Our people

Professor Robyn O'Halloran  is the Director of the Centre for Research Excellence in Aphasia Recovery and Rehabilitation. Working clinically as a speech pathologist in acute, rehabilitation and community health settings, Robyn developed a particular interest in how best to support people with communication disability and their healthcare providers communicate effectively, so that people with communication disability received safe, high quality, equitable healthcare. This has led Robyn to work with people with aphasia and other communication disabilities, their families and healthcare providers to create communicatively inclusive, accessible healthcare services. She has received over $8 million in research funding and is the first author of the Inpatient Functional Communication Interview: Screening, Assessment and Intervention.

As Centre Manager of the Aphasia CRE, she oversees the Centre's operational management, including stakeholder engagement, communications, IT, conferences & events, special projects, finance, governance and administration. Kelly plays a key role in supporting the Centre's innovative research and enabling collaboration between researchers, clinicians and people with lived experience of aphasia, helping researchers to advance evidence-based aphasia rehabilitation and improve outcomes for people living with aphasia.

Associate Professor Annie Hill is a speech pathologist and internationally recognised researcher dedicated to improving rehabilitation for people living with aphasia after stroke. She is Principal Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the Centre of Research Excellence in Aphasia Recovery and Rehabilitation at La Trobe University, where she leads research in aphasia rehabilitation, digital health and telerehabilitation. With almost 30 years of clinical and research experience, Annie has built an international reputation for developing innovative models of care that improve equitable access to rehabilitation. Her research has attracted more than $15.6 million in competitive funding and has influenced clinical guidelines, telerehabilitation practice and rehabilitation services in Australia and internationally. Annie works closely with people with lived experience, clinicians and researchers to co-design research that translates into practical improvements in rehabilitation, health services and quality of life.

Dr John Pierce is a speech pathologist and Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Aphasia CRE. His research focuses on improving rehabilitation and everyday communication outcomes for people with aphasia, particularly through accessible technology, innovative tools and practical therapy approaches. John works closely with people with aphasia, clinicians and fellow researchers to develop and evaluate services and tools that can be translated into real-world practice.

Dr Rebecca Sullivan is a Wiradjuri descendent and Certified Practicing Speech Pathologist. She graduated from the University of Sydney in 2006 and has extensive clinical experience working with adults experiencing communication and swallowing difficulties in hospital and community settings. Rebecca completed her PhD through the University of Technology, Sydney which examined the falls of hospital patients with communication disability following stroke, using a mixed methods design to explore the impact of communication disability on falls management in rehabilitation. Rebecca is an early career researcher at La Trobe University, focusing on improving the care and safety of hospital patients with communication difficulties, with a particular interest in falls.

Dr Sam Harvey is a speech pathologist and research affiliate with the Aphasia CRE. He previously served as Trial Manager for the Communication Connect feasibility study and currently co-leads the maintenance and evaluation of the Aphasia Therapy Finder website alongside Professor Miranda Rose.

Dr Chelsea Larkman is an early career researcher and senior speech pathologist. She is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Sydney and an affiliate of the Aphasia CRE. Chelsea’s doctoral research explored cross-linguistic and cross-cultural aphasia therapy with a focus on collaborating with interpreters to adapt therapy for other languages. Chelsea brings more than 15 years of clinical experience in public hospitals to her research and a passion for ensuring that research outcomes are meaningful and clinically relevant.

Dr Joanna Shorland is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Aphasia CRE and a Certified Practicing Speech Pathologist. Joanna completed her PhD through La Trobe University in 2023 in the area of cognitive-communication difficulties following traumatic brain injury sustained in older adulthood.
Joanna has extensive experience as a speech pathologist, predominantly in the subacute inpatient setting. Joanna has a strong interest in research that optimises rehabilitation for people who have cognitive-communication disability or aphasia following acquired brain injury.

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Emily Eley is currently a trial manager and research assistant for the M-MAT Tele Maximising Aphasia Treatment and Recovery across Australia through Innovative Group Telerehabilitation study, a Phase II Randomised Control Trial at Aphasia CRE, La Trobe University.
Emily is a speech pathologist with over 12 years of clinical experience in managing adult clients with acquired communication and swallowing disorders. Emily has worked in tertiary teaching hospitals in Australia, Singapore and the UAE, and her primary area of professional interest is in early intervention in aphasia rehabilitation. Emily recently completed a Master of Clinical Rehabilitation at Flinders University, Adelaide and was awarded a Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation.

