Presenters at Airway Fundamentals: Considerations for SLP Decision-Making

Meredith Oakey Ashford, MS, CCC-SLP (she/her/hers) has been a speech-language pathologist in the adult acute care program at Vanderbilt Universtiy Medical Center in Nashville for 15 years. She is the co-coordinator of the Vanderbilt University Hospital multidisciplinary tracheostomy team. Meredith has spoken at national conferences on the topics of dysphagia and collaboration with palliative medicine, communication assessments for patients who are ventilator-dependent via tracheostomy, and instrumental swallowing evaluations. She is a frequent guest lecturer across the medical center.

Financial Disclosures:

• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation
• Salary from Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

James L. Coyle, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-S, is Professor of Communication Science and Disorders, Otolaryngology, and Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. Coyle sees patients and trains SLP Master’s students in the UPMC hospitals and teaches graduate courses. Coyle is a Board-Certified Specialist in Swallowing Disorders, and is a former member of the ABSSD as well as an ASHA Fellow. Coyle conducts research in the UPMC Medical Center and is funded by NIH to investigate noninvasive dysphagia screening instrumentation.

Financial Disclosures:

• Salary from University of Pittsburgh
• Grant funding from NIH

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Candice Devlin, MS, CCC-SLP, BCS-S (she/her/hers) is a senior speech pathologist and board-certified specialist in swallowing at Duke Regional Hospital and the Durham VA Medical Center. Clinical interests include dysphagia in pulmonary critical care, and tracheostomy/ventilator dependent populations. She established and leads her hospital’s interdisciplinary tracheostomy team, and brought respiratory muscle training, in-line Passy-Muir Valve, and IDDSI programs to Duke Regional Hospital. She has published, presented, and been a podcast speaker on oxygen therapies, mechanical ventilation, and swallowing.

Financial Disclosures:

• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Thomas Devlin, BS, RRT, ACCS (he/him/his) is a respiratory therapist at the University of North Carolina Hospital (UNC-Chapel Hill), where he serves as the medical intensive care unit (MICU) clinical specialist. As a clinical specialist, he has advanced skills in pulmonology critical care medicine and involvement in multiple research studies investigating acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) management. He serves as a liaison among all disciplines, including physicians, nurses, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, and fellow respiratory therapists. Additionally, Mr. Devlin provides education to medical students, residents, and pulmonology fellows regarding non-invasive and mechanical ventilation management. In 2020, he was nominated for a position on the respiratory therapy advisory panel for the World Health Organization and earned the title of adult critical care specialist (ACCS) in 2021.

Financial Disclosures:

• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Sarah Fox, MS, CCC-SLP (she/her/hers) graduated with her master’s degree in speech and hearing sciences from Tennessee State University in 2014. She is a FEES-certified speech-language pathologist, currently working in the long-term acute care setting with the tracheostomy and ventilator-dependent population. Sarah serves as an SLP Clinical Specialist at Select Specialty Hospital in Nashville, where she provides direct clinical services to patients as well as dysphagia education to other disciplines hospital-wide, including physicians and nurse practitioners. She has spoken at the Tennessee Association of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology conference annually since 2021, presenting on a variety of dysphagia-related topics. A two-time ASHA ACE award recipient, Sarah has a passion for swallowing and swallowing disorders research, educating other SLPs on chronic critical illness, and student supervision.

Financial Disclosures:

• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation
• Salary from Select Specialty Hospital

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Amy Freeman-Sanderson, PhD, CPSP (she/her/hers) is a senior lecturer and a Certified Practicing Speech Pathologist at the Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney. She holds an Honorary Clinical Specialist Speech Pathologist appointment at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Sydney, is an Honorary Senior Fellow in the Critical Care Division at The George Institute for Global Health, and is an affiliate of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre (ANZIC-RC), School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. She has over 20 years of clinical experience in quaternary and tertiary Sydney and London hospitals. She has gained leadership and management experience through various clinical positions, including Head of Department Speech Pathology Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Her clinically focused international research program aims to optimize communication and swallowing outcomes for patients following critical illness. A core focus of her work is empowering and enabling patient communication in an acute setting. She has disseminated her work globally, authoring 40 publications and delivering over 80 presentations, and has been awarded over $1.6 million dollars in research funding.

Financial Disclosures:

• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Alexander Gelbard, MD, is a board-certified otolaryngologist and tenured professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. His clinical and scientific efforts focus on adult laryngeal and tracheal disease. He completed his undergraduate education at Stanford University, medical school at Tulane School of Medicine, and internship and residency at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Dr. Gelbard completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in immunology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center as well as a clinical fellowship in laryngeal surgery at Vanderbilt School of Medicine. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and lectures internationally on adult airway disease. He is Vice Chair of Research and an NIH-funded principal investigator studying the molecular mechanisms underlying benign laryngeal and tracheal disease. He is also managing director of the North American Airway Collaborative (NoAAC). NoAAC is a funded, multi-institutional consortium with 40 participating centers in the United States and Europe that works to exchange information concerning the treatment of adult airway disease. It is composed of collaborators who pursue a combination of genetic-, molecular-, and epidemiologic-based approaches to investigate the critical factors underlying the pathogenesis and outcomes of laryngotracheal stenosis.

