 years of experience in working across a variety of pediatric outpatient and school-based settings, establishing clinical partnerships with families, and supervising undergraduate and graduate student clinicians. She also provides in-service trainings for community organizations, agencies, preschools, and private companies on topics related to raising bilingual children with disabilities. She has taught graduate courses on cultural-linguistic diversity, bilingual language development, school-age language disorders, collaborative models, and undergraduate courses in clinical observation. She has also led faculty development initiatives on inclusive teaching practices.

Currently, as an Assistant Professor at MGH IHP, Dr. Lugo-Neris serves as the Capstone Manager for the Clinical Doctorate in Speech-Language Pathology program. In her role, Dr. Lugo-Neris mentors students through the clinical problem-solving process and teaches doctoral courses. She also carries out research projects addressing assessment and intervention practices for Spanish-English bilinguals with developmental language disorders as well as the scholarship of teaching and learning in CSD.

Jessica Mount Matney is a Speech Language Pathologist and Developmental Vision Specialist, currently working as Instructional Lead, at the New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired - Early Childhood Program.  Jessica began her practice in early intervention and has spent the last 16 years working with children with severe disabilities and vision impairments. Working with children at the earliest stages of communication development is a passion for Jessica. Jessica has worked locally and internationally focusing on intervention for children with significant, multiple impairments including visual impairments.   

Sarah Lynn Neiling is a PhD candidate at the University of Arizona in the Department of Speech, Language, & Hearing Sciences with a minor in Health Behavior, Health Promotion. After having worked in the preschool, school-age, and early intervention settings as a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP), she returned to research to focus on bilingual language development and disorders. Through the Preparing Researchers in Early Intervention for Children with Disabilities from Multicultural Environments (PRIDE) program, she is researching ways to reduce barriers to treatment for bilingual, Spanish-English speaking children. Her first project involved surveying and interviewing caregivers of young, Latine children to understand their opinions on the social validity of telehealth and their access to telehealth modalities. She also conducted an intervention project to train caregivers to provide the Vocabulary Acquisition and Usage for Late Talkers (VAULT) intervention to their late-talking toddlers while being coached by an SLP or SLP graduate student via telehealth. In an iteration of this project, she worked with Parents As Teachers programs as community partners. They provided input on how to structure elements of the study. In addition, their parent educators, a type of developmental specialist, were trained to be the coaches for Spanish or Spanish-English speaking Latine caregivers. For her dissertation, Sarah Lynn is piloting a dynamic assessment for diagnosing language disorders in Spanish-English speaking preschoolers.

Danika Pfeiffer is an ASHA certified speech-language pathologist and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology at Towson University. Her primary research interest is in enhancing children's early language and literacy skills through collaborative school-based partnerships. This includes providing speech-language pathologists and other educators with interprofessional training at the preservice and in-service levels. Danika has published her work in several peer-reviewed journals and presented at conferences at the state, national, and international levels. She is also the host of the About, From, & With podcast and a volunteer collaborator with CSDisseminate.

Emily is passionate about improving early communication interventions for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She developed expertise in augmentative and alternative communication in her bachelor's degree program at Penn State University and in her master's degree program at the University of Nebraska. She studied early language interventions at Vanderbilt University, where she received her doctoral degree. Emily lives in Portland, Oregon and works at Oregon Health & Science University as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics. In her leisure time she enjoys collecting cookbooks, hiking with friends, and watching Film Noir.

R.J. is a bilingual speech-language pathologist and PhD student in the Speech and Hearing Science program at Arizona State University under the mentorship of Dr. Shelley Gray. His research is centered on using implementation science to improve assessment and intervention tools for monolingual and bilingual children with language and literacy disorders. 

Megan Schliep is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders at MGH Institute of Health Professions. She also holds a clinical appointment as a speech-language pathologist at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, which is part of the Mass General Brigham Healthcare Network.

Following nearly 15 years of clinical practice as a speech-language pathologist in the acute care and inpatient rehabilitation settings, Megan completed her PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences at MGH Institute in 2020. This was followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in the Cognitive-Motor Behavior Lab with Dr. Prue Plummer, Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at MGH Institute.  Dr. Schliep's research focuses on language and cognitive assessment after stroke and explores the implementation of standardized assessment practices across the care continuum. Specifically, she is interested in (1) examining the interaction of communication and mobility factors on recovery trajectories and treatment responsiveness in individuals with concomitant language and motor impairment following stroke, (2) evaluating assessment practice and documentation of cognitive-communication skills in real-world clinical settings, and (3) developing and supporting research-practice partnerships to close the research to practice gap.

