Our Team
The Swallowing Innovations Lab brings together researchers, trainees, clinicians, and patients.
Our team approaches our research streams from unique perspectives, maintaining a dynamic and innovative environment. Our researchers, trainees and clinicians come from a variety of academic backgrounds and fields. We strive for clinical stakeholder and patient partner participation in all projects in order to maintain the clinical applicability of our work and facilitate prompt translation of our findings into practice, while keeping patients at the center of what we do.
University of British Columbia
Research Trainees
Reana Deng
MSc Candidate
Masters Project Student
Details
Reana Deng is a candidate for a Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of British Columbia. She received her Bachelor’s Degree with a major in Speech Science and a Minor in Psychology in 2017 from UBC. Reana is particularly passionate about dysphagia in the acute care setting. Her current research focuses on patient’s perspectives when they are nothing by mouth (nil per os/NPO) following acute illness.
Veronica Letawsky
MSc Candidate
Masters Thesis Student
Details
Veronica Letawsky is a MSc candidate at the School of Audiology and Speech Sciences at UBC currently completing a thesis. Her research is focused on changes in the quantity and quality of saliva in individuals with Sjogren’s syndrome and how these salivary changes impact perception of swallowing. Veronica recently completed training in salivary bioscience at the University of California-Irvine’s Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research, with support from UBC’s Language Sciences Initiative. She has a diploma in linguistics from UBC and a B.Sc. in biology from the University of Alberta.
Hirad Nourbakhsh
Undergraduate Research Student
Details
Hirad is a third year student completing his Bachelor of Science at UBC, specializing in Integrated Sciences. He intends to apply to medical school after completing his undergraduate degree. He has been with Si-Lab since May of 2018. His current project is designing a standard method for measuring the cross-sectional area of phocid upper airways which will contribute to Si-Lab’s development of a human-seal cross-species framework for feeding and swallowing rehabilitation.
Jasmine Shi
Undergraduate Research Student
Details
Jasmine is an undergraduate Integrated Science student specializing in Mathematics and Physiology. She is interested in applying math and computer science to advance medical research. She was a WorkLearn student (Summer, 2018) with Si-Lab and then went on to complete a research project with Dr. Skoretz and Dr. Dawson. For the project she designed coding and tested a text-mining tool to automatically screen abstracts for a knowledge synthesis project which she compared to that of a human expert. Currently, she is on a Co-op, trialing career opportunities in clinical research and in bioinformatics.
Julia Varanese
MSc Candidate
Masters Project Student
Details
Julia received her Bachelor’s Degree in Cognitive Science of Language at McMaster University and is currently completing her Master’s Degree in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of British Colombia. Her current research interests include dysphagia in individuals with dementia, especially those in long-term care. After completion of her Master’s, she hopes to work clinically with children and continue conducting research.
Orinna Yeung
MSc Candidate
Masters Project Student
Details
Orinna Yeung received her Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Sciences at the University of British Columbia and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology. Her research interests include investigating the relation between dementia and dysphagia, as well as swallow physiology between humans and animals. Orinna hopes to work with adults in an acute care hospital in the future and apply her research knowledge to clinical practice.
Lab Affiliates
Stephanie Riopelle
MSc, RSLP, SLP (C)
Clinical Research Assistant, Speech-Language Pathologist
Details
Stephanie is a registered Speech-Language Pathologist, currently practicing in acute care and rehabilitation settings in the lower mainland. She graduated from UBC’s School of Audiology and Speech Sciences in 2018. Stephanie is currently involved in several ongoing projects at Si-Lab, including knowledge synthesis projects focused on swallowing following tracheostomy.
Hillary Stahl
MSc, RSLP
Clinical Research Assistant, Speech-Language Pathologist
Details
Hillary is a registered speech-language pathologist (CSHHPBC). She has been practicing clinically in adult acute care and rehabilitation settings since her graduation from UBC’s School of Audiology and Speech Sciences in 2014. She has always been interested in research, earning a Master’s degree in Developmental Linguistics from the University of Edinburgh prior to pursuing speech pathology. Currently, she is splitting her time between clinical work and the SI-Lab, working as a part-time research assistant.
External Affiliates: Clinical
ALBERTA HEALTH SERVICES
Andrea Benoit
MSLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
University of Alberta Hospital, Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute
Mini Kurian
MClSc, RSLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
University of Alberta Hospital, Stollery Children’s Hospital
Alysha Serviss
MSc(A), RSLP
Speech-Language Pathologist, Cardiac Sciences
Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute
Karolin Skogsrud
MSLP, RSLP, SLP(C)
Speech-Language Pathologist, Neurosciences
University of Alberta Hospital
FRASER HEALTH
Dulcie Carter
BSc MMedSci, RSLP, SLP(C)
Speech-Language Pathologist
Clinical Practice Leader, Speech Language Pathology, Fraser Health
Clinical Faculty, School of Audiology and Speech Sciences, University of British Columbia
Reena Parhar
MSc, RSLP, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Clinical Supervisor, Adult Inpatient, Surrey Memorial Hospital
Erin Tschopp
MSc, RSLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Clinical Practice Leader, Burnaby Hospital
Providence HEALTH
Tara Chen
BA, MSc, RSLP, SLP(C)
Speech-Language Pathologist
Clinical Instructor, School of Audiology and Speech Sciences, UBC
Rachel Kennedy
M.Sc, R-SLP, R-CORU
Speech-Language Pathologist
Clinical Instructor, School of Audiology and Speech Sciences, UBC
Indershini Pillay
MS, RSLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Vancouver Coastal HEALTH
Tracey Findlay
MA, RSLP, SLP(C)
Practice Leader, Speech-Language Pathology in Vancouver Acute (GF Strong Rehab Centre, UBC Hospital & Vancouver General Hospital), part of Vancouver Coastal Health.
Clinical Instructor, School of Audiology and Speech Sciences, University of British Columbia
Ann-Marie Schreiber
Chief Speech-Language Pathologist and Professional Practice Lead for Speech-Language Pathology, Richmond Hospital
External Affiliates: Academic
Dr. Sean M Bagshaw
MD, MSc, FRCPC
Professor and Chair, Department of Critical Care Medicine
Department of Critical Care Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry and School of Public Health
University of Alberta
Scientific Director, Critical Care Strategic Clinical Network,
Alberta Health Services, Alberta
Canada Research Chair in Critical Care Nephrology (2016-2021)
Dr. James L. Coyle
PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-S, F-ASHA
Professor, Communication Science and Disorders and Otolaryngology
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and School of Medicine
University of Pittsburgh
Board Certified Specialist, Swallowing Disorders
Fellow, American Speech Language and Hearing Association
Dr. Camilla Dawson
DClinP, BSc (hons) MRCSLT, HCPC
Dr. Heather Flowers
MEd, MHSc, PhD, CCC-SLP, S-LP(C), Reg CASLPO
School of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Institut du Savoir – Montfort – A Knowledge Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada
The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada
The Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada (clinical affiliation)
Dr. Stephen Raverty
MSc, DVM, PhD
Veterinary Pathologist, Animal Health Center
British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture
Meghan Sebastianski
BSc, MPH, PhD
Alberta Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) SUPPORT Unit Knowledge Translation Program
University of Alberta
Lab Alumni
Past Trainees
Post-doctoral Fellows
Dr. Camilla Dawson, DClinP, BSc (hons) MRCSLT, HCPC
Visiting Scientist
Masters Project Students
Nicole Anger, MSc, RSLP, SLP(C)
Stephanie Riopelle, MSc, SLP(C)