I completed my undergraduate and master's work in speech pathology at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, and doctoral work at Purdue University. I have been at Iowa since 1985, the first two years as a speech physiology research scientist in Oto on the NIDR cleft palate program project, and since then on faculty in the Dept. of Communication Sciences and Disorders. I am a past-president of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association, and was the Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal Editor for 10 years.
My primary research interests related to cleft palate and craniofacial disorders have focused on the anatomy, physiology, and motor control of the velopharyngeal mechanism. I have conducted numerous studies utilizing histological analyses, as well as recordings of vocal tract aerodynamics, kinematics, and palatal muscle EMG in both normal and clinical populations to better understand the form and function of the velopharyngeal mechanism. Most recently, I have been collaborating on studies employing endoscopy and phototransduction technology to assess the stability and patterning of velopharyngeal port opening and closing gestures during speech.