NYU Swallowing Research Lab

07/29/2026

It's been a busy week in the SRL! Today, we extend congratulations to D'manda Price on successfully defending her second qualifying project "Current Practice Patterns in Dysphagia Rehabilitation: A National Survey of U.S. Speech-Language Pathologists".

Special thanks to committee members Dr. Aaron Johnson and Dr. Daphna Harel for participating in this important mileSTONE. 🎉🤩🎉

07/28/2026

Introducing the newly minted *Dr. Brynn Jones-Rastelli*!!!!

The entire NYU SRL team is so proud of Brynn who did an amazing job at her PhD dissertation defense today. The future is bright 😎!!!! 💜 👩‍🎓 💜

Special thanks to her committee and readers featuring Dr Susie Levi, Dr Aaron Johnson, Dr Jim Coyle, and Dr Julie Barkmeier-Kraemer.

06/11/2026

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07/16/2025

Calling all medical SLPs who treat dysphagia—your insight matters!

What really drives your treatment decisions? Institutional protocols? Clinical training? That gut feeling refined through experience?

We’re launching a national survey to uncover how speech-language pathologists make real-world clinical decisions when treating dysphagia. Our goal? To understand what’s actually happening in the field—not just what’s in the textbooks or research articles.

Your input will help us:
🔍 Reveal practice patterns across settings
🏥 Explore how training, workload, and environment influence your choices
📣 Bring your clinical reality into the research conversation

Take the survey. Share your truth. Shape the future of dysphagia care.

🎁 As a thank-you, participants will be entered in a raffle for a $50 Amazon gift card. Chances of winning are 1 in 50! Just include your email address at the end of the survey to enter the raffle and help us verify you’re a real SLP and not a bot.

Survey link: https://nyu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_79bbbxH7h8bBsIC

Warmly,

The NYU SRL Team

06/14/2025

Join us alongside the Columbia University Upper Airway Dysfunction Lab in the Dash for Dysphagia in support of the Dysphagia Research Society!

The and have joined forces again to raise money to support early stage investigators and the future of .

There is still time to support our team: Dysphagia, fɵˈɡɛɾəˌbæʊɾɨʔ
https://runsignup.com/Race/128635/Donate/TVrNq9vcS6LggRwW

06/11/2025

📣WE ARE HIRING! 📣 We are getting ready to post a position for a full-time SLP to join the NYU Swallowing Research Lab to support our NIH-funded clinical trial. The primary responsibilities for this role will be to conduct comprehensive swallowing evaluations on our research participants (including videofluoroscopy and high-resolution pharyngeal manometry) and to conduct twice per week treatment sessions (following a research protocol). This individual will also support data management and data analysis and attend weekly center and lab meetings.

We are looking for:
✔️a confident dysphagia clinician with NY State speech-language pathology licensure (or eligibility for it)
✔️ at least one year of experience independently conducting videoflurosocopy and endoscopy.
✔️ excellent organizational skills and attention to detail
✔️ strong communication and interpersonal skills
✔️ experience with research is valued but not required

The successful applicant will have the opportunity to participate in the entire research process from data collection to data analysis to participating in conferences and the publishing process. The position has both in-person and remote responsibilities, with the potential opportunity for 2-3 days per week to be fully remote. We are targeting a start date sometime in Aug-Sept 2025.

If you are interested, please send your CV to [email protected]. We are in the preliminary phases of this search and invite qualified applicants to submit a formal application in the coming weeks.

06/11/2025

June is Dysphagia Awareness month! Dysphagia- difficulty swallowing- is a debilitating condition that impacts both someone’s heath and quality of life. My lab team recently conducted a large scale survey to understand the public’s awareness of Dysphagia.

To listen to a two minute synopsis - check out the clip featured today on “The Academic Minute” https://academicminute.org/sonja-molfenter-new-york-university-public-awareness-of-dysphagia/

(you can read the full study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40146338/)

Not all common medical conditions are well studied. Sonja Molfenter, associate professor in communicate sciences and disorders at New York University, examines one that needs more attention. Dr. Sonja Molfenter is a clinically-trained Speech Language Pathologist whose research specializes in underst...

04/02/2025

New Publication Alert! We are really excited about this one! Over the summer 2024, the NYU SRL hosted four amazing undergraduate scholars through our department's NIH R25 funded research education program (awarded to Drs Arunachalam and Levi). We set out to determine the public's awareness and understanding about dysphagia. We learned that dysphagia and its sequelae are under recognized in comparison to other health conditions. We also collaborated with Dr. Aaron Johnson of the NYU Voice Center.

The published paper is available here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00455-025-10826-2 You can find a self archived (unrestricted access version) here:
https://wp.nyu.edu/smolfenter/publications/

04/02/2025

The NYU SRL had a fantastic time the Dysphagia Research Society meeting last week in Philadelphia. Congratulations to Dr Catriona Steele for organizing a stellar meeting. The SRL team did a fantastic job presenting their science and we also snuck in some fun!

12/08/2024

ASHA 2024 was definitely a special one to remember! Our team did an amazing job with their presentations and I was honored to be inducted as a Fellow of the Association. Thank you to everyone who helped get me here and who supported my journey.

NYU Steinhardt Communicative Sciences & Disorders