Meet the Speakers
Jan R. Avent, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a professor in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders at California State University, East Bay. She is the director of the Aphasia Treatment Program, and is the author of Manual of Cooperative Group Treatment for Aphasia (1997) and numerous articles on group treatment.
Jennifer Blomberg, RD, is a registered and licensed dietitian at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. She specializes in oncology and dysphagia. Jennifer was on the national committee responsible for creating the Veteran's National Dysphagia Diet (VNDD). She has also co-written and been in educational broadcasts for the VA about the VNDD and the required changes to practice. Jennifer presented data, challenges, and recommendations regarding the VNDD to the national Association of VA Speech-Language Pathologists (AVASLP) in April 2007.
Jennifer Brush, MA, CCC-SLP, is executive director of IDEAS Institute. She is known for her work in memory and swallowing interventions for people with dementia. A sought-after speaker, Ms. Brush offers interactive and educational presentations that help audiences bridge the gap between current research findings and the care needs of their clients. She has applied research experience as the principal investigator on both government and private foundation grants. Ms. Brush is the author of Meal Time Matters, the co-author of A Therapy Technique for Improving Memory: Spaced Retrieval, and the author of several articles.
Elizabeth Crais, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a professor in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. Dr. Crais has been active in early intervention for over 30 years as a speech-language pathologist, university professor, clinical supervisor, and researcher. She has published a number of articles and book chapters and made numerous presentations dealing with young children with disabilities and their families. Her research focuses on the prelinguistic behaviors of young typically developing children as well as those with or at risk for autism, particularly early gestural behaviors and their impact on communication skills.
Caryn Easterling, PhD, CCC-SLP, BRS-S, is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is also a research scientist at the Veterans Administration Medical Center and assistant professor in the Departments of Neurology and Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. Easterling was a research scientist and clinician in the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Medical College of Wisconsin for 10 years. She served as topic coordinator for the 2006 ASHA Convention, and is currently Treasurer of the Board for Specialty Recognition in Swallowing.
Frances Page Glascoe, PhD, is a professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt University and a pediatric educator with more than 20 years' experience working with pediatric residents, faculty, and community providers. She spent 10 years teaching special education in public schools before joining the faculty at Vanderbilt University, where she directed the rotation in developmental pediatrics and served as educational specialist on the neuropsychology, school performance, and autism and developmental diagnostic teams. Her research focuses on the accuracy of developmental and behavioral screening measures, and she is the author of more than 100 journal articles and chapters.
Lynn Marty Grames, MA, CCC-SLP, has served with the Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Institute at St. Louis Children's Hospital since 1981. She provides speech-language diagnostics and therapy, velopharyngeal imaging assessments, collaborative care with school and early intervention SLPs, and community consultation, and also participates in clinical research for children with a wide variety of craniofacial disorders. She has participated with the National Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome Research Registry, and as a consultant for the Beckwith-Wiedemann Children's Foundation.
Alan F. Hauff, MBA, is the small business program specialist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, providing information, guidance, and advice to entrepreneurs and small business owners, and directing the university's Small Business Development Center. Alan also lectures on entrepreneurship and marketing in the College of Business Administration, and teaches continuing education classes on starting and managing a small business.
Jeannette D. Hoit, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a professor in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at the University of Arizona. She is also a member of the Program in Neuroscience faculty and coordinator of the University of Arizona Graduate Training Program in Survival Skills and Ethics. Dr. Hoit's research focuses on speech physiology, with particular emphasis on normal aging, neuromotor speech disorders, and respiratory function and dysfunction, including ventilator-supported speech and speaking-related dyspnea.
Joanne P. Lasker, PhD, CCC-SLP, is an associate professor at Florida State University. Her clinical work and published research focus on functional assessment and treatment protocols for people living with aphasia. She has extensive experience teaching in the areas of acquired neurological disorders and augmentative and alternative communication.
Russell (Hank) Mills, PhD, CCC-SLP, BRS-S, has served as a speech-language pathologist in the U.S. military and Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare systems for the past 35 years. His areas of special interest and research include viscosity and the human swallow, cervical auscultation as a screening tool, development of standardized national diets, and the use of laboratory assessment as an adjunctive tool in the evaluation of dysphagia. He has presented in national and international forums and has authored numerous articles, textbook chapters and a textbook on the evaluation of dysphagia.
