SCSD Special Lecture / Winter 2018
Heather Flowers, PhD - Post-stroke dysphagia and communication impairments: implications for cross-system management in the acute setting
Dr. Flowers will discuss her recent research aimed at identifying the co-occurrence and predictors of swallowing and communication impairments in the acute stage of stroke. She will describe associations between the impairments and demographic, clinical, and MRI factors (acute lesions and chronic brain disease). Using case presentations, Dr. Flowers will explore clinical implications in light of recent expert consensus听from the first international Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable (SRRR, 2016).
Biography:
Heather Flowers has worked as a speech-language pathologist for over 10 years in multiple health care environments, ranging from the emergency room to ambulatory and long-term care. Prior to undertaking studies in speech-language pathology, she obtained a Master of Education and taught English as a foreign language in the School of Continuing Studies and in the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto. Over the years, she developed and honed her teaching methodology and engaged in curriculum development initiatives.
Subsequently, Heather Flowers undertook both her Master of Health Science and PhD in the department of Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Toronto.听 Her doctoral studies, supervised by Dr. Rosemary Martino in the Swallowing Laboratory, centered on post-stroke swallowing and associated communication impairments within a clinical epidemiological framework. As part of her PhD studies, Heather received training at the Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences, Sunnybrook Campus, Toronto. After completing her PhD, Heather Flowers continued to work as a Clinical Research Coordinator and Speech-Language Pathologist at the University Health Network in Toronto. She joined the University of Ottawa, School of Rehabilitation Sciences in November, 2016.
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