2023 ASHA Award Recipients from Illinois
Published December 2023 in the ISHA Voice
By Tom Parton
Tom is the chair of the Honors Committee.
Illinois was well represented during ASHA’s 2023 Convention held in Boston, Massachusetts. Amongst Illinois audiologists and speech-language pathologists attending, presenting, and serving ASHA, Illinois’ own Robert Augustine, ASHA President and Tena McNamara, ASHA President-Elect celebrated ASHA Award recipients.
The ASHA Foundation recognized and celebrated award recipients on Thursday evening, November 16th, at an evening with the ASHA Foundation: A Bit of Bridgerton in Boston. ISHA’s 2023 Clinical Achievement Awardee Elissa Larkin was awarded the Louis M. DiCarlo Award for Recent Clinical Achievement. Elissa was recognized for her significant accomplishment in clinical practice from other nominees nominated by their state associations. Elissa’s development and implementation of a communication partner training program (CPT) program to educated and train health care professionals who treat patients with communication disorders. Her interdisciplinary approach is available through hospital orientations and professional development for clinicians across Shirley Ryan’s AbilityLab inpatient, outpatient, and rehabilitation sites. Elissa was joined by Dr. Leora Cherney during the evening.
On Friday evening, ASHA President Robert Augustine presided over the 2023 ASHA Awards at the Boston Convention Center. Barb Goodson, ISHA Past President, Past ASHA Board of Director, and longtime participant of various ISHA committees, was awarded Fellow of the Association. ASHA Fellowship is one of the highest honors ASHA bestows. Fellows have made outstanding contributions to the discipline of communication sciences and disorders. Barb was recognized as Fellow for her clinical service, service to ASHA, and service to related professional organizations. Barb has made significant contributions to ISHA, ASHA, and to her workplace Bond County Community Unit #2 Schools in Greenville, Illinois. Barb is highly respected in all her endeavors. She also was recognized with ISHA Honors of the Association in February of 2023. Kim Peppler, ISHA Past-President and Chair of ISHA’s Leadership Development Program, surprised Barb by attending the ceremony. Barb’s colleagues and family were able to keep this secret from her contributing to Barb’s amazement to see her longtime collaborator and friend in Boston!
Illinois was well represented receiving recognition and 2023 awards from ASHA. Illinois had ties to two of the ten ASHA Honors of the Association. ISHA member Catherine Gottfred, LEAP! Language Empowers All People, received an Honor of the Association for her contributions to the profession. Terri Bellis, audiologist from South Dakota, recognized ISHA member Dr. Jeananne Ferre stating that “without whom there would be no Bellis/Ferre model of CAPD.” Megan York Roberts from Northwestern University received a Fellow of the Association for teaching, research and publications, and service to ASHA. ASHA’s Certificate of Recognition for Special Contributions in Higher Education was awarded to two Illinois speech pathologists, Jennifer C. Friberg from Illinois State University, and Stacy Kaplan from Northwestern University. One of the ASHA Foundation New Investigators Research Grants was received by speech-language pathologist Mariana Mendes Bahia, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Northwestern University.
ISHA member, Dr. Leora Cherney, from the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab was recognized during the 2023 Boston ASHA convention by Aphasia Access, an organization that supports academics and healthcare professionals who work with patients with aphasia, with the inaugural Sandra O. Glista Excellence in Mentoring Award. They recognized Dr. Cherney fror her mentoring colleagues at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, but also her mentoring through the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research's Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training (ARRT) program.
Illinois has a long tradition of ASHA service and recognition of achievements. ASHA and the professions of audiology and speech pathology continue to develop through contributions of these professionals. ISHA is proud to recognize the significant achievements of Illinois professionals.
Tom is a speech-language pathologist and the chair of the ISHA Honors Committee. He also serves as the Illinois speech-language pathology representative for the ASHA Council of Ambassadors.