Financial Disclosures:

• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Roxann Diez Gross, PhD, CCC-SLP (she/her/hers) is an ASHA Fellow and consultant and clinical specialist for Swallowing Diagnostics, Inc., in Parkland, Florida. She has served as principal investigator on several research grants. Her work has resulted in multiple peer-reviewed and invited publications as well as frequent invitations to lecture both nationally and internationally. Her research study that developed a method and apparatus for quantifying pharyngeal residue was granted a U.S. patent.

Financial Disclosures:

• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation
• Royalties from Plural Publishing and Northern Speech Services
• Income from Swallowing Diagnostics, Inc.

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Kristin King, PhD, CCC-SLP (she/her/hers) has over 25 years of experience in medical settings, academia, and industry, and brings a unique perspective to care of patients with complex medical diagnoses. Her experience included a clinical focus on critical care and trauma, with an emphasis on TBI and trach/vent patients. As a professor, she conducted research and published in peer-reviewed journals in the areas of TBI and swallowing disorders. She continues her career by working in industry to improve patient outcomes through the development of multimedia education and participating in product development and regulatory requirements for medical devices. She is the host of the Conversations on Aerodigestive Management (CAM) Podcast for Passy-Muir and editor of the Aerodigestive Health publication by Passy Muir, and contributes regularly at the state, national, and international levels with both speaking and clinical papers. She also is co-editor of the book Tracheostomy and Ventilator Dependence in Adults and Children: Learning Through Case Studies.

Financial Disclosures:

• Full-time employee of Passy-Muir, Inc.,
• Royalties from Plural Publishing as co-editor of the book Tracheostomy and Ventilator Dependence in Adults and Children: Learning Through Case Studies

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Priya D. Krishna, MD, MS, FACS (she/her/hers) is an ENT, associate professor, and co-director of the Loma Linda University Voice and Swallowing Center. She did her otolaryngology training at Southern Illinois University and completed a 2-year fellowship in Laryngology and Care of the Professional Voice at the University of Pittsburgh under Clark Rosen, MD, FACS. She received an Earleen Elkins grant and Triologic Society Career Development Award for work in vocal fold scarring and a Casselberry Award from the American Laryngological Association. She has been at Loma Linda since 2011 due to the need for perpetual sunshine. Since that time she has been involved in clinical research in areas of vocal fold atrophy, vocal fold paralysis, behavioral treatment for chronic cough, and esophageal manometry. She is the Chair Elect for the Voice Committee and Immediate Past Chair for the Section of Women in Otolaryngology of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

Financial Disclosures:

• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Ashley M. Lopez, MBA, MS, CCC-SLP, BCS-S (she/her/hers) is a board-certified clinician with experience in direct patient care, project management, service line development, and leadership. Ashley has been published in the ASHA Leader and Aerodigestive Health as well as the Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups. She received the Distinguished Early Career Professional (ECP) Certificate in 2018 and graduated from ASHA's Leadership Development Program (LDP) in 2019. She is a current member of the Hispanic Caucus for ASHA and a previous board member. She has been a guest speaker for several universities and presented at the local, state, and national levels, including multidisciplinary presentations with nursing organizations. In 2020, Ashley began her 4-year term as a site visitor for the Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA). ​​​Ashley served ASHA's Special Interest Group 13 as a professional development member from 2021-2023 and the CE content manager. Outside of her clinical duties, Ashley serves to empower diverse members of the health care workforce as the 2022 co-chair and 2023 chair for the Hispanic/LatinX Alliance for Houston Methodist. Ashley currently is an adjunct lecturer for the University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley.

Financial Disclosures:

• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Valentina Mocchetti, MS, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist specializing in swallowing disorders at Weill Cornell Medicine, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Sean Parker Institute for the Voice in New York City. Valentina obtained a Bachelor of Science in biology from Georgetown University, where she was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute research scholar and obtained a Master of Science in speech-language pathology from Columbia University. She completed a clinical fellowship in swallowing and swallowing disorders at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Voice and Swallowing Clinics. Valentina has worked in both inpatient acute care and outpatient settings with adults with swallowing and communication impairments over the past 10 years. She has specialized in the evaluation and rehabilitation of swallowing dysfunction in adults across a diverse range of complex medical diagnoses. Valentina has advanced training in instrumental swallowing assessments including VFSS, FEES, and high-resolution pharyngeal manometry. She is currently the primary clinical speech pathologist for the multidisciplinary dysphagia clinic at the Sean Parker Institute for the Voice. Valentina also participates in collaborative clinical research. She is a member of Dysphagia Research Society and ASHA, and has presented at the national and international levels.

