Associate Professor Nadine Connor (Communicative Disorders and Surgery) and PhD student Allison Schaser (MS'09, Communicative Disorders), both won national awards at the prestigious Dysphagia Research Society meeting held in San Antonio, TX March 3-5, 2011.
Connor received the 1st place award for Best Oral Presentation.
Schaserwon 1st Place in the Dysphagia Research Society New Investigator Presentation and 1st place in the American Speech-Language Hearing Association Division 13 (Swallowing & Swallowing Disorders) New Investigator award.
Connor received her doctoral degree from the UW-Madison in the Department of Neurophysiology in 1997. Her research program is focused on physiological and structural properties of cranial muscles, associated central and peripheral nervous system structures, and how these systems change with aging, diseases and disorders. Connor is exploring how these physiological and structural adaptations may influence properties of voice production, speech, and swallowing.
Schaser is currently in her second year of the doctoral program in the Department of Communicative Disorders under the guidance of Connor. She holds a B.S. in speech-language pathology from Miami University and an M.S. in communicative disorders from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her interest is in the area of voice and swallowing research, particularly in an aging and disease model.
To date her research has been focused on using basic science techniques and behavioral animal work to elucidate the underlying sensorimotor changes that occur in the swallowing musculature with both age and exercise. Her most current project seeks to determine the effect of age and exercise on neurotrophic factors in the brainstem nuclei that control the tongue muscles involved in swallowing.