Karina Saechao, M.A., CCC-SLP (she/her) is an ASHA certified speech-language-pathologist licensed in California and Kansas. Karina earned her bachelor’s degree and master's degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders: Speech Language Pathology from California State University, Fresno in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Karina holds a certificate as an assistive technology specialist from the Assistive Technology Applications Certificate Program (ATACP) offered through California State University, Northridge. Karina worked as a school-based speech language pathologist and assistive technology specialist to high school and adult students in the California Bay Area for 6 years before returning to academia in pursuit of a doctorate degree in child language. Karina’s research interests are in the areas of African American Language, child language acquisition, and language impairments. Karina is the owner of Golden Oak Speech Therapy, and specializes in inclusion, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), assistive technology (AT), language, literacy, complex communication, and caregiver and educator coaching and support. Karina frequently presents on topics in the areas of African American Language; AAC; AT; creating inclusive environments; power, privilege, and race; and cultural humility. Karina is a researcher, scholar, activist, and practitioner who strives to increase equity, access, and outcomes as related to research, clinical practice, course curriculum, and a person’s respective environment.

Financial Disclosures: Karina is the owner of Golden Oak Speech Therapy. She is receiving a portion of the proceeds from this course.

Non-Financial Disclosures: Karina has no non-financial disclosures.

Kim Sanzo is currently a speech-language pathologist at a school for the deaf and the founder of Language First. She received her B.A. in Psychology and in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Vermont in 2010 and her M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology from Gallaudet University in 2012. She is a board-certified specialist in child language (BCS-CL) through the American Board of Child Language and Language Disorders. She has given presentations on a variety of topics related to bilingualism, language acquisition, and language deprivation in Deaf children, and she is dedicated to changing the way that SLPs understand and work with D/HH children.

Financial Disclosures: Kim is the founder of Language First. She is receiving a portion of the proceeds from this course.

Non-Financial Disclosures: Kim has no non-financial disclosures.

Dr. Gregory is a salaried Assistant Professor in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Program at Pace University. She is also the topic area expert for non-mainstream dialects, cultural humility, and cultural awareness for The Informed SLP. Read their work here.

Financial Disclosures: Dr. Gregory is a salaried Assistant Professor in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Program at Pace University. She is also the topic area expert for non-mainstream dialects, cultural humility, and cultural awareness for The Informed SLP. She is receiving a portion of the proceeds from this course.

Non-Financial Disclosures: Kyomi is a member of SIG 1, Language Learning and Education.

Laura Wolford, PhD, MS CCC-SLP, CSE is a speech-language pathologist, education researcher, and an AASECT-certified sex educator. Her lived experience is as a multiracial, Taiwanese-Chinese-white, queer, neurodivergent cisgender woman. Working with medically complex patients taught her that addressing sexual health is an urgent need for our clients. Communication disorders affect intimacy and consent, but we rarely discuss these sensitive topics. Laura's goal is to bring SLPs into the conversation about consent and sexual health.

As founder of the SPICE Institute, Laura teaches SLPs and other healthcare professionals to address sexual health in their practices. She provides workshops discussing how to bring up the topic of sex, address intimacy goals, and improve our own consent-based communication.

Financial Disclosures: Laura is founder of the SPICE Institute and a salaried professor at MGH Institute of Health Professions. She has forfeited her portion of the proceeds from this course for charitable contribution.

Non-Financial Disclosures: Laura serves as a member of the CREDIT Board of Directors. She is also an appointed member of the ASHA Continuing Education Board, a member of the ASHA Asian and Pacific Islander Caucus, and as a copy editor for the journal Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences and Disorders (TLCSD). In addition, she is the Disability Justice special interest group chair for the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT).

Dr. Harold is a former speech–language pathologist and university faculty. Currently she focuses entirely on science communication and leadership in speech-language pathology, and is best known for bridging the gap between clinical practice and science through The Informed SLP.

Leading over 50 fellow clinicians and scientists, Dr. Harold and her team at The Informed SLP locate and translate our field's top clinical research, thereby reducing the overwhelm of the hundreds of papers published in SLPs' scope each month.

Dr. Harold is known for digging deeply and working tirelessly to ensure that clinicians in our field know our scientists' work, and that scientists are relying heavily on our field's expert clinicians to push the research forward and maximize benefits to the clients we serve.

