People

Katarina is professor in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences. She specializes in the assessment and treatment of adults with left hemisphere brain injury. Her greatest areas of interests include the perceptual, motor, and language mechanisms that influence speech production in aphasia and apraxia of speech; the development of quantitative speech assessment procedures for clinical applications; and the development of procedures and materials to support self-determination in people with aphasia. She received her training in Speech-Language Pathology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and her graduate training at Vanderbilt University. She teaches courses in aphasia, neurologic communication disorders, and research design.  | Katarina_haley@med.unc.edu

Adam is an associate professor in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences. He teaches courses in speech science and neuromotor speech disorders. His research focuses on understanding the link between neuropathology and behavioral manifestations of neurological speech disorders, investigating novel interventions for people with aphasia, and identifying factors associated with improved quality of life with aphasia. After receiving MS and PhD degrees in Communication Sciences and Disorders at The University of Texas at Austin, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in behavioral neuroimaging at The Research Imaging Institute at The University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio. adam_jacks@med.unc.edu

Marcia is a research speech-language pathologist (SLP) working with CARD. She is a certified Brain Injury Specialist and brings over 25 years of experience in physical rehabilitation working with both adolescents and adults. Her areas of expertise include stroke, traumatic brain injury, right-hemisphere disorders (RHD), and neurogenic communication disorders. She holds a master’s degree in speech pathology from the University of South Carolina. Previously, she served as the Director of the CARF-accredited Pediatric and Brain Injury Programs, and as the Director of Speech Pathology at Sea Pines Rehabilitation Hospital in Melbourne, Florida. Before joining CARD, Marcia worked in acute inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation at WakeMed Health and Hospitals in the Raleigh area.
Contact information: (919) 525-1396 | marciaR@med.unc.edu

Dr. Blaise Morrison is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling. He teaches graduate courses in mental health and rehabilitation counseling and conducts research on psychosocial and family outcomes after brain injury. Additionally, he provides psychotherapy to patients and families affected by brain injuries and facilitates support groups for community members that have experienced a brain injury, stroke, or spinal cord injury. He received his PhD in rehabilitation psychology from University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed clinical training at both WVU Medicine and UNC School of Medicine. He is a licensed psychologist, certified rehabilitation counselor, and licensed mental health counselor. Dr. Morrison’s long-term goal is to develop family-directed interventions that improve psychosocial outcomes in persons with brain injury and aphasia. | blaise_morrison@med.unc.edu

Heidi is an associate professor in the Department of Neurology. She is board certified in neurology, behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry, and sleep medicine. She is the director of the Aging Brain Clinic (ABC), with clinical and research interests include memory and sleep, diagnosis and treatment of language disorders and aphasia, and progressive language disorders associated with neurodegenerative disease.  She serves as neurology consultant to the Center for Aphasia and Related Disorders, and is co-investigator on research projects examining brain-behavior relationships and cognitive communication disorders.
Contact information: (919) 966-8168 | Hroth@neurology.unc.edu

Soomin is a Ph.D. student in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences. Her research focus includes neurogenic speech-language disorders, early differential diagnosis of degenerative communication disorders, and using acoustic analysis for developing diagnostic tools.

 Kevin is a former PhD student and research assistant in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences and a speech-language pathologist. A graduate of the master’s program in speech pathology at UNC, he served as a clinician providing outpatient services for people with neurogenic communication disorders at an academic medical center. He is interested in clinical research that seeks to improve diagnostic accuracy for aphasia and motor speech disorders and is a collaborator with the Center for Aphasia and Related Disorders.

Tyson is a former PhD student and research assistant in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the UNC School of Medicine interested in neurologic communication disorders. He is particularly interested in the assessment and treatment of aphasia. Prior to beginning his doctoral studies at UNC-CH, he completed his clinical fellowship at a hospital in Texas and obtained B.S. and M.S. degrees from Brigham Young University in Provo, UT. Dr. Harmon completed his dissertation and graduated from the doctoral program in Speech and Hearing Sciences at UNC in 2018. He is currently an Assistant Professor in Communication Disorders at Brigham Young University.

Jenni is a former PhD student and research assistant in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences and a certified Rehabilitation Counselor. Prior to entering the program, she worked for a large contract research organization, where she managed rater training for global clinical trials investigating treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, major depression, and stuttering. She earned her MS from UNC’s Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling program (formerly Rehabilitation Counseling and Psychology). Her research interests include acquired communication disorders and support for caregivers of people with aphasia. Jenni is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the UNC Program on Integrative Medicine.