Accolades and Conference Updates
Congratulations to Courtney Jewell, PhD Candidate, for being selected as an Outstanding Scholar in Neuroscience Award Program (OSNAP) from the National Institute of Health awardee! OSNAP recognizes promising young investigators who are conducting exceptional neuroscience research and have great academic potential. See more here: NIH OSNAP Award
Congratulations to Natalie Freitag and Courtney Jewell, students in the OSU Aphasia Lab, for being awarded the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association Research-Mentor Travel Pair Award for the 2025 ASHA Convention. Natalie and Courtney were selected to attend the Clinical Trials Research Symposium. This competitive award is designed to foster research professional development of graduate students. They will also be presenting primary research at the convention itself. Great work!
Grace Terry and Courtney Jewell, PhD students in the OSU Aphasia Lab, have been awarded the Academy of Aphasia Young Investigator Fellowship to attend the Academy of Aphasia conference this October. This fellowship is a competitive fellowship sponsored by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Courtney is matched with Dr. Erin Meier from Northeastern University and Natalie is matched with Dr. Victoria Diedrichs, alum of the OSU Aphasia Laboratory! They will both be presenting original research at the conference itself, which takes place in San Diego, California.
ADNiR Scholar Introduction
The OSU Aphasia Lab is excited to welcome Vania Gandhi, a Junior at OSU, to the lab, a recipient of the Advancing Distinction in NeuroImaging Research (ADNir) program, hosted by the Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Brain Imaging (CCBBI). After rotating across three different labs this past summer, Vania has since committed to working with the OSU Aphasia Lab for the last two years of her undergraduate career.
Collaboration with Aphasia Initiative
Aphasia Initiative Summer Research Series: This past summer, members of the OSU Aphasia Lab completed its 3rd year of the Aphasia Initiative Summer Research Series. During this series, students of the OSU Aphasia Lab present to members of the Aphasia Initiative to educate people with aphasia on the latest updates and progress of their cutting-edge research. The goal of this annual series is to keep our community connected, and making sure that the people who matter most, those living with aphasia, are the first to hear about the progress being made in aphasia research. See slideshow at top of article.
Publications
The Aphasia Lab is proud to share that they have recently published three peer-reviewed articles this past summer. Each of these studies help further the field of aphasiology and support people living with aphasia. Great work to the entire lab and all that were involved in the completion of these projects!
- Aphasia Rehabilitation: A Narrative Review of Adjuvant Techniques - Led by Dr. Harnish, this study discusses methods to enhance neuroplastic recovery during restorative speech-language rehabilitation, highlighting techniques such as aerobic exercise, non-invasive brain stimulation, and pharmacotherapies.
- The Use of Ecological Momentary Assessments for People with Aphasia - As a portion of Courtney Jewell's dissertation work, this study explores the feasibility and compliance of using EMAs with people with aphasia.
- A Scoping Review of Coping Strategies used by People with Aphasia - PhD students in the lab and Dr. Harnish explored the variety of coping strategies people with aphasia have reported using to manage living with aphasia to provide a comprehensive mapping of coping strategies used within this population.
