2026 Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Newsletter

Message from the Chair
Department Spotlights
Faculty Kudos
Alumni Class Notes

Message from the Chair

Greetings to all our alumni from the George Washington University Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences!

We’ve had a busy year, and we’re excited to share some highlights, including the achievements of our community of alumni, faculty and students in this newsletter. We would love to see you at an upcoming alumni event, like our community career conversation evenings or an alumni association gathering during graduation week. I hope you have the opportunity to join us and engage with our students and fellow graduates.

Thank you so much for your support and involvement. Please stay in touch.

Warmly,

Cynthia Core
Chair and Associate Professor

Department Spotlights

GW faculty and alumni from the SLP graduating class of 2015 gathered at reception celebrating ASHA’s 100 year anniversary.

GW Celebrates ASHA’s 100th Anniversary

As part of the 100-year anniversary of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the SLHS department hosted an open house at the ASHA Convention in Washington, D.C., for faculty, current students and alumni, including faculty alumni Melanie Dorn, MA ’91, Cert. ’25, and Michael Bamdad, MA ’91. We celebrated Dr. Adrienne Hancock’s ASHA Fellow award and reconnected with more than 80 undergraduate and graduate alumni. Our SLHS faculty had 10 presentations at the convention, with 12 student authors.

Veeda Baradar Joins the SLHS Department

The Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences is pleased to welcome our newest audiologist Dr. Veeda Baradar.

Dr. Baradar, Au.D. CCC-A, is a licensed audiologist specializing in hearing aids, cochlear implants, electrophysiologic assessment and vestibular evaluation and management. Her professional vision centers on improving access to high-quality audiologic and vestibular care for all individuals. She is passionate about educating patients and their families on hearing health, the impact of untreated hearing loss and the importance of individualized, compassionate care.

Faculty Kudos

Professor Laura Barrett and Clinical Supervisor Rachel Hicks will partner with GW Occupational Therapy to host the third annual Speech-Language Pathology and Occupational Therapy Achievement through Recreation (SOAR) summer program. SLHS first year master's students will work together with occupational therapy doctoral students to support autistic children from the D.C. community in the week-long experience focused on language and social skills and sensory integration.
Dr. Shelley Brundage received the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools Master’s Teaching Award this year. She is an editor for the speech section of the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.
Professor Andy Clare is the vice president of clinical education on the executive board of the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders.
Drs. Cynthia Core and Erin-Anne Cardman will lead a group of 12 SLHS graduate students on a short-term study abroad program to Queretaro, Mexico, in March 2026.
Professor Melanie-Joy Dorn was recognized as a 2025 ASHA PAC Excellence in Advocacy nominee at the annual convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association in Washington, D.C., in November. She is currently vice president of professional and government affairs for the Speech and Hearing Association of Virginia.
Dr. Mackenzie Fama received a two-year research grant in the amount of $75,000 from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation to support her research on inner speech and executive function in stroke survivors with aphasia. She also received the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia Distinguished Scholar Award in May 2025.
Dr. Fama and graduate student Charlotte Kaltenbach received ASHA’s Research Mentoring Pair Travel Award to attend a research symposium at the annual convention, which focused this year on clinical trials in adult populations.
Dr. Adrienne Hancock was recognized as a Fellow of the Association by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Dr. Hancock and Professors Dorn and Madison Brumbaugh joined over 300 AHSA members for ASHA’s 2025 Capitol Hill Day.
Professor Jodi Kumar is the president of the board of the District of Columbia Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Professor Marissa Simpson is the president-elect and Professor Madison Brumbaugh is the corresponding secretary.
Dr. James Mahshie received a University Facilitating Fund grant to explore online caregiver coaching for families of children referred for followup as a result of a positive newborn hearing screening outcome.
Drs. Gregory Wallace and Malathi Thothathiri are collaborating on a project on collecting EF measures using mobile phones. They are using a new methodology to measure EF in autistic individuals in ecologically valid settings (wherever the participants live or work) to determine whether such measurements offer a clearer picture than lab or clinic-based measurements about the day-to-day EF challenges of autistic adults.
GW’s chapter of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association chapter led by an executive board composed of undergraduate and graduate students and advised by Professor Melanie-Joy Dorn received its fifth Gold Award in 2025, and is well on its way to earn another Gold Award in 2026. The award recognizes outstanding affiliated chapters that have made significant contributions to communication sciences and disorders programs, the national organization and their local chapters.

