Associate Professor Kyomi Gregory-Martin is a speech-language pathologist and faculty member in the Communication Sciences and Disorders department at Pace University in New York. Her undergraduate degree major was in Communication Sciences and Disorders and she completed a double minor in Black Studies and Linguistics from the State University of New York at New Paltz. She obtained her master’s degree at University of Buffalo and her PhD from Louisiana State University. For her dissertation she examined assessment of children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds that speak non-mainstream dialects such as African American English and Southern White English and explored the use of teacher ratings.

She has been a practicing clinician for the last 15 years working with both children and adults. Dr. Gregory-Martin worked for the New York City Board of Education in Brooklyn, New York prior to entering her PhD program. She is currently the member at large and Assistant Continuing Education Manager for the coordinating committee for the American Speech-Language Hearing Association Special Interest Group (SIG) 1, Language Learning and Education. In addition, she currently serves on the board of directors for her second consecutive term for the National Black Association of Speech-Language Hearing (NBASLH) and she is the topic area expert in non-mainstream dialects, cultural humility, and awareness for The Informed SLP.

Kyomi is a recipient of the 2019 Editor’s Award for the Journal of Speech, Language, and hearing Research in the area of Language and the recent recipient of the Dean’s Outstanding Teaching Award 2022 for the College of Health Professions at Pace University. Her research interests include child language acquisition and assessment in culturally and linguistically diverse populations, parent/teacher training and prevention models in speech-language pathology, inter-professional education, and regional dialect differences.

Associate Professor Emma Power is a speech pathologist and academic at the University of Technology Sydney. Emma has worked with individuals with communication disability and their families in the areas of stroke, brain injury and dementia for over 25 years in a variety of clinical and academic positions. Her research interests include communication partner training, translation of knowledge into clinical policy and practice (implementation science), and psychosocial interventions in neurorehabilitation including sexuality rehabilitation and young stroke research. She also integrates the cross cutting themes of digital health and codesign approaches into her research program. Emma is recognised nationally and internationally for her research contributions and engages in critical collaborations with interdisciplinary and speech pathology clinical, research and consumer colleagues in Australia and around the world. She has published over 112 peer-reviewed publications and obtained $16.5+ million worth of grant funding. Emma has supervised 16 higher degree research students and 24 first class honours students to completion and mentored many early- and mid-career researchers. Currently she supervises 10 higher degree research students in areas such as ABI, sexuality, digital health, co-design and implementation science from disciplines including speech pathology, orthoptics, psychology, physiotherapy and social work. Emma enjoys translating knowledge in teaching as well as clinical research. She has taught and mentored hundreds of speech pathology students and clinicians and won awards for excellence for her curriculum design and development in neurogenic communication disability.  Emma is recognised for her engaging presentations and teaching style and has provided keynote, plenary and invited talks on acquired brain injury neurorehabilitation, implementation and codesign in Australia, and internationally. She is on the board of speechBITE and recently completed a 6-year term on the Research Advisory Group for the Stroke Foundation, where she was able to implement changes in policies and procedures to require all stroke grants to address communication inclusion in grant applications.

Professor Anne Whitworth is currently Academic Lead for the new Master of Speech Pathology at the University of Tasmania, returning 40 years after taking up her first job as a new graduate in Launceston. Working clinically in Tasmania and Western Australia, Anne then spent 20 years in the UK before returning to Western Australia, and now Tasmania. Throughout this time, Anne has been a passionate clinician, researcher and educator, inspired by her many mentors to always question knowledge and practice, and aim to make a difference.

Driven by a desire to better understand communication disorders following acquired neurological disorders, Anne’s research has focused on developing effective evidence-based assessments and interventions for people with aphasia and dementia, always with an eye to how theory can inform practice and vice versa. Key themes around generalisation, measurement and discourse-level interventions run through her research. Anne is also committed to enhancing the research capabilities of speech-language pathologists, both in academia and clinical practice, exploring ideas from practice and supporting clinicians in carrying out research in the workplace. She co-founded a thriving charity organisation in the UK for people with aphasia and has worked with colleagues and people with lived experience in Australia to support people with aphasia in the community. Her passion for high quality education has brought her back to Tasmania and, with a coherent and strong team, is proud to be part of this historical moment for speech-language pathology in Tasmania.