Discipline of Speech Pathology

Associate Professor Lucy Bryant is a certified practising speech pathologist, lecturer and researcher, and is the Head of Speech Pathology at UTS. She has over a decade of experience working with children and adults across community, private practice and university clinics, supporting them to develop their communication. Her passion grew from a belief that everyone should have access to the basic human right of communication, and all that comes with it in terms of social, educational, and workplace opportunities. She has a particular interest in langugae development and rehabilitation across the lifespan, and how people process, understand, and express meaning. Her work has a significant focus on technology and the opportunities for communication access and inclusion that come from new and evolving communication and information technologies. 

Lucy completed her PhD at the University of Newcastle, Australia (July 2018), examining the implementation of discourse (language sample) analysis in clinical practice for people with aphasia following stroke. In her clinical practice and research, she has focused on how we understand and formulate messages and meaning in the brain, especially after brain injury, stroke or other disability. Her work in this space helped to launch the international collaboration Focusing on the Quality of Spoken Discourse in Aphasia (FOQUS Aphasia) with colleagues in the USA and UK.

Lucy has a strong clinical and research interest in the role of technology in society and communication, and is exploring developments in technology, particularly Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. Her work with technology teams at UTS and through industry has led to innovative new applications to support language learning, recovery, and access for people with communication disability across the lifespan. Lucy is the Theme Lead for Professional Practice and Education in the UTS INSIGHT Digital Health Collaborative. Her role relates to collaborative approaches to upskilling health students and professionals in the effective use of technology in their roles, to benefit all Australians who access the health system.

Her current work is split between teaching, research and working in the speech pathology clinic at UTS that gives free treatment to the public and provides students with clinical experience. Lucy’s intersecting roles across these domains give her the unique opportunity to conduct clinically meaningful research and educate the next generation of speech pathologists to support language learning, and use technology in ways that will improve access to communication.

Dr Julia Dray is a Lecturer in Speech Pathology, and Project Manager on the NurtureNextGen project in Genetic Counselling at UTS. Dr Dray’s prior postdoctoral roles focussed on lived experience research in mental health and evaluations of complex implementation science based approaches to improve health and mental health care for reduction of modifiable health risk behaviours and associated chronic disease.

Dr Dray is passionate about enabling people to embed lived-experience in research; recognise their strengths and available wider community protective factors; to develop and maintain positive mental health, development, and life trajectories; breaking disadvantage, and; research and teaching relating to effective mental health and health promotion, prevention and behaviour change initiatives to improve the health of local communities.

Dr Dray completed her PhD, on resilience and mental health problems in children and adolescents. This work achieved international impact and recognition, cited in multiple policies and guidelines including by the World Health Organisation and The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE, UK). Testament to significance of findings to the field Dr Dray was also invited as a successful recipient of a DJC Fellowship to present at the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions World Congress (IACAPAP, Calgary, Canada). As demonstration of ongoing resulting global collaborations Dr Dray has been a co-author on publications including in The Lancet Psychiatry with a team of ECRs from 14 countries. Over half of Dr Dray’s other publications cover various review and critical appraisal studies including as a co-author on a systematic review forming the WHO Child Health Workers (CHW) Review Project.

Dr Dray has published over 70 peer review articles, reviews, conference abstracts and commissioned reports. She has obtained over half a million dollars in research funding to date, most recently through a Hunter Medical Research Institute, ECR Grant for Cancer Research (as CIB), titled: Implementation of person centred cancer preventive care in mental health settings: perspectives of consumers and peer-workers, and a Health Foundation Vanguard Grant (as CIC), titled: Evaluating the feasibility and efficacy of PhysiCards: a pilot randomised controlled trial of a novel tool to assist mental health consumers identify and seek care for cardiovascular (and other) physical health concerns.

Dr Dray has demonstrated significant service and leadership including as a reviewer for over 19 peer review journals, as Co-President of the NSW Branch of the Australian Health Promotion Association (AHPA; 2018-2019), and as Lead Guest Editor on a Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health on Improving the Physical Health of People with a Mental Illness (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph/special_issues/Improving_Physical).

Dr Dray envisions her current and future role as an early career researcher in Australia developing into: continued high-standard, cross disciplinary research and teaching; effective collaboration with national, international, government, nongovernment and community partners; the development, implementation, evaluation, transparent dissemination and quality translation of evidence-based research findings, and; a positive influence on related policy.

