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Alison completed her degrees at The University of Sydney and has worked in a range of areas including on-campus clinics, private practice, corporate consulting, CRS (brain injury team) and St Vincent's Hospital Voice Clinic (Sydney). After completing her PhD on respiratory activity in speech she lectured and supervised in several subject areas at Sydney, and then moved to Brisbane to the University of Queensland where she conducted research conjointly with the Speech Pathology Department at Royal Brisbane Hospital, with projects in speech, language, voice and swallowing, covering the acute caseload, rehabilitation and intellectual disability. Her specialist area in speech pathology is voice disorders.

Roles

• Academic – Speech Pathology (Special Projects).
• Sessional lecturer and clinical educator in voice disorders

Teaching

Alison was formerly the CSU speech pathology program’s course coordinator, and she has coordinated, designed or lectured in most speech pathology subjects across the curriculum. She is a founding member of the team responsible for establishing the first speech therapy course in Vietnam, through her volunteer work with the Trinh Foundation Australia.

Subject Delivery

Alison teaches voice production and disorders within SPH308 Communication, Disability and Neurological Impairment. She currently coordinates the distance subject BMS224 Head and Neck Anatomy, and provides clinical education for Year 4 speech pathology students in Voice.

Innovations in Teaching

Alison is a recipient of the University of Sydney’s Excellence in Teaching Award, and a grant co-recipient through CSU's Scholarship in Teaching Fund. She has presented results of teaching innovations at several conferences, and in 2004 was visiting professor in speech pathology at Sweden's Gothenburg University.

Research

Alison has collaborated in a variety of research grants and supervised several research higher degree and honours students. In 2006 she was a principal researcher in the ARC funded, "The Participation Project," examining participation by people living with a brain injury in rural areas. In 2008 she was co-editor of a special issue of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology on hyperfunctional voice disorders.

Professional & Community Engagement

After she left full time academic life at CSU Alison completed a coaching qualification (Certified/Licensed CT Coach Trainer) and created a private consultation practice in speech pathology and communication training (First Impression Feedback). She travels nationally conducting workshops in voice disorders, and also in children’s language and play in speech pathology. Internationally she contributes to speech therapy education in Vietnam through her directorship of Trinh Foundation Australia, which has established the first (and so far, only) speech therapy course in that country. She speaks French fluently and Swedish badly, and is a keen musician and singer.