Justine Joan Sheppard Memorial Conference

Joan Arvedson, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-S, is an internationally renowned clinician and teacher. She is Program Coordinator of Feeding and Swallowing Services, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. She is an ASHA Fellow and was awarded Honors of ASHA. Dr. Arvedson focuses on patient care, teaching, and research on swallowing and feeding disorders in infants and children. She has published numerous peer-reviewed articles, chapters, and books. She is a past-president of New York Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NYSSLHA) and of the Society for Ear, Nose, and Throat Advances in Children (SENTAC).

Susan Balandin, PhD., FSPA, FISAAC, Inaugural Chair of Disability and Inclusion, Deakin University, Australia. Susan trained as a speech pathologist in the UK. After working as a clinician in the field of lifelong disability for many years, she completed her doctorate in the School of Linguistics at Macquarie University. She has worked in Australia, New Zealand and Norway and holds honorary positions at Edith Cowan University, NTNU, Norway and the University of Helsinki, and has a close clinical and research connection with the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy, Kolkata, India. Her research interests focus on disability and inclusion and in particular the health interactions and community inclusion of adults who use AAC. She conducts training in the use of the DDS regularly along with Professor Bronwyn Hemsley and worked closely with Dr. Joan Sheppard.

Bronwyn Hemsley, PhD, FSPA, CPSP, Fellow of ISAAC and Speech Pathology Australia, is a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist and Head of Speech Pathology at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia. With 30 years’ experience in the field, and having been awarded her PhD from the University of Sydney in 2008 under the supervision of Professor Balandin, she has a keen clinical and research interest in improving communication access for people with lifelong and acquired disability; and improving mealtime safety and enjoyment for people with lifelong disability and dysphagia.

Maureen A. Lefton-Greif, PhD, CCC/SLP, BCS-S, ASHA-F, Professor in Pediatrics, Otolaryngology Head/Neck Surgery and Physical Medicine/Rehabilitation at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She’s an expert clinician in pediatric feeding/swallowing and has presented on its development and disorders nationally and internationally.  Her clinical work and research focuses on standardization of fluoroscopic images from bottle-fed children with dysphagia respiratory-swallow coordination and progressive diseases with pediatric origins. She has published peer-reviewed articles, chapters and books.

Georgia A. Malandraki, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-S, is an Associate Professor of Speech, Language, & Hearing Sciences and Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University and a Board Certified Specialist in Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders. She is also the Research Director of the Purdue I-EaT Swallowing Research Laboratory and Clinic. Her research focuses on investigating developmental and treatment swallowing neuroplasticity, and developing rehabilitative and telehealth interventions for dysphagia. Dr. Malandraki has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles and has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine, the Showalter Research Trust, and the Purdue Research Foundation.