Speech and Swallow Service Team

Darling Batiz
Practice Assistant
Darling Batiz has been the Practice Assistant for the Speech and Swallow Department since 2016. Prior to this, Darling served as a Patient Care Coordinator at Manet Community Health Center. She is a Certified Medical Assistant, bilingual in Spanish and English, and has over 10 years of customer service experience. Darling is dedicated to providing excellent patient care and support in all of her tasks at BWH.

Eleanor (Ellie) Bernstein, MA, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Eleanor (Ellie) Bernstein received a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Pittsburgh in 2014 and a Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh in 2016. She completed her Clinical Fellowship in 2017 at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where she continued to work in the acute care setting. She joined the Speech and Swallow Department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the fall of 2019. Her primary clinical interests include evaluation and treatment of dysphagia in medically complex patients.

Elaine Burke, MS, CCC-SLP
Senior Speech-Language Pathologist
Elaine Burke completed the BS/MS combined program at Boston University with her Bachelor of Science in Communication Disorders in 1992 and Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology in 1993. Elaine began her career in the subacute setting in CT and quickly transitioned to acute care at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, CT which allowed her to work with inpatient populations including TBI, Neuro, Cardiology, Head and Neck Cancer. She also worked in the outpatient setting and treated the head neck cancer population including laryngectomy patients with TEPs.

Elaine came to the Speech and Swallow Department at BWH in 2004 to work with inpatients and to develop speech and swallow services at Dana Faber Cancer Institute (DFCI). She is skilled in video swallow studies, FEES and working with laryngectomy patients with TEPs. Elaine has been a guest lecturer at Harvard Dental School and presented at the DFCI Annual Head and Neck Conference as well as the DFCI Dysphagia Conference.

Pamela Dodrill, PhD, CCC-SLP
Clinical Specialist
Pamela Dodrill graduated as a Speech-Language Pathologist from the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia in 2001. She received her PhD from the Children’s Nutrition Research Centre, Department of Medicine, University of Queensland in 2008. She worked at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Brisbane for over a decade before relocating to Boston to work at Boston Children’s Hospital and then the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). Pamela has worked in the BWH Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) since 2015. She is a Clinical Specialist on the Feeding and Developmental Therapy Team and has more than 15 years of experience working with infants with feeding difficulties and dysphagia. Pamela has numerous publications in this area, and regularly presents at international scientific conferences on this topic.

Lorraine Downey Cuddy, MS, CCC-SLP
Clinical Supervisor
Lorraine Downey Cuddy received her Master of Science from Boston University Sargent College in 1996 and her Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology in 1997. She specialized in swallowing disorders and radiographic imaging of swallowing (video swallow studies) in both the inpatient and outpatient clinics at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston from 1998-2002 and was promoted to Senior Speech-Language Pathologist during that time.

In 2002, she joined the Speech and Swallow Department at BWH. Over the course of her career, she has headed the student internship program, guest lectured at Boston University, written several of the first Speech/Swallowing Standards of Care at BWH, presented at several national conferences, organized and ran the department continuing education program, and worked closely with the Department of Otolaryngology including participating in research in swallowing disorders. Lorraine is dedicated to providing the highest standard of care for patients with swallowing and speech/language disorders.

Katherine A. Gibson, MS, CCC-SLP
Clinical Specialist
Katherine Gibson is a Senior Speech-Language Pathologist who has worked in pediatric dysphagia since 2009. She received her Master’s degree at UNC-Chapel Hill where she initiated her training in the NICU. Prior to joining the Developmental Team in the NICU at Brigham and Women’s Hospital she worked at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center and New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center in the NICU and Neonatal Cardiac ICU. During her time at Columbia, Katherine served as a member of the Aerodigestive, Single Ventricle, and Comfort Care teams. She has presented at several national speech pathology conferences and regional perinatal conferences.

Olga Kaminski, MS, CCC-SLP
Senior Speech-Language Pathologist
Olga Kaminski is a bilingual, Russian and English-speaking clinician, who received her Bachelor of Science in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences in 2009 and her Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology in 2010, both from Boston University. After completing her Clinical Fellowship Year at New England Rehabilitation Hospital in Woburn, MA, Olga continued working with the inpatient rehabilitation population, specializing in diagnostics and treatment of patients with traumatic and non-traumatic brain injuries. She was an integral part in establishing a specialized Brain Injury Program at the facility. In 2014, Olga joined the Speech and Swallow Department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she has since specialized in the management of dysphagia in the critically ill inpatient population. Olga has additional clinical interest in aphasia and contributes to ongoing research in this field.

