Dr Wendy Cohen

Senior Knowledge Exchange Fellow

Speech and Language Therapy

Personal statement

I have been working at Strathclyde since 2005. Before then I held posts in the NHS and Academia as a Speech and Language Therapist and Research Fellow.

I am an experienced clinical academic with a demonstrated history of working in both NHS and the higher education settings. I teach courses in Developmental Language Disorders and Voice Disorders and Research Ethics. I am a passionate supporter of Allied Health Professionals who make a difference every day - and in particular support colleagues in the Health Professions continually demonstrate innovation and impact in their daily activities.

As Vice Chair of a NHS Ethics Committee, I work closely with members of the public, and staff from NHS, academia and industry to ensure that medical research is robust and ethically sound.

As Head of the Graduate School / Associate Dean (PGR) in Humanities and Social Sciences I provide support to PGR students and their supervisors within and across the Faculty from scholarship application processes through to thesis development and graduation.

Expertise

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Area of Expertise

Speech disorders in children and adolescents
Voice disorders in children and adolescents
Communication disability in those with an associated genetic condition
Clinical Education and Professional Development

Qualifications

I currently hold several areas of responsibility within the University and externally:

University responsibilities:

Head of the Graduate School
Associate Dean PGR
School of Psychological Sciences and Health Ethics Committee
University Quality Assurance Contact for Health and Care Professions Council
Professional Lead in Speech and Language Therapy (2016 - 2021)
Mentor STEP SFHEA Support Network (2017)
University Personal Development Planning Network (until 2016)
Responsible for leading negotiation of PPA for 8/10 health boards as listed above on behalf of SLT and NCPO programmes (until 2016)
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Board of Study member (2013 - 2016)

External and Professional responsibilities

Member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (9502)
Registered member of the Health and Care Professions Council (SL02551)
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PR119602)
Health and Care Professions Council Fitness to Practice Panel Member (2022 - current)
RCSLT Committee of Representatives of Education in Speech and Language Therapy (CREST) (2016 - 2021)
Secretary to CREST (2017 - 2018)
Chair of CREST (2018 - 2021)
Maxwell Bequest Committee (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde) (2017 - 2022)
West of Scotland NHS Research Ethics Committee Member/ Vice Chair (WESROC4) (2017 - current)

Publications

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Publications

Paediatric voice disorder: who to refer and how to assess? A summary of recent literature: Cohen Wendy, Wynne David M; Current Opinion in Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery (2024); https://doi.org/10.1097/MOO.0000000000000970
Translation and validation of the intelligibility in context scale into Sinhala for adolescents in Sri Lanka with cleft lip and palate: Mirihagalla Kankanamalage Inoka, Cleland Joanne, Cohen Wendy; Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics Vol 37, pp. 398-414 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2022.2120417
An investigation into quality of life of adolescents with repaired Ccleft Lip and Palate living in Sri Lanka: Mirihagalla Inoka, Cohen Wendy, Cleland Joanne; International Cleft Congress (2022)
Validation of the intelligibility in context scale (ICS) in Sinhala for use with children with cleft lip and palate in Sri Lanka: Mirihagalla Kankanamalage Inoka Udayangani Sirimanna, Cohen Wendy, Cleland Joanne; International Cleft Congress (2022)
Validation of the Sinhalese version of the intelligibility in context scale: Mirihagalla Kankanamalage Inoka Udayangani Sirimanna, Cohen Wendy, Cleland Joanne; 18th Biennial Conference of the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association (2021)
Differential diagnosis of RRP and VFN in the paediatric voice clinic using audio data: outcomes of a feasibility study exploring the use of Deep Learning as an adjunct in diagnosis and monitoring: Cohen Wendy, Di Caterina Gaetano, Soraghan John, McGregor Wynne David; Cutting Edge Laryngology 2019 (2019)

More publications

Teaching

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Teaching

The SLT programme at the University of Strathclyde is one of only two in Scotland, and one of the longest running programmes in the UK. SLTs have been formally educated in Glasgow since 1935 and the course is currently regarded in high esteem across the UK. This high esteem continues with high response rates in the National Student Survey.

I have several key teaching responsibilities including voice disorders and developmental language disorders, both aligning with my research interests.

From 2005 until 2016 I coordinated all aspects of the student's undergraduate practice placement programme, working closely with colleagues across Scotland. This role required me to work closely with national systems including the Scottish Government, the Health and Care Professions Council and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists to ensure that our graduates are able to enter into the workplace with the required skills to work as speech and langauge therapists.

I have considerable external examining and external assessing experience including:

External examiner for BSc (Hons) Speech and Language Therapy, City, University of London. current
External examiner for BSc Clinical Speech and Language Studies, Trinity College, University of Dublin. October 2017 - 2020
External examiner for BSc Hons Speech Pathology and Therapy, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh 2013 – 2017
External adviser for Manchester Metropolitan University - BSc Hons Speech and Language Therapy - June 2022.
External adviser for Sheffield University - BSc Hons Speech and Language Therapy Programme Revalidation – November 2017.
External adviser for Birmingham City University - BSc Hons Speech and Language Therapy Programme Revalidation - October 2016.
External assessor, Faculty Programme Panel, Manchester Metropolitan University (AKMI Metropolitan College, Athens). May 2013

Research

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Research Interests

My research interests are aligned to University’s health and wellbeing strategy in the area of speech, language, voice and communication.

Recent projects focused on developing tools for evaluating voice difficulties in children.

My longest standing interests relate to a national collaboration investigating the genetic factors associated with language and communication difficulties. My involvement in this (the SLI consortium) dates back to the design, collection and analysis of genetic and language performance data from a Scottish family cohort study. The SLI Consortium brought together key personnel from a series of cohort studies to increase the statistical strength of the data. I led the design of the language assessment protocol and data gathering for the Scottish cohort. The data continues to be analysed as genetic analysis techniques are refined. This is resulting in current collaborative publications which are attributed to key named authors and all members of the SLI Consortium who had principle involvement in the data gathering and early analysis.