Patrick Coppens is a professor in the Communication Disorders and Sciences department at SUNY Plattsburgh in upstate New York. Patrick teaches the neurogenics and research methods courses and supervises student clinicians. He received his undergraduate degree in Germanic Linguistics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles and his Master’s in Neurolinguistics from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel under the mentorship of Yvan Lebrun. His Ph.D. was completed in Southern Illinois University-Carbondale under the guidance of Dr. Randy Robey. Patrick has been involved with ANCDS for many years in various capacities.

Richard K. Peach, PhD, CCC-SLP, BC-ANCDS is Professor of Communication Disorders and Sciences, Neurological Sciences, and Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois. He is a Fulbright Scholar and a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. He has published extensively in a variety of peer-reviewed journals and books and is co-editor and contributor to the text Cognition and Acquired Language Disorders: An Information Processing Approach (2012: Elsevier). Dr. Peach is former editor of the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and has served on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Communication Disorders, Clinical Aphasiology, and Clinics in Communication Disorders. He is a member of the Advisory Council of the National Aphasia Association. He earned his doctorate at Northwestern University and was a member
of the faculties of Emory University and the University of Georgia prior to his appointment at
Rush University.

Dr. Amy Rodriguez has 15 years of experience in aphasia treatment research. After completing her doctoral degree at the University of Florida in 2010, she held a one-year NIH T-32 postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Neurology at the University of Florida and a 3.5 year postdoctoral fellowship in the Centre for Clinical Research Excellence in Aphasia Rehabilitation at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Currently, Dr. Rodriguez is a Research Health Scientist in the Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. Dr. Rodriguez’s research focuses on the development of neuroplasticity-based interventions to improve language and cognitive function in healthy older adults and individuals with aphasia. Her work in constraint-induced language therapy, intensive comprehensive aphasia programs, gesture-based treatments for nouns and verbs, and mobile technology-based assessment and management of communicative participation has been published in peer-reviewed journals, and she has been invited to speak to professional audiences both nationally and internationally.

Linda Shuster is Interim Chair of the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at Western Michigan University (WMU). Prior to her appointment at WMU, she was Professor in Communication Sciences and Disorders at Grand Valley State University and at West Virginia University. Her clinical interests are in adult neurogenic communication disorders, and her research interests are in adult neurogenic communication disorders, as well as in the neurobiology of typical speech production. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health. Although her primary responsibilities have been as a teacher and researcher, she has continued to work clinically throughout her career. Dr. Shuster is an ASHA Fellow.