Naomi Folder is a Research Associate within the Graduate School of Health at University of Technology Sydney, within the 'Assess for Success' Project funded by a NHMRC Ideas Grant, led by Professor Deborah Hersh (Curtin University). This project aims to improve communication during assessment and feedback processes between people with stroke or traumatic brain injury and clinicians. She also works casually as a speech pathologist in the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District. 

Naomi has recently submitted her PhD which worked to modify an existing communication partner training program for traumatic brain injury, “Convers-ABI-lity”, and tailor this program to dementia through co-creation with people living with dementia and their families.

She is a passionate advocate for communication intervention and support for all people living with dementia, and for the important role of speech pathology in improving social connection, conversation, and quality of life.

Dr Gregory is a speech pathologist with a special research and clinical interest in Functional Neurological Disorders (FND) and gender affirming voice training. She gained her PhD in Neurophysiology in 2002 from Imperial College London. Her achievements in research were recognised in receiving sponsorship in 2004 by Deutsche Bank, Australia, as an "up and coming" young scientist and being awarded "Australian Biophysicist of the Year" by the Australian Biophysical Society in 2006.

A previous ARC Postdoctoral Fellowship holder, Catherine changed careers, completing a Master of Speech Pathology with 1st class honours in 2011. Since then she has worked as a clinical speech pathologist and clinical educator in both private practice and in several hospitals across New South Wales, providing evidence-based assessment and management of voice, swallowing, and communication to outpatients, acute inpatients and nursing homes. In 2018 she became a lecturer and clinical educator at the University of Technology Sydney, following her passion in improving the student learning experience. Her current research includes the use of VR in treatment of Functional Neurological Communication Disorders and the role of interoception in FND.

Dr Monique Hines is a skilled health services researcher and speech pathologist with expertise in applying qualitative research methods to explore complex health issues across a range of fields, including disability and accessibility, mental health, rehabilitation, telehealth and virtual health, rural and remote health, and workforce issues.

She is currently working as a casual research assistant on the MRFF‑funded project M‑MAT Tele: Maximising Aphasia Treatment and Recovery across Australia through Innovative Group Telerehabilitation (Grant MRF2032833). Her role focuses on supporting interviews and focus groups of participants and clinicians to understand the Multimodal Aphasia Therapy telehealth intervention to support implementation and translation of outcomes.

Dr. Denise Ng is a Lecturer in Speech Pathology at the University of Technology Sydney. Her research focuses on two complementary areas: speech and language development in multilingual children, with a particular interest in speech sound disorders, and childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). She is interested in how speech and language develop across languages and in the challenges of identifying and supporting communication difficulties in linguistically diverse populations.

Denise's work draws on both clinical and research perspectives and is informed by her extensive clinical experience working with multilingual children and families. She has a developing programme of research that examines cross-linguistic influences on speech development and intervention, and how research can be conducted in ways that are feasible and relevant within real-world contexts. In addition, she has a broader interest in CAS and evidence-based intervention. This includes involvement in international collaborative research teams contributing to a randomised controlled trial of Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing (DTTC), alongside related work in intervention and clinical research. Across both areas, her work reflects an interest in research that is feasible and relevant within real-world contexts, including collaborative research that spans health and education settings.

In her teaching, Denise contributes to the education of speech pathology students, with a focus on multilingualism and inclusive practice, speech sound disorders, and evidence-based clinical practice. Her teaching is informed by her research and clinical interests, and she is committed to supporting students to work effectively with diverse populations and within complex service delivery contexts.

Professor Emma Power is a speech pathologist and academic at the University of Technology Sydney.  She has worked in the area of communication disability following acquired brain injury (ABI) for over 30 years in a variety of clinical and academic positions.

“I was very interested in the brain – what happened when things went awry like a stroke, and how it affected someone’s ability to communicate. Communication is such an integral part of everything we do - our relationships, hobbies, participation, productivity, and our identity ,” Emma said.

Emma started her clinical career working with people with neurological conditions - such as stroke, traumatic brain injury and progressive conditions like dementia and Huntington’s Disease. She then became involved in acquired brain injury research. Her particular interest is in implementation research.