Susan Miller, is founder of Voicetrainer, LLC, a voice and communication consulting firm. She is also an assistant professor of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, DC.
Shari Robertson, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a professor of speech-language pathology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. In addition, she owns and operates Phoenix Enterprises, a high performance business consulting firm, and Philly Street Sweets, where she creates and sells gourmet confections in a retail setting. She enjoys helping her fellow ASHA members find ways to nurture both their professional skills and their entrepreneurial talents.
John C. Rosenbek, PhD, CCC-SLP, is professor and chair of the Department of Communicative Disorders, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida. In collaboration with colleagues he is studying the influence of respiratory muscle strength training on speech and swallow in men and women with Parkinson's disease, developing a new treatment for aprosodia, and measuring the effects of deep brain stimulation on speech in Parkinson's disease. He holds the Honors of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association and received the Frank Kleffner Career Clinical Award.
David A. Rosenberg, JD, is a partner in the Washington, DC office of Ford & Harrison, LLP, where regularly advises corporate clients in all areas of law of the workplace. He also lectures frequently on how businesses can minimize their exposure to employment-related claims and disputes.
Robert J. Rothbaum, MD, joined the Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children's Hospital in 1982, where he is clinical director of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition. In 2005, he co-founded the Nutrition Interaction Team, a multi-disciplinary group of physicians, therapists, dietitians, nurses, and psychologists that analyzes difficult pediatric nutrition and feeding problems, and advises caregivers for focused evaluations and targeted therapies. The team seeks to expand the expertise of professionals to unify care for complex patients and families.
Catherine Shaker, MS, CCC-SLP, BRS-S, is a pediatric speech-language pathologist with more than 30 years' experience with neonates, medically-fragile infants, and children with complex needs across the continuum of pediatric settings. For 22 years, Ms. Shaker has worked full-time in Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare–St. Joseph's Level III 65-bed NICU in Milwaukee, WI, which is the regional perinatal center for southeastern Wisconsin. She has published several manuscripts on NICU intervention, created an ASHA self-study program on working in the NICU, and co-authored the Early Feeding Skills Assessment Tool (EFS) for preterm infants.
Nancy B. Swigert, MA, CCC-SLP, BRS-S, is director of speech-language pathology and respiratory care at Central Baptist Hospital, an acute care facility in Lexington, KY. For the prior twenty-six years, Nancy was the President of Swigert & Associates, Inc., a private practice providing speech-language pathology services in the central Kentucky area. Her main interests are in pediatric and adult dysphagia and other neurogenic disorders. She is a former President of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and currently chairs the Health Care Economics Committee and serves on the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation Board of Trustees.
Lyn Turkstra, PhD, CCC-SLP, is an associate professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focus is the relation of cognition to communication, particularly in the context of social communication in adolescents and young adults with traumatic brain injury. Dr. Turkstra has published extensively on cognitive and communication function after TBI, and has worked clinically with survivors of TBI for over 15 years. She is board certified by the Academy of Neurological Communication Disorders and Sciences (ANCDS) and is a member of the ANCDS writing committee on Practice Guidelines for Cognitive-Communication Disorders after Traumatic Brain Injury.
Anne van Kleeck, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a professor and Callier Research Scholar at the Callier Center for Communication Disorders in the School of Behavioral and Brain Science, University of Texas at Dallas. She has been at the University of Texas at Dallas since 2004, and was previously the department head in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Georgia from 1997 to 2004. Her current research focuses on preliteracy development, socialization, and intervention, with a particular emphasis on interactive book sharing with preschoolers.
Steven C. White, PhD, CCC-A, is the director of health care economics and advocacy at the ASHA National Office. White, an ASHA Fellow, is ex officio member of the Health Care Economics Committee. He is the staff liaison to the American Medical Association Current Procedural Terminology Editorial Panel and the AMA Relative Value Update Committee. White is co-author of four ASHA publications about private health plan issues and of two others focused on Medicare.
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