Dr Matthew Berryman is an Adjunct Research Fellow at La Trobe University, a software engineer, researcher and stroke survivor with lived experience of aphasia. His work focuses on artificial intelligence, digital health, accessible communication technology and consumer-led aphasia research.
Matthew is a 2026 Stroke Foundation Future Leaders with Lived Experience Research Grant recipient, leading research into how people with aphasia use, understand and imagine future AI supports.
Matthew is also a Chief Investigator and Project Manager on an NHMRC-funded project developing a virtual reality platform for treating anomia after stroke. Matthew brings lived experience, technical expertise and a commitment to ensuring that people with aphasia actively shape the technologies and rehabilitation approaches designed for them.

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Dr Maya Menahemi-Falkov is a lecturer in the Discipline of Speech Pathology at La Trobe University. She is a member of the Centre of Research Excellence in Aphasia Rehabilitation and Recovery, where she completed her PhD. Her research examines how therapy gains in chronic post-stroke aphasia can be maintained and strengthened over the long term. A key contribution of her work was the first individual-level application of MDC90 in aphasia rehabilitation, demonstrating how group-level outcomes can obscure clinically meaningful patterns of response, change and maintenance for individual people with aphasia. Maya’s approach to aphasia rehabilitation is grounded in person-centred, accessible and evidence-informed care, with a strong focus on meaningful communication outcomes beyond the therapy setting.

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Edwina Lamborn is a speech pathologist completing a PhD within the Aphasia CRE with a particular interest in communication access. Edwina's research is investigating the development and use of digital communication aids for clinical interactions between people with aphasia and their care providers in hospital. She has worked clinically with children and adults across the continuum of care but predominantly with adults in the inpatient acute and rehabilitation settings. Edwina also enjoys assisting other research projects within the Aphasia CRE.

Shu En Lee is a graduate researcher and speech pathologist. Originally from Malaysia, her PhD research focuses on understanding and improving community rehabilitation for people with aphasia in Malaysia. Her research project will be culturally and linguistically adapting an aphasia self-management platform, called Communication Connect that is developed in Australia, to the Malaysian context, through a participatory action research approach. Shu En has an interest in enhancing aphasia care for people from cultural and linguistic diverse backgrounds, as well as achieving equitable long-term care for people with communication disability.

Tanya  Ramadan  is a PhD candidate at the Aphasia CRE, La Trobe University and speech pathologist with experience across rehabilitation, stroke, community, and aged care services. Tanya's research explores how healthcare professionals can communicate more effectively with people with communication support needs to improve medication safety and healthcare participation, with a particular interest in person-centred healthcare. Drawing on her clinical experience, Tanya is passionate about improving

Nelson Javier Hernández  is a speech pathologist and PhD candidate within the Centre of Research Excellence in Aphasia Recovery and Rehabilitation. Drawing on his clinical experience across acute, subacute, and community rehabilitation, he has a particular interest in psychological wellbeing, family-centred care, and digital health for people with communication disabilities and their families. Nelson’s current research uses participatory and mixed-methods approaches to develop and evaluate Communication Connect, a digital health platform providing personalised psychoeducation and support to carers and family members of people with communication disability following acquired brain injury.

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Nasrin is a speech pathologist and PhD Candidate at the Aphasia CRE. Her project focuses on personalisation of aphasia therapy and how this could improve outcomes in people with aphasia.

Emeritus Professor Miranda Rose Director of the Aphasia CRE 2019 - 2025.

Emeritus Professor Miranda Rose is an internationally recognised leader in aphasia rehabilitation. Over an academic career spanning four decades, she has advanced understanding of communication recovery following stroke and helped transform rehabilitation practice in Australia and internationally. Her research has focused on improving the effectiveness of aphasia therapy and enhancing psychosocial wellbeing and community participation for people living with the long-term effects of stroke and their families. Her work has improved access to evidence-based therapies, informed clinical guidelines, and supported the development of new technologies and community programs for people with communication disabilities. In recognition of her outstanding contribution to the field, she received Speech Pathology Australia's highest honour, the Elizabeth Usher Prize, and the international Robin Tavistock Award for significant contributions to aphasia research and rehabilitation.