Finally, Dr. Harold's work today would be impossible without the many years she spent as a school-based SLP and private practice owner, as well as her time as assistant professor at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, and teaching at The University of Kansas and Nova Southeastern University.

Connect and learn more about her here.

Financial Disclosures: Meredith is the founder and owner of The Informed SLP. She has forfeited her portion of the proceeds from this course for charitable contribution.

Non-Financial Disclosures: Meredith is President of the Kansas Speech–Language–Hearing Association, on the Committee on Clinical Research, Implementation Science, and Evidence-Based Practice for ASHA, and hosts the Evidence & Argument podcast.

V is an autistic, disabled, and queer Taiwanese-Chinese Venezuelan American clinician- and educator-activist born in Venezuela and raised in Los Angeles, California. They received a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in communication sciences and disorders, speech-language pathology from California State University, Los Angeles and founded a small boutique private practice, The Speechologist, in 2015 to provide in-home (and in-community) services to the underserved Chinese cultural and language communities with Autistic children while practicing full-time in the public education sector. Their area of specialty is intersectional justice for neurodivergent (e.g. autistic, attention deficit (ADHD), dyslexic, intellectual disability, etc.) people and their learning styles including social-emotional health and development.

After relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2016, V became more involved in local organizing and advocacy in the field of speech-language sciences by hosting monthly social hours with other clinicians of racialized identities (Black, Brown, Indigenous, and/or Asian People of Color) as a means to create community and much-needed opportunities to collaborate on how to be racially, ethnically, and linguistically responsive in a field lacking much science or advocacy for racialized communities (at that point, the field was 92% white). They teamed with Christina Navas and Stephany Orellana to co-found SLPs of Color, Inc., 501(c)(3), a non-profit organization to advocate, uplift, and support speech-language pathologists of racialized identities.

Following their experience clinically supervising second-year master’s level interns starting in 2017, they knew their professional interest was in the shaping of future speech-language science student professionals towards a more socially just practice for both the clinicians and the clients. They became a part-time faculty member at San Francisco State University in 2019, educating first-year master’s level students in cultural and linguistic responsiveness, speech sound productions, and school-based practices and a topic area expert on anti-bias and cultural-linguistic diversity for The Informed SLP since 2020. They anticipate graduating with their clinical doctorate in speech-language pathology (SLPD) in 2023 from Northwestern University and hope to continue shaping the field towards equitable practices.

Financial Disclosures: V is a part-time faculty member at San Francisco State University. They are receiving a portion of the proceeds from this course.

Non-Financial Disclosures: V is co-founder SLPs of Color, Inc., 501(c)(3), a non-profit organization to advocate, uplift, and support speech-language pathologists of racialized identities. They are also a topic area expert in bias for The Informed SLP.

Joshuaa D. Allison-Burbank, PhD, CCC-SLP is Diné and Acoma Pueblo. His clans are T ł'ógi, Parrot Clan (Acoma), Tó'áhani, and Yellow Corn (Acoma). Joshuaa is a licensed speech-language pathologist and previously worked at Northern Navajo Medical Center in Tsé Bitʼaʼí, Navajo Nation. He continues to provide developmental services to Diné (Navajo) families enrolled in the Navajo Nation Growing in Beauty Early Intervention Program. His previous clinical work included being a Research Project Coordinator for the Culturally Responsive Early Literacy Instruction: American Indian/Alaska Native graduate training program at the University of Kansas. His research interests include community assessment, parent coaching, assessing the effects of stress on neurodevelopment, and the prevention of developmental delay in American Indian children. Currently, he is an Assistant Scientist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a co-investigator on a NIH-funded project that is providing technical assistance to the Navajo Nation and White Mountain Apache Tribe to implement COVID-19 surveillance pool testing. He is leading a cohort study that is measuring the effects of pandemic-related stress on Diné and Apache school age children and working with partner schools to coordinate appropriate mental health response efforts.

