Meet the Speech-Language Pathology Faculty

Kim Sabourin is an ASHA certified and board-certified specialist in stuttering, cluttering, and fluency disorders with over 30 years of clinical, academic, and leadership experience. She is the Founding Program Director and Assistant Professor with research interests in fluency disorders.

Dr. Sabourin’s leadership extends to national service, including her role on the American Board of Stuttering, Cluttering, and Fluency Disorders, and her numerous invited presentations and media contributions advocating for individuals who stutter. Her international work includes leading service projects in Belize and Ukraine, where she conducted therapy, trained students, and supported assessment and treatment in a variety of communication disorders.

Dr. Sabourin has held clinical and academic roles at Temple University, the University of Maryland, and West Virginia University, where she has taught and supervised courses in stuttering and other fluency disorders, diagnostic and clinical methods in speech-language pathology and audiology. She has earned her Doctorate in Speech-Language Pathology (SLPD) at the MGH Institute of Health Professions and her Master’s in Speech-Language-Hearing from the University of Maryland.

Rebecca Azevedo is a bilingual Russian-English speaking speech-language pathologist who has experience supervising and mentoring graduate students in their first year of clinical practicum as well as in the field.   She has worked in medical, educational, and out-patient settings with a variety of communication disorders across the lifespan. Her areas of interest and specialized training include pediatric feeding/oral motor disorders, autism, stuttering, language-based communication disorders, childhood apraxia of speech, and articulation/phonological disorders. She has experience integrating clinical knowledge and evidence-based practice for pre-school and school aged children. Rebecca has received specialized training in SOS ®, CAN- EAT ©, PROMP ®, Language Acquisition through Motor Planning (LAMP), Augmentative Alternative Communication devices (AAC), and sensory-based approaches to behavior.

Isabelle Barrière, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in Speech Language Pathology at Saint Elizabeth University. She is a specialist in language acquisition and multilingual development, in culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse typical and atypical populations. Her projects have focused on children acquiring African American English, British Sign Language, General American English, French, Haitian (Creole), Hebrew, Jamaican Creole/Patwa and English, Kyrgyz, Russian, (Dominican and Mexican) Spanish, Yiddish and have led to the development of assessments adapted to diverse populations. Since 2017, Dr. Barriere has been leading the first NSF-Research Experience for Undergraduate Site focused on the diversity of the tri-state area that supports research by and on members of minorities under-represented in Higher Education, including in Speech Language Pathology.

She has also developed a similar international summer program during which students get hands-on experience in the French Caribbean while investigating language use and acquisition. In 2018 her contribution to our understanding of the language development of young children in Haiti and in the US was recognized by thirteen NYC, NYS and US elected officials and in January 2019 she was made Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the French Government for her contributions to scholarship and education.

Tonya Sevilla is a seasoned speech-language pathologist with over three decades of clinical, academic, and supervisory experience across diverse settings, including hospitals, universities, and telepractice platforms.

Professor Sevilla earned a Master of Science in Integrative Medicine from Maharishi International University and a Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Maryland. She is currently an adjunct faculty instructor who has served in academic and supervisory capacities at California State University Northridge, the University of Maryland, and UCLA, teaching a wide range of coursework related to neuroanatomy, anatomy of speech and hearing mechanisms, and neurogenic communication disorders.

Professor Sevilla is committed to ongoing professional development and excellence in clinical education and service delivery.

Ryan Moran is a Speech-Language Pathologist specializing in dysphagia. Since beginning her career in 2016, Ryan has developed extensive expertise in treating adult patients with dysphagia, motor speech, language, and voice disorders across various settings, including subacute rehab, skilled nursing facilities, home health, and acute rehab. Currently, she focuses on acute care and outpatient dysphagia treatment at a Level 2 trauma center and cancer center.

Ryan earned both her undergraduate degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders and her graduate degree in Speech Pathology from LaSalle University. Throughout her career, she has supervised numerous graduate students and served as an on-site mentor at St. Joseph’s. She is also an experienced presenter, having spoken at multiple conferences on dysphagia-related topics and serving as a guest speaker for the Army National Guard’s RTI Schoolhouse, where she educates Army and National Guard medics on early identification and management of dysphagia, aphasia, and motor speech disorders within their pre-hospital scope of practice.