UT Voice Lab: Team

Rosemary A. Lester-Smith, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is the Director of the UT Voice Lab and an Assistant Professor of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. She received a B.A. in Speech and Hearing Sciences from the University of New Mexico, M.A. in Speech and Hearing Sciences from Indiana University, M.S. in Clinical Investigation from Northwestern University, and Ph.D. in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences with a minor in Neuroscience from the University of Arizona. She completed postdoctoral training at Mayo Clinic, Boston University, Northwestern University, and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (formerly Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago). She is a certified speech-language pathologist and has worked in a variety of clinical settings, primarily evaluating and treating adults with voice and swallowing disorders.

Elaina Derrick is a master's student in speech-language pathology in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. Her clinical and research areas of interest include acquired and congenital neurogenic communication disorders such as aphasia, dysphagia, and voice disorders. She joined the UT Voice Lab as an undergraduate student in Fall 2019 and continues to assist with research on vocal tremor and vibrato.

Kate Nolan is the consulting Infection Preventionist for the UT Voice Lab and the Clinical Quality Manager for Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin. Kate advises on lab procedures and provides training to lab members on current best practices for endoscope reprocessing. Kate is a Central Texas native and first studied Epidemiology as an undergraduate student. She received her Master’s in Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology from The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston and her Certification in Infection Control (CIC) from the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (CBIC).