Dr. Allison-Burbank received his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Kansas where he focused on neurodevelopmental disabilities and prevention research. He has a Public Health Training Certificate in American Indian Health from Johns Hopkins University. He attended the University of New Mexico where he received a BA in Speech and Hearing Sciences. Joshuaa has held several leadership positions recently including vice chair of the Multi-Cultural Committee (MCC) within the Association of University Centers on Disabilities and co-chair of the Native American Caucus within the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

Learn more about Dr. Allison-Burbank’s mutual aid food security and early literacy projects at www.lilmoccasins.com.

Financial Disclosures: Joshuaa is an Assistant Scientist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is receiving a portion of the proceeds from this course.

Non-Financial Disclosures: Joshuaa is vice chair of the Multi-Cultural Committee (MCC) within the Association of University Centers on Disabilities and co-chair of the Native American Caucus within the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

Ruchi Kapila, MS, CCC-SLP (they/she) is an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist licensed in California and Texas, NCVS-trained vocologist, and voice teacher. Ruchi completed their Bachelor's degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology and Master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Cal State University - East Bay. Previously trained and employed as a medical speech-language pathologist in acute care and rehabilitation hospitals, Ruchi is now owner and sole proprietor for Kapila Voice and Speech Services, where they provide singing and speech voice services with a gender-inclusive lens. They present frequently on topics regarding intersectionality, cultural responsiveness, and client-centered care within and beyond gender affirming voice care. Ruchi is a volunteer member and organizer with Trans Voice Initiative (TVI) and SLPs of Color. In addition, they serve as voluntary board member, EDI committee member, and Director of Social Media for Festival Opera in Walnut Creek, CA.

Financial Disclosures: Ruchi is the owner of Kapila Voice and Speech Services. Ruchi is receiving a portion of the proceeds from this course.

Non-Financial Disclosures: Ruchi is a volunteer member and organizer with Trans Voice Initiative (TVI) and SLPs of Color. In addition, they serve as voluntary board member, EDI committee member, and Director of Social Media for Festival Opera in Walnut Creek, CA.

Beck is a master’s level clinician with an undergraduate degree in Sociology with an emphasis on Gender & Sexuality and a master’s degree in Addiction Counseling. Beck has worked in the mental health & substance use field for over 10 years in various capacities. The main focus of his work has been invested in the LGBTQ+ community, adolescents, and families. Over this decade, Beck has trained numerous facilities on LGBTQ+ best practices, has been a keynote and presenter at many conferences, and has facilitated workshops about LGBTQ+, trauma, adolescents, gender and sexuality.

Beck is the Director of LGBTQ+ Programming at Visions Adolescent Treatment Center. This program is for young people at Visions who identify in the community, those who are questioning, and their families. It includes process groups, psychoeducation, and family programming with professionals specifically trained and experienced in the LGBTQ+ population and best practices. Alongside the already dynamic team at Visions Adolescent Treatment Center in Los Angeles, young LGBTQ+ people and their families will find a space that serves their specific needs in regards to healing and thriving.

Financial Disclosures: Beck is employed full time at Visions Adolescent Treatment Center. He is the owner of BCG consulting. Beck will be receiving a portion of the proceeds from this course

Non-Financial Disclosures: None

R. Danielle Scott (she/her), Ph.D., CCC-SLP is an Assistant Professor at Minnesota State University Mankato in the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, leading the efforts in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). She teaches courses such as Culturally Responsive Practices, DEI Seminar, DEI in Education Settings, and Cultural Humility. Dani also teaches Introduction to Communication Disorders at a local women’s prison through the MSU Scholars Serving Time Program. Dani graduated from the illustrious Spelman College with her bachelor's degree in Psychology and Comparative Women's Studies, Indiana University Bloomington with her master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology, and Grand Canyon University with her Ph.D. in psychology with an emphasis in cognition and instruction. Her research pertains to school-based speech-language pathologists’ therapeutic relationships with culturally and linguistically diverse students. Dani has 6 years of experience as an educational SLP in Atlanta, GA and Houston, TX. Her areas of interest include Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Cultural and Linguistic Diversity, Cultural Humility, Social Justice, Therapeutic Relationships, and Counseling.

Financial Disclosures: R. Danielle Scott is an employee of Minnesota State University Mankato. She is receiving a percentage of the revenue from the CREDITs Institute for contributing to this course

Non-Financial Disclosures: R. Danielle Scott is a member of ASHA and ASHA SIG 14. She is a member of and serves on the Cultural Humility Committee of NBLASH.