Financial Disclosures:

• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation
• Salary from Weill Cornell Medicine

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Marilouise E. Nichols, MS, CCC-SLP, BCS-S (she/her/hers) is the Clinical Director and a clinical associate professor in the Communication Sciences and Disorders department at North Carolina Central University in Durham. Marilouise has an extensive background in medical speech pathology and has focused her career in neurogenic dysphagia and communication disorders, traumatic brain injury, and iatrogenic dysphagia in adult acute care, long-term acute care, and inpatient rehabilitation. She is a Board-Certified Specialist in Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders and a Certified Brain Injury Specialist. Marilouise earned her BA at Spelman College in Atlanta and her MS at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. In addition to her clinical background, Marilouise is passionate about early career professional leadership development and graduate clinical supervision and instruction. She has been a professor and lecturer at several universities and presented on clinical and leadership topics at state and national conventions. Marilouise is an alumna of ASHA’s Healthcare Leadership Development Program (LDP) 2022 cohort, was awarded ASHA’s Distinguished Early Career Professional Award in 2020, and is an alumna of ASHA’s Minority Student Leadership Program (MSLP) 2013 cohort. Marilouise serves on the Board of the Directors for the National Black Association of Speech Language and Hearing (NBASLH). 

Financial Disclosures:

• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Elizabeth Norberg, MS, CCC-SLP, BCS-S,  is an acute care speech-language pathologist with Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is Board Certified in Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders and has over 17 years of experience in the diagnosis and treatment of swallow dysfunction. She has special interests in FEES in the assessment of the upper aerodigestive tract, artificial airways, and head and neck cancer. She regularly supervises clinical fellows and graduate students and guest lectures with master's and medical students. She has presented locally and regionally on the topics of FEES, intubation, and upper airway assessments.

Financial Disclosures:

• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Tiffany A. Oakes, MS, CCC-SLP (she/her/hers) graduated with a Master’s degree in speech-language pathology from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in 2012. She has been a medical SLP in various settings from acute care to home health. Tiffany has experience developing patient care pathways to guide assessment and treatment selection for patients in home health. She also participates in the development of multimedia education related to health care and clinical practice.

Financial Disclosures:

• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation
• Full-time clinical specialist with Passy-Muir, Inc.

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Rory O'Bryan, MS, CCC-SLP, BCS-S (she/her/hers) is a Senior Speech Pathologist and Board-Certified Specialist in Swallowing at Duke Regional Hospital in Durham, North Carolina. She also serves as a fee basis employee at the Durham VA Medical Center. Clinical interests include dysphagia in pulmonary critical care, tracheostomy and ventilator-dependent patient populations, as well as neurogenic dysphagia. She established and continues to lead her hospital’s multidisciplinary tracheostomy team and has been instrumental in developing and bringing Respiratory Muscle Training, In-Line Passy-Muir Valve, and IDDSI programs to Duke Regional Hospital. She has published, presented, and been a podcast speaker on oxygen therapies, mechanical ventilation, and swallowing. Ms. O'Bryan earned her Master’s degree in communication sciences and disorders from the University of North Carolina in 2010 and her Bachelor’s degree in linguistics from the University of Michigan. Outside of work, Rory enjoys spending time with her husband and two young kids, exercising outdoors, and traveling with friends.

Financial Disclosures:

• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Rachel O'Hare, RRT, started her respiratory therapy career in the United States Army Reserves, where she served 13 years and did one tour in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. After returning home, she began working as a traveler and has worked in hospitals across the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. She has a very broad knowledge in respiratory care and has worked in all patient care areas, including adult ICU, pediatric ICU, and neonatal ICU. She also has worked in a pulmonary function lab in addition to long-term care. In 2018, Rachel began to pursue her passion of teaching, advancing her career away from the bedside into becoming a clinical educator for critical care ventilation products. She spent the last few years working as a regional clinical educator, providing clinical education and support for all of Northern California before joining the Passy Muir clinical team in 2022.

Financial Disclosures:

• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Jo Puntil, MS, CCC-SLP, BCS-S, is an ASHA Fellow and a dysphagia clinical specialist at St. George Regional Hospital. She has specialized in the management of swallowing and communication disorders, specifically in critical care, for over 35 years. Jo Puntil has authored clinically based reference tools, research publications, and many chapters in college textbooks. She has developed numerous interdisciplinary dysphagia programs and has lectured nationally, providing a more medically based understanding of the communication and swallowing disordered patient.

Financial Disclosures:

• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None