• Emeritus Professor Miranda Rose Director of the Aphasia CRE 2019 - 2025. Chief Investigator & Co-Lead Treatment Effectiveness across the Continuum of Care
• Professor Leanne Togher  CRE Chief Investigator, Program Lead Technology Solutions to Healthcare Communication
• Professor David Copland CRE Chief Investigator, Program Lead Neurobiological and Psychosocial Predictors of Recovery
• Professor Ian Kneebone  CRE Chief Investigator, Program Lead Optimising Mental Health and Wellbeing, Implementation to Psychology
• Professor Erin Godecke CRE Chief Investigator, Program Co-Lead Treatment Effectiveness across the Continuum of Care
• Professor Julie Bernhardt
• Professor Richard Lindley
• Emeritus Professor Leeanne Carey
• Professor Dominique Cadilhac
• Professor Leonid Churilov

• Emeritus Professor Linda Worrall
• Associate Professor Robyn O’Halloran
• Professor Cathy Price
• Professor Julius Fridrikkson
• Professor Lyndsey Nickels
• Professor Natasha Lannin
• Professor Sandy Middleton
• Associate Professor Emma Power
• Mr Kelvin Hill
• Mrs Wendy and Mr Paul Corp

• Dr John Pierce
• Dr Caroline Baker
• Dr Ciara Shiggins
• Dr Michelle Attard
• Dr Sonia Brownsett
• Dr Brooke Ryan
• Dr Emily Brogan
• Dr Annie Hill
• Dr Marcella Carragher

• Emma Beasley
• Kim Beasley
• Konrad Emert
• Mimi Emert
• Tim Adam
• Julie Adam
• Gopal Singh
• Archana Singh
• Robert Nicholls
• Stephanie Ho

• La Trobe University
  • Edwina Lamborn
  • Maya Menahemi-Falkov
  • Amy Ford
  • Kathryn Pettigrove
  • Kathleen Mellahan
  • Chelsea Larkman
  • Kristina Schultz
  • Nelson Hernandez
  • Roz Shand
  • John Pierce
  • Sam Harvey
• University of Queensland
  • Aoife Reardon
  • Bethany Best
  • Claire Bennington
  • Emma Schimke
  • Genevieve Vuong
  • Jessica Tranter
  • Kimberley Garden
  • Lisa Anemaat
  • Marissa Stone
  • Patti Govendor
  • Penni Burfein
  • Sally Zingelman
  • Veronika Vadinova
  • Viktoriia Pozdniakova
• Edith Cowan University
  • Siobhan Kavanagh
• University of Technology Sydney
  • Rebecca El-Helou
• Macquarie University
  • Catherine Mason
  • Cathleen Taylor
  • Leanne Ruggero
  • Rajath Shenoy
• Curtin University
  • Mareike Moormann

• Dr Sarah Wallace
• Dr Dana Wong
• Dr Britta Biedermann
• Associate Professor Deborah Hersh
• A/Prof Katie McMahon’s
• Professor Sabine Corsten
• A/Prof Rene Stolwyk
• Emeritus Professor Jennifer Oates
• Prof Michael Walsh Dickey
• A/Prof Shirley Thomas
• Dr Emma Finch
• Dr Jade Dignam
• Dr Sarah Northcott
• Dr Monique Kilkenny
• Dr Kirstine Shrubsole
• Dr Catherine Ford
• A/Prof Madeline Cruice
• A/Prof Natalie Ciccone
• A/Prof Anne Whitworth
• Dr Kate Hayward
• Dr Michelle Attard
• Dr Marie-Pier McSween
• Dr Nickolas Behn
• Dr Tharshanah Thayabaranathan
• Dr Fergus Gracey
• Dr Caroline Baker
• Dr Ciara Shiggins
• Dr Emily Brogan
• Dr Annie Hill
• Dr Katerina Hilari
• Dr Brooke Ryan
• A/Prof Nawaf Yassi
• Dr Abby Foster
• Dr Sam Harvey
• Dr Jasvinder Sekhon

Benefits to members of the COP include:

• updates about events and activities
• invitations to contribute to research studies and trials
• contribute to research agendas
• attend implementation workshops and projects
• networking opportunities.
• access to all Aphaisa CRE seminars and recordings