Alumni Class Notes

Norah Alhgunsun, MA ‘17, has co-founded two companies in Saudi Arabia. Afish is an AAC company and Alnabrah Alarabiya is an executive communication consultation company.

Shreya Chaturvedi, BS ’16, is an SLP in Brooklyn, NY.. She is the founder and principal healthcare consultant at Vehab Rehab Consulting.

Jessica DeFreeuw, MA ’21, works part time in outpatient rehabilitation with Sentara Health in Woodbridge, VA. She works with adults with acquired speech, language, cognitive, swallowing and voice disorders and provides training to other SLPs on evidence based practice.

Sierra Downs, MA ’17, lives in Burlington and was recently married to Chris, their incredible partner of 12 years. Their private practice, Veritas Voice & Speech LLC, specializes in gender affirming voice training and voice/upper airway/swallowing disorders.

Genesis Felizola, MA ’20, lives in Miami, Fla., and works as an SLP providing teletherapy services. She also founded Happy Wave Therapy (on Teachers Pay Teachers) where she designs and sells digital speech therapy materials, AAC resources and bilingual tools for therapists, educators and families.

Nate Friedman, MA ’23, is a clinical educator and student internship coordinator in the department of Special Education and Communication Sciences and Disorders at Eastern Michigan University.

Ashley (Boyle) Haltenhof, MA ’04, is an SLP and associate director on the Health Care Services Team at The American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA). Ashley’s passion in post-acute care has been around dementia.

Sara Kalyan, MA ’20, works for a preschool autism program in Montgomery County Public Schools.

Jackie Le, MA ’24, works as a pediatric SLP at Premier Pediatric Therapy Source in Annandale, Va., with special interests in autism, bilingualism and AAC.

Mimoh Lee, BS ’25, works as an assistant clinical research coordinator for the Children’s Communication Center at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco. The research focuses on advancing pediatric hearing healthcare for families of Deaf and Hard-of-hearing children. She works with fellow GW alum Chiara Scarpelli, BS ’15.

Abi Mekonnen, MA ’25, is serving as a clinical fellow SLP at a pediatric outpatient clinic at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughter in Chesapeake, Va. She sees patients up to age 16 with a variety of diagnoses.

Jessica Nolasco, MA ’20, is currently a doctoral student at the University of Maryland, where her research focuses on bilingual language assessment. She practices as a bilingual speech-language pathologist and facilitates community-based initiatives through The Voz Institute and the Language Diversity Lab.

Datie Rogers, MA ’20, works for Infant Toddler Connection of Fairfax-Falls Church completing developmental assessments and providing services for children, birth to age three, with delays and disabilities. She enjoys using her expertise and her Spanish to support families and bilingual learners in the community.

Brittany (Rasansky) Schaefer, MA ’15, works at Boston Children’s Hospital as an outpatient SLP where she sees children from birth to 26 years old with a variety of medical, developmental and communication diagnoses.

Jenn Shonkoff, MA ’11, lives in New York City and works at the Churchill School and Center as an SLP in the lower school division. She is also a contributing author for ParentData, an online, data-driven guide for parents and educators.

Shea Swingle, MA ’22, published a children's book, A Feather for a Friend. The book includes a speech and language page at the end that encourages early literacy development by providing tips and examples to show how to engage little ones.

Janean Wilson, BS ’09, MS ’11, works in Baltimore City Public Schools on an interdisciplinary team supporting transition of early intervention to school based services. She currently supervises three clinical fellows.