Melissa Farrow, M.S.CCC-SLP; BCS-S is an ASHA-certified medical speech-language pathologist with expertise in managing disordered swallowing in adults with medical complexity.
Melissa is board certified as a Swallowing Specialist by the American Board of Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders and holds certification as a Modified Barium Swallow Impairment Profile clinician. She currently serves on ASHA’s Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders Special Interest Group (Sig 13) Planning and Development Committee. A recipient of seven ASHA awards for excellence in continuing education, Melissa was one of 30 clinicians in the United States selected for ASHA’s Leadership Development Program in 2017.
Melissa has practiced for more than a decade in the acute, sub-acute, intermediate care, and long-term care settings in the United states. She is currently a SLP for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, where she serves as Chair of the Physical-Nutritional Management Team in caring for those with intellectual disability (ID).
She conducts research oral health needs in those with ID and dysphagia management practice patterns for adults with ID and has presented nationally and internationally on these topics. Melissa is a member of several organizations dedicated to advancing the art and science of swallowing and advocating for patients with swallowing disorders.

Kerstin Bilda received her speech therapy training in Ulm and Heidelberg. She studied in Berlin, London and Aachen. From 2003 to 2009, she was a professor of applied linguistics at the Hochschule Oldenburg- Since 2009 she is professor for neurorehabilitation at the Hochschule für Gesundheit Bochum. From 2015 to 2020, she was Vice President for Research at the Hochschule Bochum.
Her work and research focus is the development of new digital technologies for neurorehabilitation. In many interdisciplinary research projects, she has developed apps for people with aphasia, dysarthria and hearing disorders. The app DiaTrain was developed for aphasia and includes video sequences for practising everyday communicative dialogues. It is used in Germany in both outpatient and inpatient rehabilitation.

Prof Maggie-Lee Huckabee is FoundingDirector of the University of Canterbury Rose Centre for Stroke Recovery and Research and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology, Speech and Hearing in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Her research interests focus on the complexities of behaviorally-driven neural adaptation and biomechanical change leading to swallowing recovery following neurological injury.
In her 20-year academic career, Prof Huckabee has co-authored three books, one in its 3rd edition, 15 book chapters and has published 105 peer reviewed scientific papers. She was awarded one of the top research medals from the University of Canterbury –The Innovation Medal, was a finalist for theNZ Women of Influence Award in Science and Innovation and nominated for New Zealander of the Year in the Innovation category.
In 2021, she was honoured as recipient of the Royal Society of New Zealand MacDiarmid Medal, in recognition of her commitment to translational research. Prof Huckabee is committed to translational science to move research discoveries into routine clinical practice. She is the recent founder of Swallowing Technologies Ltd, a commercial enterprise to translate laboratory-developed technology to clinical care. She is well known as a clinical teacher and is an invited speaker by health systems worldwide to provide clinical training, particularly in rehabilitation practices.

Kathy Panther, M.S., CCC-SLP, spent her career of 36 years as a speech language pathologist and rehab director at Frazier Rehab Institute in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. She earned her degrees at the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville. Frazier Rehab Institute is a fast paced, high intensity rehab setting serving a metropolitan community that also reaches into rural regions of the state of Kentucky.
Kathy was fortunate to work with talented clinicians from diverse academic backgrounds and was able to promote teamwork of the highest caliber, She led not only the speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists but also the clinical programs for Acquired Brain Injury patients. Kathy’s passion has been clinical program development and achieving quality outcomes.
Kathy served on the board of the Parkinson Support Center of Kentuckiana for many years and provided leadership to service delivery in Louisville for individuals with Parkinson Disease.
Early in Kathy’s career, she along with colleagues pioneered the Frazier Water Protocol which led to significant change in dysphagia intervention. Kathy has extensively traveled North America and presented virtually to educate clinicians on the Frazier Water Protocol. She is pleased in retirement to continue this work considering the dissemination of this information and guidance to institutions to be a mission not just work.

Georgia A. Malandraki, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-S, ASHA Fellow is a Professor of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University. She is a Board-Certified Specialist in Swallowing Disorders and is currently the President of the Dysphagia Research Society and Editor of the American Journal of Speech Language Pathology.
Her research focuses on investigating developmental and treatment swallowing neuroplasticity and developing rehabilitative and telehealth interventions and wearable technologies for patients with dysphagia. Clinically, she serves patients with neurogenic dysphagia acros the age span and consults clinicians and regulatory bodies on the use of safe and reliable telehealth services.
Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health of the United States, the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine, private foundations, and several mechanisms through the Purdue Research Foundation.

Dr. Ramig is Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and CO-Founder of LSVT Global. She pioneered the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) for persons with Parkinson disease, and spearheaded over 25 years of research to support its development and implementation. She continues to direct research in LSVT LOUD and is faculty for LSVT LOUD training and certification courses.
She received her doctorate from Purdue University and has been Professor in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Science at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Senior Scientist at the National Center for Voice and Speech in Denver, and Honorary Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, New York City.
Dr. Ramig holds Honors and is a Fellow of the American Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (ASHA), in addition to many other awards and honors. She was born and raised in northern Wisconsin and currently resides in New York City.

Dr. Martin-Harris is the Alice Gabrielle Twight Professor in the Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the School of Communication at Northwestern University.
Her research interests include swallowing impairment and respiratory-swallowing interactions, assessment, and treatment approaches for patients with head and neck cancer, neurologic and pulmonary diseases.
Dr. Martin-Harris’ research is funded by the NIH, VA, Bracco Diagnostics, and Mark and Evelyn Trammell Foundation.

Associate Professor Jacqueline Allen is a Laryngologist practicing in Auckland, New Zealand. A graduate of the University of Auckland, Dr Allen undertook Fellowship training at the Voice and Swallow Centre, University of California, Davis where she specialized in Voice and Dysphagia utilizing modern in-office techniques, endoscopy and laser surgery.
She returned to New Zealand in 2010 and established the Auckland Voice and Swallow Centre, and the Swallowing Lab at University of Auckland where these techniques have been put to use. Research interests include neurogenic dysphagia, swallowing and nutrition in the older adult, vocal fold scar translational research, reflux disease and novel engineering modelling for swallow dysfunction.
Dr Allen is Past President of Dysphagia Research Society, a Member of the American Bronchoesophagological Association and Laryngology Society of Australasia and is Section Editor of Current Opinion in Otolaryngology and Annals of Rhinology, Otology and Laryngology.
She has published more than 90 journal articles, 1 book, and 20 book chapters and is an Editorial Board member and reviewer for many international peer-reviewed journals including Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, European Archives of Otolaryngology and Laryngoscope. She currently lives with her husband and daughter in Auckland.