Victoria Joffe, PhD

Victoria Joffe is Professor of Speech and Language Therapy, and Dean of Integrated Health and Care Partnerships at the University of Essex. Victoria’s area of clinical and research expertise includes speech, language and communication disorders in children and young people, Developmental Language Disorder, the interface between education and speech and language therapy collaborative practice and the training of teaching staff, Narrative and Vocabulary Interventions, language and literacy development, and evidence-based practice.

Victoria works with various health trusts, integrated care systems, education authorities and third sector organisations devising and evaluating research into models of service delivery across the lifespan. She provides training and consultancy to professionals working with children and young people with diverse needs.       

Victoria is co-editor of the journal, Child Language Teaching and Therapy, and acts as a speech and language therapy partner for the Health and Care Professions Council. She is chair of the RCSLT’s national clinical excellence network for older children and young adults with speech, language and communication needs.

Victoria is working on two National Institute Health Research-funded research projects looking into a new intervention for children with social communication disorder, and the use of apps to facilitate communication in adults with aphasia. She is also involved in research on stammering, Down Syndrome and dementia and stroke care.  

Ann W. Kummer, PhD, CCC-SLP

Ann W. Kummer, PhD, CCC-SLP retired as Senior Director of Speech-Language Pathology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. She is Professor Emeritus of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. She’s done hundreds of national and international lectures and published over 60 peer-reviewed articles and 30 book chapters. She is the author of the text entitled Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Conditions 4^th ed. (2020), which includes an online course. Dr. Kummer is an ASHA (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association) Fellow and received Honors of ASHA in 2017.

Paula Leslie, PhD, MA (Bioethics)

FRCSLT (UK), Reg HCPC (UK), CCC-SLP (USA)

Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists ~ Professional Advisor

N.I.C.E External Assessment Group, Northern Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust, UK ~ Pre-Registrant Clinical Scientist

Center for Bioethics & Health Law, University of Pittsburgh, USA (Research Ethics & Society Initiative) ~ Consultant

I support clinicians in research and training for complex decision-making, ethics, end of life and vulnerable populations. I am a member of the American Society for Bioethics & Humanities, American Speech-Language Hearing Association SIGs in swallowing disorders and geriatrics, and founder member of UKSRG. I am proud to be a Fellow of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, and currently work part time for the NICE External Assessment Group, NHS Northern Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering Directorate, Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Trust, and a small job with Lancaster Medical School supporting their students with PBL and other activities.

Youri Maryn, PhD

Youri Maryn, PhD, graduated in 1998 as a Bachelor in Speech-Language Therapy and Audiology at Ghent University College and in 2001 as Master in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at Ghent University. With his thesis entitled ‘Acoustic measurement of overall voice quality in sustained vowels and continuous speech’ he earned in 2010 the degree of Doctor in Social Health Sciences at Ghent University.

He works as clinical speech-language pathologist at the European Institute for ORL-HNS (Otorhinolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery, GZA Sint-Augustinus, Wilrijk, Belgium). He is also a professor and teaches on acoustic phonetics at Ghent University and on voice disorders at Ghent University College and Université Catholique de Louvain. He serves as board member of the Flemish Association for Speech-Language Therapists and is international affiliate of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. He publishes on voice disorder management and acoustics, and he speaks regularly at (inter)national meetings on voice and speech pathology/science. His specific topics of interest are clinical voice assessment, voice disorder management, voice and speech acoustics, and oral versus nasal speech production.

In 2017 Youri Maryn founded Phonanium CommV, a company dedicated to developing and providing acoustic measurement tools relevant to all voice and speech clinicians/scientists.