Laura M. Kasparian, MS, CCC-SLP
Clinical Supervisor
Laura Kasparian received her Bachelor of Arts in Cognitive Science from Yale University in 2006 and her Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Boston University in 2012. Laura completed her Clinical Fellowship Year at Whittier Rehabilitation Hospital in Westborough, MA where she worked with both pediatrics and adults in both inpatient and outpatient settings. She joined the Speech and Swallow Department at BWH in September 2013 where she specializes in dysphagia diagnostics and treatment in medically complex patient populations. She has been the Coordinator of the Speech and Swallow Department since October of 2018. In addition to dysphagia, Laura also has clinical interests in facial transplantation, language disorders and aphasia. She is involved in research in both dysphagia and aphasia and has presented at national conferences.

Semra Koymen, MA, CCC-SLP
Senior Speech-Language Pathologist
Semra Koymen earned her Master’s degree in Communication Sciences & Disorders from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. Her clinical career has focused on providing diagnostic assessment and management of dysphagia in a variety of populations including neurogenic, trauma, surgical, trach/vent dependent, and medically fragile patients. Semra joined the Speech and Swallow Department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2011 & has been Coordinator of the service since 2015. She has presented at various conferences and seminars throughout her career and has lectured at Harvard Dental School regarding oral physiology of speech.

Allison Ma, MS, CCC-SLP
Senior Speech-Language Pathologist
Allison Ma earned her Master’s Degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Massachusetts General Hospital’s Institute of Health Professions in 2013. Prior to joining the rehabilitation team at the BWH NICU, Allison was part of the Feeding and Swallowing Team at Boston Children’s Hospital. Before that, she worked with medically complex and fragile infants at Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She has also worked as a pediatric speech language pathologist in Beijing, China.

Stacey McCauley, MS, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Stacey McCauley received her Bachelor of Science in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology in 2014 from Towson University. She received her Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology in 2016 from Rush University. She completed her Clinical Fellowship Year at University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center and joined the Speech and Swallow Department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2018.

Brittany Morris, MA, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Brittany Morris received her Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education from Boston University in 2013 and her Master of Arts in Communication Disorders from the University of Massachusetts- Amherst in 2015. Brittany completed her Clinical Fellowship Year at Regional West Medical Center in Western Nebraska, where she worked with both adults and pediatrics, in both inpatient and outpatient settings. She returned to Massachusetts in 2016 to work at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital. Brittany joined the Speech and Swallow Department at BWH in June 2020, working mainly with adults with dysphagia. She has a particular interest in head and neck cancer and also does outpatient dysphagia management at Dana-Farber’s Head & Neck Oncology clinic.

Patricia Onofre, BS
Practice Assistant II
Patricia (Patty) Onofre received her BS in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology with a minor in Spanish in 2020 from The University of North Texas. Prior to joining the Speech and Swallow team at BWH in January 2022, she worked as a Patient Care Technician at Medical City Denton and Select Rehabilitation Hospital, both in Texas. Patricia is bilingual Spanish/English and plans on pursuing her Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology in the near future.

Bridget Perry, PhD, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Dr. Bridget Perry received her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame in 2003, her Master’s Degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Rush University in 2009 and her PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences from MGH Institute of Health Professions in 2018. She joined the Speech and Swallow Department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2009, after completing her Clinical Fellowship Year at the Boston VA Healthcare System. She began her post-doctoral research fellowship in 2018 at Tuft’s Medical Center in the Department of Clinical and Translational Sciences.

Her research interests include the evaluation and treatment of neurologically-based speech and swallowing impairments and evidence-based, patient-centered decision-making surrounding feeding management in persons with dysphagia. She has presented her work exploring speech and swallowing impairments in persons following facial transplantation and in persons diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at several national conventions and has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications.

Zachary M. Smith, MS, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Zach Smith received his Bachelor of Science in Speech, Language, and Hearing Science from Boston University in 2013 and his Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from the MGH Institute of Health Professions in 2015. He completed his clinical fellowship year at an outpatient clinic in Anaheim, CA. He then transitioned to St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA where he worked with adults in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Zach also operated a company that brought mobile endoscopic swallow evaluation (FEES) to skilled nursing facilities around Los Angeles and Phoenix. He joined the Speech and Swallow Department at Brigham and Women's Hospital in January 2020.

Sofia Vallila Rohter, PhD, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Sofia Vallila Rohter received her PhD in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology in 2014 from MIT as part of the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program. She has been a part of the Speech and Swallow Department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital since 2013 and continues to practice on a per-diem basis in the acute care setting.

Dr. Vallila Rohter is currently an Assistant Professor at the MGH-Institute of Health Professions in Communication Sciences and Disorders and is the Co-Director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Group (CNG) a collaborative research group that uses behavioral and neuroscience methods to examine the relationship between learning, language ability and cognitive factors. More specifically, Dr. Vallila Rohter examines behaviors using computer paradigms, eye-tracking and electroencephalography (EEG) to better understand the underlying mechanisms contributing to relearning in individuals with aphasia. The broad goal of her research is to improve clinicians’ abilities to evaluate and tailor treatment to individuals, improving the predictability and efficacy of treatment for aphasia.