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I joined the Department of Otolaryngology/University ENT Clinic as a speech-language pathologist in 1992, while still in my PhD program. Along with Dr. George S. Goding, I co-founded the Lions Voice Clinic in 1995. I was later named Assistant Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, and remained the Co-Director of the Lions Voice Clinic until I retired in 2024.
I've maintained an active presence in professional organizations from local to international throughout my career. I was a founder of the MNVoice, a professional organization for voice-specialty speech-language pathologists in Minnesota, and moderated the group for nearly two decades. For the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), I have recently finished my tenure as Chairman of the Voice Science Advisory Committee, and director of the NATS-sponsored website Vocapedia.info, which provides information about the voice that is vetted by a committee of voice scientists. I became a member of the editorial review board of the Journal of Singing in 2023.
As an instrumental part in the movement that founded the Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA) in 2014, I co-directed their international Symposium in 2020, 2021, 2022, and served as the Program Director for the PAVA Symposium since then. As an educator, my goal is to make voice science accessible to singers and singing teachers, leading me to write a series of articles explaining the workings of the singing voice for the Journal of Singing. I've also trained graduate clinicians in voice disorders and the special needs of singers. In my work as faculty of the Department of Otolaryngology, I often provided independent study opportunities for students in other departments, particularly in the School of Music, and clinical practicum opportunities for Master’s in Speech-Language-Pathology students from the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences.
I've continued to be a frequent presenter at national and international conferences for voice and singing science as well as voice treatment. I also attend and present lectures regularly at colleges around the state, where I present seminars in vocal health and voice science for singers.
In retirement from clinical duties, I continue to maintain an active private practice in voice and piano studio, performing occasionally, and continue my activities in professional organizations, especially NATS and PAVA.
My areas of research and publication include perceptual characteristics of voice, acoustic measures of voice quality, and various aspects of normal and abnormal singing and speech production. My other publications in the Journal of Singing, the Journal of Voice, and several Otolaryngology journals have focused on the perception of voice quality.
Undergrad: Hamline University - B.A. in Music Education and Psychology
Graduate: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities - M.A. Speech Language Pathology
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities - Ph.D. Communication Disorders with Specialization in Voice Science