Dr Amy Freeman-Sanderson is a senior lecturer in Speech Pathology at UTS.

She is a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist with 20 years of clinical experience in fast-paced tertiary hospitals, both nationally and internationally.

She still works one day a week in a hospital intensive care environment as an honorary clinical specialist Speech Pathologist, and finds that crucial for both her research and her teaching.

“My research looks at how we improve the experience and outcomes for people during and after intensive care, so it needs to be embedded in a team environment and context for impact,” Dr Freeman-Sanderson said.

“I also find it useful to engage in practice so I can bring actual examples to my teaching for connection and application of knowledge.”

Her clinical work typically involves working with adults admitted to hospital with multi organ failure, chest infection, post neurosurgery or after heart surgery.

“The work is about empowering somebody to be able to perform a function that is going to help them in their personal goals such as helping them swallow safely so they can eat or drink,” she said.

Her other major research focus is about improving patient communication – and how to empower someone to communicate effectively in their care in speech and other modalities.

“Often people need to be empowered to find ways other than speech to communicate their needs while they have a tube inserted to breathe,” she said.

She has trained and performed clinician-led nasendoscopy and videofluoroscopy for the assessment of swallow function.

Dr Freeman-Sanderson’s doctoral and postdoctoral clinical research has focused on critical care. She led the inaugural randomised controlled trial of early intervention for the return of voice in mechanically ventilated tracheostomy patients.

Her work has been highly recognised, including publication in high impact journals, invitational lectures and top awards from the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society, as a recipient of the University of Sydney Dean's Scholar Award, and the
inaugural Allied Health Seeding Grant from Sydney Local Health District in 2016.

She is an honorary Fellow of the Critical Care Division at The George Institute for Global Health and an Affiliate Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre (ANZIC-RC), School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University. In her service roles, Dr Freeman-Sanderson sits on a number of internal and external committees, including for Clinical guidance for Speech Pathology Australia and the Australia New Zealand Intensive Care Society (ANZICS).