The Reach for the Stars awards highlight their academic contributions and underscore UCF’s commitment to fostering groundbreaking research.  Awardees receive a $10,000 annual research grant for three years.  We are proud to announce that Lauren Bislick, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, CBIS, was a recipient of the award.  Lauren spoke on this achievement, "I was honored with this award because of my research efforts aimed at diagnosing, treating, and improving the quality of life of those living with communication disorders, such as aphasia and apraxia of speech. The big projects that helped make me competitive for this award included:

I am the Social Media Lead for the Communication Committee.  I was excited to learn about this role because I am interested in, and research, implementation science.  The dissemination of research and making communication and community resources effective and efficient is a passion of mine.  ANCDS is a small, special community, and to be part of creating the online version of that was exciting.  I hope to meet member and committee needs by using social media to support, celebrate, and educate!

Name: Lilly Dennison (M.S. Candidate)
Program of study/Year in program: M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology candidate at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.  I have now attended the program for over a year with expectations to graduate in May 2024.
University: University of Tennessee Health Science Center
ANCDS Fellow Mentor: Mary H. Purdy, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BC-ANCDS
Area(s) of research, teaching, and/or clinical interest: The relationship between cognition and language in persons with aphasia

Name: Courtney Jewell
Program of study/Year in program: Ph.D. Candidate, The Ohio State University, 4 years
University: Ohio State University
ANCDS Fellow Mentor: Sarah Wallace, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Area(s) of research, teaching, and/or clinical interest: Impact of psychosocial factors on post-stroke aphasia rehabilitation outcomes

Name: Melissa Ugianskis, MPH
Program of Study/Year in Program: second-year graduate student at Portland State University working on a master's degree in the Speech and Hearing Sciences
University: Portland State University
ANCDS Fellow Mentor: Jose Centeno, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Area(s) of research, teaching, and/or clinical interest: neuroplasticity and language recovery in aphasia

Audrey came to the University of Arizona in the Fall of 1991 as a Professor and Department Head of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences.  Our department had just received NIH funding for the National Center for Neurogenic Communication Disorders, and Audrey was one of the Principal Investigators.  I had completed my Ph.D. at Arizona the year before and was working as a Research Scientist for the Department of Neurology.  Good fortune came when Audrey called me before she arrived in town to ask if I would be interested in joining the Center research team — and that began our collaboration. 

I believe, as I am sure many of you do as well, that in our careers, work, and lives, we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, who built strong foundations that allow us to create new and exciting pathways, which in turn, will encourage the next generation of individuals — clinicians, researchers, persons with aphasia, family, and friends — to venture in even more unique and fulfilling directions.  Despite her diminutive stature, Audrey Holland had very broad and strong shoulders on which we all stand.  Everyone here today, and many people who could not be here, have been touched in one way or another by Audrey, as students, colleagues, mentees, clients, and most importantly, as humans.  We owe Audrey a debt of gratitude for the guiding light she has been to people living with aphasia and investigating aphasia.

Name:  Amy M. Kemp
Earned Degree(s): M.A. in Communication Sciences and Disorders, B.A. in Intrapersonal Communications
Program of study/Year in program: Ph.D. Candidate in Communication Sciences and Disorders
Mentor/Advisor: Katy O’Brien
University:  University of Georgia
ANCDS Fellowship Mentor:  Melissa Duff
Area(s) of research, teaching, and/or clinical interest: Cognitive rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury, older adults/cognitive aging, and implementation science

Name: Rene L. Utianski, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BC-ANCDS
University(s) attended: The George Washington University (BA), Arizona State University (MS, Ph.D.)
Workplace: Mayo Clinic- Rochester, MN
Area(s) of clinical or research interest: Functional neurological disorders and progressive apraxia of speech

Name: LaToya Roberts
Earned Degree(s)/University: Bachelor of Science Speech-Language Pathology Delta State University
Master of Science Communication Science and Disorders Southern University A & M College
Current University/Degree Pursuing: University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Applied Language & Speech Science
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Cannito
Area(s) of research, teaching, and/or clinical interest: Motor Speech Disorders, Voice, Neuroscience
Role at ANCDS: Student Representative Communications Committee

The Honors of the ANCDS is the highest award bestowed by the academy. It is awarded to those who have displayed excellence in clinical assessment and treatment, research, mentorship, teaching, and service to the community and to the ANCDS. This year, the ANCDS is honoring an individual who, for 44 years, has made significant contributions to individuals who have neurologic communication disorders.

Written By: Jacqueline Hinckley, Ph.D., BC-ANCDS

In 2020, ANCDS released a statement in support of Black Lives and made a commitment to diversity following the death of George Floyd and rising issues of racial injustices voiced by persons within and outside of the field of speech-language pathology. In this statement, we reaffirmed our commitment to fairness and equity within the organization and pledged to establish a committee to focus on diversity and inclusion. The ANCDS Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity & Inclusion has been formed and is ready for action!

The first time I treated someone with known COVID-19, a patient in the ICU, I distinctly remember thinking, It’s here, right now. It’s here in this room with us. Another entity: The patient, myself, the speech-language pathologist who was orienting me as a new hospital employee, and the Newly Described Thing. Despite a definite diagnosis, despite knowing that diagnosis before entering the room, there was nonetheless a slow moment of reconciliation for me, where I had read about the Thing, I had heard about it, but to be in a room with it was wholly other. There was a feeling of matter for me then, of the voluminous—that is, this invisible Thing was crowding in—and inevitably that matter, that feeling of the voluminous, they ached and continue to ache with multiple meanings.