“We have all this great research but on the ground, clinicians are really pushed for time and it’s so challenging to get research into practice,” she said. “How do we get every person getting the best possible evidence-informed care?”

For Emma, all her work is ultimately about the well-being of her clients, their family and supporters and the success of the clincians that work with them, even her award-winning teaching.

“I enjoy the challenge of seeing students grapple with information and remind them that they are crucial for the future of the profession. But the other stakeholders of my teaching are also people with communication impairments and clinicians. I am teaching for and with them too". 

Emma said "It’s about the learning and translation beyond a week in class for students, for the wider benefit of our clients and health services - that's the ultimate end goal”.

“Translating knowledge and concepts into clinical best practice or enabling students to do that is all part of the same picture. This knowledge includes emerging evidence and technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI)”. 
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Emma has over 160 peer reviewed publications and has been awarded $33.4+ million grant funding from sources such as MRFF, NHMRC, iCare, and the Stroke Foundation. 

Emma has supervised over 70 research students over her career, with 24 higher degree research students and 29 first class Hons students (two University Medals) to completion. Currently she supervises 8 HDR students in areas such as ABI, sexuality, digital health, co-design and implementation science. Emma believes strongly in mentoring and supporting developing researchers (Post doc, ECR, MCR), clinicians, people with lived experience and students to achieve meaningful impact themselves. 

Emma is recognised internationally and nationally for her research in acquired communication disorders and implementation science. She has led research on the development of post-stroke aphasia best practice guidelines and the development of the Australian Aphasia Rehabilitation pathway. She has also developed efficacious face to face and online training programs for communication partners of people with TBI, (TBI Express, TBI Connect, Social Brain Toolkit), dementia (Dementia Connect) as well as aphasia. Emma believes it is critical to work with people with lived experience, clinicians and health services / organisations to co-design meaningful research and teaching that have impact.

Emma has won awards for excellence in implementation science and Vice Chancellor Learning & Teaching Awards for her curriculum development and teaching in neurogenic communication impairments (USYD) and Interprofessional Learning Introductory modules (UTS). Emma and her team were awarded an Australian Award for University Teching (AAUT) Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning for a School-wide interdisciplinary interprofessional learning curriculum in allied health. 

Emma disseminates her learnings to a wide variety of audiences with 31 international and 80 national invited keynotes presentations/workshops on aphasia, congitive-communication disorders, accessbility, codesign, implementation and digital health including AI. Emma has pioneered dissemination of clinically relevant knowledge on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in over 30 seminars and workshop nationally and internationally in the last 3 years. She also contributed to the Speech Pathology Australia position statement on Ethical use of AI and is on the IALP AI working party. 

In 2023, Emma was awarded Fellow of Speech Pathology Australia in recognition of her long-standing excellence and wide-ranging achievements and contribution to the profession. Emma is also an elected Board Director of Speech Pathology Australia and current Chair and president of the association. 

Emma completed a 6-year term on the Stroke Foundation Research Advisory Committee and is a current member of the Stroke Foundation Living guideline working party (aphasia, cognitive communication disorder, and carer training).

Louisa Wilson is a clinically-focused academic, with experience working in paediatric private practice. Louisa is currently the Clinical Placements Coordinator in Speech Pathology, meaning she is responsible for sourcing and allocating students to clinical placements. Her role also involves providing support to students and clinical educators (CE's) while on placement, training CE's to ensure high-quality placement experiences, and supporting students who are not able to meet criteria while on placement. 

Louisa works closely with the Graduate School of Health Clinical Placements team, the Head of Discipline, Responsible Academic Officer, clinical placement sites, and clinical educators.

Louisa graduated from UTS in the first cohort of Master of Speech Pathology, in 2020. 

Georgia Zadow is a clinically-focused academic, with experience working with adults in brain injury rehabilitation. Georgia is currently the Clinic Manager and Clinical Educator for the UTS Speech Pathology clinic, SPROUTS. In this role, she oversees the operation of the clinic, coordinates student clinical placements and supervision, manages referrals and student caseloads, and supports the delivery of high-quality clinical education and client care.

Georgia works closely with the Head of Discipline, Responsible Academic Officer, Clinical Placements Coordinator, and other clinical educators.

Georgia graduated from Flinders University with a Bachelor's Degree in Speech Pathology in 2021.