ADVISORS

Rebecca Leonard, Ph.D. – University of California, Davis

Dr. Rebecca Leonard is a professor emeritus in the Dept. of Otolaryngology/HNS at the University of California, Davis, and the former clinical director of the Voice-Speech-Swallowing Center at the U.C. Davis Medical Center. Her clinical and research interests include voice and swallowing, and she has published and presented frequently on topics in these areas. A particular focus has been the videofluoroscopic investigation of normal and disordered swallowing, including changes in swallowing associated with aging. Dr. Leonard received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Purdue University. She is a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Katherine Kendall, M.D. - University of Utah

Dr. Katherine Kendall earned her M.D. degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She completed her residency in Otolaryngology/HNS at the University of California, Davis. She then joined the otolaryngology faculty at UCD and developed the department’s first laryngology program. She was also the medical director of the Voice-Speech- Swallowing Center at the U.C. Davis Medical Center. Dr. Kendall’s research has focused on the evaluation and treatment of swallowing disorders. She is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles on the topic and is currently an associate professor in the Dept. Otolaryngology/HNS at the University of Utah.

Susan Langmore, Ph.D. - Boston University

Dr. Susan Langmore holds joint appointments as Professor of Otolaryngology at Boston University Medical Center and Clinical Professor, Speech Language and Hearing Sciences, Sargent College, at Boston University. Dr Langmore has an active research program, with several ongoing projects that involve both fluoroscopy and FEES as evaluation tools. She is probably best known for developing the FEES procedure and her research in aspiration pneumonia is also widely recognized. She is a Fellow of ASHA and was given the Honors of the Association in 2012.

Maggie Kuhn, M.D.- University of California, Davis

Dr. Maggie Kuhn recently completed a fellowship in laryngology and bronchoesophagology at UCD and is now an assistant professor in the Dept. Otolaryngology/HNS. She specializes in complex disorders of voice, swallowing and airway. She is actively involved in clinical research exploring reflux-mediated swallowing disorders and functional outcomes after treatment for head and neck cancer.

Jacqui Allen, M.D. – University of Auckland

Dr. Jacqui Allen, FRACS, is an international expert in disorders of voice and swallowing. Trained in otolaryngology in New Zealand, Dr. Allen has worked in the United Kingdom and United States. She was a visiting assistant professor in laryngology and bronchoesophagology at the University of California, Davis, until deciding to return home to establish the first medical Centre for Voice and Swallowing in New Zealand. Dr. Allen is widely published and a reviewer for several international peer- reviewed journals. She is also a section editor for Current Opinion in Otolaryngology/HNS, and is on the editorial board of the Dysphagia Research Society. Dr. Allen is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland and a grant funded researcher.

Anna Miles, Ph.D. - University of Auckland

Dr. Anna Miles has been working in the field of dysphagia since 1997. She is a full-time lecturer at the University of Auckland. Her research interests focus on assessment and treatment of swallowing disorders. In addition to research supervision, she provides clinical teaching to speech-language pathology students at Auckland Hospital and directs a voice, chronic cough and swallowing clinic for the Auckland ENT Group. Dr. Miles teaches nationally in specialty areas of endoscopic evaluation of swallowing, videofluoroscopic study of swallowing, surface EMG in dysphagia management, cough reflex testing and tracheostomy management. Dr. Miles completed her Ph.D. at the University of Canterbury.

Yannis Goulermas, Ph.D. – University of Liverpool

Dr. Yannis Goulermas is a Reader (Associate Professor) in the department of Computer Science of the University of Liverpool, where he leads the Data Mining and Machine Learning group. Previously, he worked as a researcher in both industry and academia on various projects involving data analytics, machine learning and mathematical modelling.

He has published over 130 papers in both theory and application fields. He previously managed the EPSRC project on automating the measurement of spatiotemporal events in videofluroscopic swallowing sequences using image analysis and visualisation algorithms.