Meg Simione is a clinician-scientist with a focus on pediatric growth- and nutrition-related disorders and implementing innovations to improve care delivery and health equity. She is a research scientist in the Division of General Academic Pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a speech-language pathologist, and Instructor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Her research has examined the determinants and impacts of growth-, feeding-, and nutrition-related disorders, including both childhood obesity and feeding disorders, the implementation of clinical innovations into practice, and telehealth approaches to care. As a clinician, she cares for children with feeding difficulties and has developed and directed clinical programs and quality improvement initiatives to improve care for these children. After completing a clinical master's degree at Northwestern University, she worked as a speech-language pathologist providing care to children with growth-, feeding-, and nutrition-related disorders. She then enrolled in an interdisciplinary PhD program in Rehabilitation Sciences at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at MGH to develop additional skills in clinical research, implementation science, and family-centered outcomes. ||Dr. Simione's scientific work has focused on implementing innovations into practice, family-centered outcomes, and care delivery related to pediatric feeding disorders and childhood obesity. She has served as a co-investigator and project lead for two multi-site Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and NIH-funded studies. The studies are examining the implementation of a pediatric weight management program in organizations that serve low-income and diverse racial/ethnic populations and have involved extensive stakeholder engagement.  She has been awarded a K23 from NHLBI that examines telehealth approaches for the care of children with obesity to improve access and equity to weight management programs and has received foundation funding to examine the health and functioning of children with feeding disorders. She has authored numerous publications and has presented nationally and internationally. |

Trina Spencer is an associate professor at the Rightpath Research & Innovation Center, University of South Florida. Drawing from speech-language pathology, applied linguistics, education, and behavior analysis, she concentrates her efforts on the oral academic language that serves as a foundation to the reading and writing of primary-age students, with and without disabilities. Her interventions are used broadly in the United States, but also internationally (e.g., South Africa, Australia, India, Israel, Iran, Chile, Mexico, Iceland, and Canada). Dr. Spencer values researcher-practitioner partnerships, community engagement, and cross disciplinary collaborations to accomplish high impact and innovative applied research. She recently served as chair of ASHA's Clinical Practice Research, Evidence-Based Practice, and Implementation Science (CRISP) committee. She also teaches advanced research courses on intervention and implementation science. 

Holly Storkel is the program officer for language at the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). In this role she works with extramural researchers applying for or awarded funding to advance our understanding of language disorders, sets priorities for committing federal funds to advance the field, and acts as an advocate for research on language disorders. She also participates in NIH wide initiatives related to dissemination and implementation science and social determinants of health.

Christina Studts’ mixed methods research centers on the implementation of evidence-based behavioral interventions, particularly with marginalized populations. Her background is in social work and biostatistics. Prior to her doctoral training, she practiced for a decade as a licensed clinical social worker with at-risk families in multiple systems, including schools, community mental health, and pediatric primary care. Through these positions, she developed a strong interest in improving access to evidence-based behavioral interventions while gaining appreciation for the importance of organizational and community contexts in working with individuals and families. Dr. Studts has been supported by National Institutes of Health funding since 2008, including her current NIDCD-funded R01, Behavioral Parent Training for Families with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Preschoolers, a community-engaged mixed methods hybrid trial investigating behavioral parent training for parents of young deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children, and a recently completed supplement, COVID-19 effects on children who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families: Rapid and rigorous mixed-methods research to inform care.

As an implementation scientist at the Adult and Child Center for Outcomes Research and Delivery Science (ACCORDS), Dr. Studts directs and teaches in the Dissemination & Implementation Graduate Certificate Program at the University of Colorado; mentors early career investigators in D&I science research; and contributes implementation science expertise to multiple projects in consulting and co-investigator roles, with a focus on assessment of partner perspectives, contextual factors, implementation outcomes, and designing for dissemination and implementation. She is passionate about community-engaged research aimed at increasing health equity, and dedicated to translational research that involves partners and moves beyond academic dissemination to inform policy and practice in real world settings.

