Research Program Updates
Swallowing Lab
This academic year, our MSc student Vivian Che successfully defended her Master’s thesis titled “The quantification of radiation fibrosis using clinically indicated magnetic resonance imaging for head and neck cancer patients” in Nov 2023 with 1 peer-reviewed article as first author (in press) and is a recipient of the 2023 Paula Square Travel Award.
Our PhD candidate Beatrice Manduchi also successfully defended her PhD thesis titled “Optimizing patient-reported outcome measurement of dysphagia in people with Head and Neck Cancer and the experience with swallowing interventions during cancer treatment” in Feb 2024. Dr. Manduchi first-authored 4 peer-reviewed articles as part of her thesis and was the recipient of several awards including the Department of Speech-Language Pathology Award for Research Excellence – Student 2023, Peterborough K.M. Hunter Charitable Foundation Graduate Award 2023-24, 2023 Paula Square Travel Award and the 2023 University of Toronto Student Leadership Award (UTSLA).
In addition, our MSc student Ala Refai received the 2023 CIHR Masters’ Award.
Dr. Martino and her team successfully completed enrolment of 952 participants for the large, multi-site, pragmatic trial comparing the effectiveness of PROphylACTic swallow InterVEntion for patients receiving radiotherapy for head and neck cancer (PRO-ACTIVE) in Sept 2023 and launched a new clinical trial on Early Swallowing and Speech Intervention in Surgical Head and Neck Cancer Patients (ESSI-SURG) the same year.
Between Mar 2023 to Mar 2024, Dr Martino presented at 9 invited lectures, 12 scientific paper presentations and 6 poster presentations receiving an award for best poster (2nd place) and best research oral presentation (3rd prize) at the American Head and Neck Surgery (AHNS) 11th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer 2023 and Dysphagia Research Society Meeting 2024 respectively.
Paediatric Language, Learning & Speech (PedLLS) Outcomes Lab
Nicole Bazzocchi received the 2023 Research & Health Science Education (RHSE) Entrance Scholarship in the amount of $5,000.
Voice and Resonance Lab
Research student Somayah Al-Ees successfully reclassified to the PhD stream. She presented her research at the Boston Speech Motor Control Symposium, the meeting of the Canadian Acoustical Association, and the National Center for Voice and Speech Conference. But most importantly, she and her family welcomed baby daughter Deema.
Fluency Lab
Members of the Speech Fluency Lab co-authored 4 peer-reviewed papers: Höbler F., et al. (2023) Explicit benefits: Motor sequence acquisition and short-term retention in adults who do and do not stutter, Journal of Fluency Disorders; Franken, M.C. et al., (2024) Erasmus clinical model of the onset and development of stuttering 2.0, Journal of Fluency Disorders; Theys, C. et al. (in press) Localisation of stuttering based on causal brain lesions, Brain, and Moein, N. et al. (submitted) The effects of tDCS on speech fluency in people who stutter: A review of the literature.