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ORCID ID - 0000-0002-1740-2562
Dr Erin Conway’s current research focus is communication in dementia and dementia care interventions supporting quality communication, quality care and quality of life for people with dementia and carers. This includes the evaluation of communication training for carers of people with dementia, and exploring treatment efficacy of word-retrieval rehabilitation in progressive aphasia. Dr Conway is also interested in cognition and language processing in healthy ageing and acquired neurological disorders (eg. stroke, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease) and the use of EEG methodology in the investigation of neurolinguistic processing.
ORCID ID - 0000-0002-7361-0788
Dr Kerry Ttofari Eecen is a speech pathologist and lecturer at ACU with research interests and clinical experience in paediatric speech, language, and literacy difficulties. Dr Eecen’s particular research interests include assessment, classification and terminology in developmental communication disorders, in addition to service delivery within speech pathology practice.
ORCID ID - 0000-0003-4413-7968
Dr Kieran Flanagan is a certified practising speech pathologist with more than 10 years of clinical and research experience. He is a senior lecturer in speech pathology at ACU and an honourary research fellow at the Mater Research Institute. Dr Flanagan’s research has focused on language and its disorders, with a particular interest in psycholinguistic approaches. Example projects have included the study of prelinguistic skills in preterm infants through to language changes and intervention in Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr Michelle Donaghy is a certified practising speech pathologist, with a background in education. She has worked in a variety of paediatric and adult settings as a clinician. As a researcher, Dr Donaghy has presented at conferences locally and overseas, with a particular focus on treatment processes in the early intervention of stuttering. She has recently broadened her research into the area of speech intelligibility and the impact of accent on professional and academic communication.
ORCID ID - 0000-0002-2596-0476
Wendy Pearce is an associate professor of speech pathology at ACU in Sydney. She has significant clinical expertise in childhood speech and language disorders. Her research publications have largely focused on diagnostic and cultural perspectives related to language development and disorder. She has a strong interest and experience in the descriptive, diagnostic and psychometric aspects of both standardised and naturalistic language assessment methods including language sample analysis, oral narrative and pragmatics. Associate Professor Pearce is also interested in perspectives on service delivery approaches for children with communication disorders, particularly in schools and early childhood settings.
ORCID ID - 0000-0003-0732-959X
Zaneta’s research focuses on the application of social and functionally based approaches to linguistics to communication disorders. She is especially interested in how to support social communication and interaction for people with dementia and aphasia and outcome measurement in everyday discourse and conversation. She is also interested in speech pathology in culturally and linguistically diverse populations.
Dr Marie Atherton is a certified practising speech pathologist with a background in acute care and policy development with Speech Pathology Australia. For several years Dr Atherton lived in Vietnam and supported the establishment of one of Vietnam’s first training programs in speech pathology. She has an interest in working and researching in cross-cultural contexts, and in the lived experience of communication and swallowing disabilities.
ORCID ID - 0000-0001-9133-9023
Jane McCormack is Associate Professor and Head of Discipline of Speech Pathology at ACU. She is a certified practising member of Speech Pathology Australia and has worked in community health clinics, schools, early intervention settings and brain injury rehabilitation services with children who have speech, language and communication needs. Associate Professor McCormack conducts research into the life experiences of children with speech and language difficulties and their families, the application of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF; WHO, 2001) in speech pathology, collaborative practice and service delivery.
Dr Michelle McInerney is an academic and researcher at ACU and a member of the Speech Pathology Association of Australia. Dr McInerney graduated as a speech pathologist with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Clinical Speech and Language Studies from Trinity College Dublin in 2000 and followed with a Master of Science in Clinical Speech and Language Studies (specialising in dysphagia) from Trinity College Dublin in 2008. She was awarded her PhD in November 2020. Dr McInerney has over 17 years’ experience working in acute medical, community and disability healthcare settings with 10 years’ senior clinical experience working solely with individuals with neuro-disability. Her research interests include paediatric dysphagia and drooling in children with cerebral palsy (CP); intervention effectiveness for children with CP; outcome measurement and clinical education.
ORCID ID - 0000-0003-4324-522X
Dr Amanda Brignell is a senior lecturer at ACU with extensive clinical experience as speech pathologist. She has a Bachelor of Applied Science (University of Sydney), Master of Public Health (University of New South Wales) and a PhD (University of Melbourne). Her research has primarily focused on the predictors and trajectories of language in neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism, including children who are minimally verbal. She has also published on speech and language phenotype in rare genetic syndromes including NRXN1 deletion and Phelan-McDermid syndrome. Dr Brignell has expertise in systematic review methods. Amanda holds Hugh Rogers and Turner Institute fellowships.
ORCID ID - 0000-0001-7792-690X
Dr Michelle Smith-Tamaray is a certified practising speech pathologist with over 20 years’ experience working with adults across a range of settings. She graduated from The University of Sydney in 1999 and worked in the north east of Victoria. This, along with her rural upbringing, sparked a passion for rural health and issues surrounding access and equity of services in these areas. Her PhD through Charles Sturt University focused on service delivery to people with swallowing disorders following stroke in non-metropolitan areas. Dr Smith-Tamaray also has a strong interest in clinical education, teaching and learning, and how students learn and incorporate client/person/family-centred care into their practice. She is also a strong advocate for interprofessional learning and practice.
Dr Anna Cronin is a lecturer at ACU. She has a Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours) from the University of Queensland and PhD from Charles Sturt University. Anna is also a certified practising member of Speech Pathology Australia and has worked in multidisciplinary paediatric community teams and cleft and craniofacial teams around Australia. Anna’s research has focused on the experiences of families of children with cleft lip and palate and their families.
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