Carla Tierney-Hendricks is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Rehabilitation Outcome Center at Spaulding (ROCS) and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. Carla has worked as a speech-language pathologist (SLP) across several healthcare settings and has been an SLP on the inpatient team at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital for the past 12 years.  ||In her research, Carla aims to improve care delivery and quality of life outcomes for stroke survivors.  Specifically, her current research focuses on exploring client engagement in their care and developing a patient-centered transition of care model to support the needs of persons with post-stroke aphasia.  Her work also focuses on implementing outcome measures within routine clinical care to support clinical decision-making within a Learning Health Systems model.  |

Sofia Vallila Rohter is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and Co-Director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Group at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. In her research, Dr. Vallila Rohter aims to better understand mechanisms contributing to relearning in people with aphasia. Using behavioral and neurophysiological methods, she explores how nonlinguistic cognitive systems might contribute to success with therapy. One broad goal of Dr. Vallila Rohter’s research is to improve clinicians’ abilities to tailor treatment to individuals, improving the predictability and efficacy of treatment for aphasia.

Dr. Vallila Rohter also has collaborations with clinicians and clinician-scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. Utilizing frameworks of implementation science, she and collaborators are working towards developing and studying initiatives to improve care delivery for stroke patients. Dr. Vallila Rohter practices as a speech-language pathologist in acute care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Aneesha graduated with her doctorate degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Louisiana State University in 2012. Her interests include the diagnosis and management of voice, airway and swallowing disorders, particularly in the head and neck cancer patient population. She currently serves as the Clinical Coordinator of Rehabilitation Services for Audiology and Speech Pathology at Northside Hospital. Aneesha serves as the Chair on ASHA's Coordinating Committee on Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders. Her research is funded by the ASHFoundation Researcher-Practitioner Collaboration Grant.

Claire is a speech-language pathologist with the Columbia Public School District in Columbia, MO.  She's been a school-based SLP in Columbia for nearly 17 years, having worked in a variety of schools and roles.  Currently, Claire is completing her fifth year as the district's Speech and Language Coordinator.  Prior to this, she spent twelve years working as the SLP in several elementary buildings.  Her role as the coordinator brings a big-picture perspective of the needs and direction of school-based SLPs.  This includes actively planning and presenting high-quality professional development, collaborating with district and community specialists, mentoring new and established SLPs, advocating for sustainable workloads, and implementing best practices.  Her work as the coordinator earned her the Missouri Speech-Language Hearing Association's Outstanding Special Education Administrator award in 2021.  

Julie is a Professor and Vice Provost for Innovation and Online Learning at the University of Montana and has a strong history working in an interdisciplinary capacity with faculty and colleagues in health, education, social science, and professional programs across academic and community settings. She is a Fellow of the American Speech Language Hearing Association and directs the Language Literacy Essentials in Academic Development Lab of the School of Speech Language Hearing and Occupational Sciences at University of Montana. Dr. Wolter also is the founding Director of University of Montana's Big Sky Language -Literacy Institute; a northwest regional center for research, training, and clinical implementation of healthcare, education, and wellness pertaining to language, literacy, and communication across the health-span. Her past role as a certified speech-language pathologist fuels her teaching and research interests in the areas of school-age language and literacy development, interprofessional collaboration, implementation science, and dissemination of related evidence-based practices.

Dr. Wolter conducts research to 1) cultivate sensitive early literacy assessment measures to predict and identify children at risk for literacy failure; 2) determine how specific language skills such as phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and orthographic awareness affect literacy success in children with and without language literacy disorders; and 3) develop efficacious and effective treatment programs to facilitate literacy development in children with and without language literacy disorders. Dr. Wolter has authored multiple clinical and research papers, presented at state, national, and international levels, and has published in a variety of venues such as peer-reviewed journals and edited. She currently is funded through an R01 with the National Institutes of Health, in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital's Interprofessional Health Program and the Royal Holloway University of London, to examine linguistic development in young school children with and without dyslexia and developmental language disorder. 

Amy has worked for 18 years as a speech language pathologist in the Northeast and Midwest regions of the US.  Prior to becoming an SLP she worked for several years as a 1:1 paraprofessional and home service provider for individuals with complex communication needs.  Amy has experience in home-based, public school, non-public school, and outpatient environments.    Her passion for ongoing professional development, practical implementation of clinical research, and lots of nerdy talks with like-minded friends helped lead to the development of SLP Nerdcast, a podcast and course-based learning platform from Grandbois Therapy + Consulting LLC (www.slpnerdcast.com).  Amy currently works full-time in a public school as an AAC Specialist and part-time at SLP Nerdcast as Co-Host and Director of Clinical Content.