Prestigious award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the discipline of communication sciences and disorders.
When Dr. Catriona Steele received three calls from the same unknown Illinois-area phone number, she assumed each was an unwanted spam call and ignored them all.
It wasn’t until the Senior Scientist at the KITE Research Institute at UHN received an email from the president of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) that she realized the calls were legitimate. In fact, the caller was eager to share some important news – that Dr. Steele had been named a recipient of the 2024 ASHA Honors of the Association.
“This is an incredible privilege, and truly a highlight of my career,” said Dr. Steele who is Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Swallowing and Food Oral Processing, and Professor of Speech-Language Pathology in the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute at the University of Toronto.
The prestigious award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the discipline of communication sciences and disorders and is the highest honour the ASHA bestows. Nominees require a lead and two co-sponsors to submit letters outlining the candidate's impact on the field.
Director of the Voice, Airway, Swallowing Translational Research Lab and Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Utah Dr. Julie Barkmeier-Kraemer, the lead sponsor for Dr. Steele’s nomination, collected comments from 50 of Dr. Steele’s former and current students and colleagues to support her case.
“[Dr. Steele] cultivated a lab culture that I myself have tried to emulate with my emerging mentees – one of rigorous scientific training coupled with compassion and individualized support,” wrote Dr. Sonja Molfenter, Associate Professor in the Communicative Sciences and Disorders Department at New York University and a former PhD student under Dr. Steele’s supervision, in a letter supporting Dr. Steele’s nomination.
“When you write [Dr. Steele] with a question related to her work – you can expect a quick and thorough reply – whether you are a clinician, researcher, student, or friend.”
Dr. Steele’s peers also praised her work with the International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI).The IDDSI’s mission is to promote safe eating and drinking for people with swallowing difficulties (also known as dysphagia).
People afflicted with dysphagia often consume modified foods (chopped, minced, or pureed) and thickened liquids to reduce their risk of choking.
Unfortunately, because there are so many different types of foods and drinks with varying properties there wasn’t a standardized method to describe how to make these modifications. This has caused confusion in providing the correct textures to people with dysphagia and led to illness and in some cases death.
Dr. Steele was a founding member of the IDDSI Board of Directors, which developed a framework for standardized terminology and measurement methods to define the food and liquid textures used in dysphagia diets, ensuring consistency across age groups, care environments, and cultures.
“Dr. Steele is undoubtedly one of our most impactful leaders in the area of swallowing science and disorders,” wrote Dr. Georgia A. Malandraki, Professor in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at Purdue University and former President of the Dysphagia Research Society in a letter supporting Dr. Steele’s nomination.
“IDDSI has been a herculean international initiative that has helped clinicians not only to use a common international language, but more importantly, provide highly patient-friendly methods for diet modifications.”
Despite the prestigious accolade from the ASHA, Dr. Steele says watching her students flourish is the true highlight of her career.
“I've been mentoring students for about 20 years and more recently some of my early students have become fully fledged professors in their own right, making me an academic grandmother,” said Dr. Steele.
“It’s been incredibly rewarding seeing them succeed in grant applications and mentor their own students. I know the future for people with dysphagia is in excellent hands and feel honoured that they will continue this important work.”