Communicative Participation Research Project

Research Team Members

Kathryn Yorkston, PhD, BC-NCD

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington

Kathy Yorkston is Head of the Division of Speech Pathology, and Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at University of Washington. She holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences. She is a past president of the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences.Dr. Yorkston has a long history of research and publication with a primary focus on neurogenic motor speech disorders. In addition to her work on the Communicative Participation Project, Dr. Yorkston is active on projects exploring aging with disability, and the impact of Multiple Sclerosis on the lives of people living with this condition.Additional information at:

Carolyn Baylor, PhD, CCC-SLP

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington

Carolyn Baylor is Acting Assistant Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington. Her research interests focus on clinical outcomes measurement with a particular emphasis on self-report measures of psychosocial constructs for adults with communication disorders.She is currently funded by an R03 grant from the National Institute for Deafness and Communication Disorders (NIDCD) to continue development of the Communicative Participation Item Bank by conducting IRT analyses across three additional communication disorder populations (MS, ALS, and laryngeal cancer) to generate a core item bank. Dr. Baylor is also interested in addressing issues related to accessibility of participation in research for individuals with communication disorders. Her clinical interests are primarily in otolaryngology / voice / head and neck cancer populations.

Tanya Eadie, PhD, CCC-SLP

Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington

Tanya Eadie is Associate Professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of Washington. She is currently conducting ongoing research in outcomes measurement in voice-disordered populations. Studies include a particular focus on auditory-perceptual measurement of voice quality in both laryngeal and alaryngeal populations. She is funded by an R03 grant from the National Cancer Institute to explore communicative participation in adults with head and neck cancer. Additional information at:

Karon Cook, PhD

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington

Karon Cook is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington. Dr. Cook is an investigator and psychometrician working with the NIH funded University of Washington Center on Outcomes Research in Rehabilitation(UWCORR) focusing on the development of patient-reported outcomes measures. She is internationally recognized for her work applying advanced psychometric methodology to quality of life outcomes in persons with disabilities. Additional information at:

Dagmar Amtmann, PhD

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington

Dagmar Amtmann is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington. Dr. Amtmann is the principal investigator and director of the University of Washington Center on Outcomes Research in Rehabilitation (UWCORR), one of seven projects funded by the NIH as part of the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Roadmap Initiative. She is a nationally recognized expert in psychometrics and measurement of outcomes. As part of her NIH-funded work, Dr. Amtmann has been conducting longitudinal surveys of people with MS and SCI, investigating the psychometric characteristics of patient reported measures of secondary conditions including pain, fatigue, physical function, sleep, depression, anxiety, and other variables.

Albert Merati, MD

Department of Otolaryngology, University of Washington

Dr. Merati is an Associate Professor and Chief of the Laryngology Service in the Otolaryngology Department at the University of Washington.His research interests include vocal fold paralysis, reflux affecting the larynx, and airway stenosis. Additional information at:

Christa Gray, BS

Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington

Christa Gray is a Masters student in the Medical Speech Pathology program in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington. Christa is currently working on her Master’s thesis exploring self-reported vs. proxy reported speech needs in adults with communication disorders.

Contributing personnel at the University of Washington:

Mike Burns, MS, CCC-SLP, Pre-doctoral student, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine

Deanna Britton, MS, CCC-SLP, Pre-doctoral student, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine

Robert Miller, PhD, CCC-SLP, Senior Lecturer, Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences