KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Mara Behlau
Dr. Mara Behlau is a highly regarded Speech Language Pathologist, Voice specialist, researcher and Consultant in Human Communications for individuals and companies. She is also Coach with Specialization in businesspersons, certified by the Neuroleadership Group NLG Brazil, accredited Coach ACC by International Coach Federation – ICF. She holds a PhD in Human Communication Disorders, with postdoctoral degree at the University of California, San Francisco, USA. She holds dual citizenship with Italy and Brazil.
She is currently Professor in the discipline of Interpersonal Relationships – Business Communication in the INSPER, Sao Paulo. She is also permanent Professor at the Graduate Program in Disorders of Human Communication at UNIFESP (Escola Paulista de Medicina). For the past 30 years, she has been the Director of Centro de Estudos da Voz in São Paulo, an institution where she coordinates the CECEV, a Specialization Course in Voice for SLP and the FIV, an Integrative Program in Voice for professionals of different academic backgrounds.
Mara is a prolific author, regularly invited faculty member at numerous international conferences and recipient of the prestigious Fellowship award for American Speech and Hearing Association, one of the highest forms of recognition given by ASHA of an individual’s accomplishments and is public declaration of outstanding professional achievements. She is a previous President of the International Association of Logopaedics and Phoniatrics (IALP), the Brazilian Association of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and also the Brazilian Association of Laryngology and Voice. She is the Immediate Past-Chairperson of the IALP Voice Committee and a long-serving Director of the Voice Foundation Board.
Mara’s first and last visit to Australia was in 2016 for our Byron Bay meeting. She was a resounding hit with her infectious enthusiasm and extensive knowledge and talents spanning professional, corporate and clinical communication, so we are thrilled to have her back with us.
Adam D. Rubin, M.D.
Adam D. Rubin, MD is a laryngologist, director of the Lakeshore Professional Voice Center, and Vice-President of the Lakeshore Ear, Nose & Throat Center (St. Clair Shores, MI). Dr. Rubin has had a life-long passion for the human voice. Before attending medical school, he was a professional actor and singer, member of Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. He has performed in musicals and plays at off-Broadway and regional theaters, as well as in a national tour. He is also a violinist and has dabbled in song writing.
Dr. Rubin started directing the Lakeshore Professional Voice Center in 2004, after completing a fellowship in Laryngology and Care of the Professional Voice under the direction of Robert T. Sataloff, M.D., D.M.A., at the American Institute for Voice and Ear Research. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale College with degrees in Theater Studies and Economics. He received his medical doctorate from Harvard Medical School.
In addition to his clinical and artistic expertise, Dr. Rubin is active in voice research. He has written numerous scientific articles and book chapters, and is a frequent speaker at national and international meetings.
Micha Espinosa
Micha Espinosa is an artist, activist, teacher, and voice, speech, and dialect coach. She has performed, lectured, and taught voice, speech, and liberation practices around the world since 1992.
Professor Espinosa is a proud 30-year member of SAG/AFTRA (SCREEN ACTORS GUILD) and has performed in film, television, and regional theatre. As a performer, she has been privileged to work with film and theatre directors including Oliver Stone, Peter Patzak, Tina Landau, Les Waters, and Aaron Landsman, among others.As a voice and dialect specialist, she has worked with regional theatre companies, such as Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Old Globe, Milwaukee Repertory, Southwest Shakespeare, Arizona Theatre Company, Mixed Blood, Phoenix Theatre, and Coconut Grove Playhouse.
A Master Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework, she serves as Director of Global Outreach and as a trainer for the Fitzmaurice Voicework Institute. She is an Associate Professor at Arizona State University (ASU) -Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, in the School of Film, Dance, and Theatre and the program coordinator for the acting concentration in stage and screen acting. She is also an affiliate faculty with Arizona State University’s School of Transborder Studies. She has served as an officer for the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA -since 2000) and is currently on the board. She served as VASTA’s conference director or co-director for five of the organizations national and international conferences.
Professor Micha Espinosa
Micha Espinosa is an artist, activist, teacher, and voice, speech, and dialect coach. She has performed, lectured, and taught voice, speech, and liberation practices around the world since 1992.
Professor Espinosa is a proud 30-year member of SAG/AFTRA (SCREEN ACTORS GUILD) and has performed in film, television, and regional theatre. As a performer, she has been privileged to work with film and theatre directors including Oliver Stone, Peter Patzak, Tina Landau, Les Waters, and Aaron Landsman, among others.As a voice and dialect specialist, she has worked with regional theatre companies, such as Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Old Globe, Milwaukee Repertory, Southwest Shakespeare, Arizona Theatre Company, Mixed Blood, Phoenix Theatre, and Coconut Grove Playhouse.
A Master Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework, she serves as Director of Global Outreach and as a trainer for the Fitzmaurice Voicework Institute. She is an Associate Professor at Arizona State University (ASU) -Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, in the School of Film, Dance, and Theatre and the program coordinator for the acting concentration in stage and screen acting. She is also an affiliate faculty with Arizona State University’s School of Transborder Studies. She has served as an officer for the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA -since 2000) and is currently on the board. She served as VASTA’s conference director or co-director for five of the organizations national and international conferences.
Adam D. Rubin, M.D.
Adam D. Rubin, MD is a laryngologist, director of the Lakeshore Professional Voice Center, and Vice-President of the Lakeshore Ear, Nose & Throat Center (St. Clair Shores, MI). Dr. Rubin has had a life-long passion for the human voice. Before attending medical school, he was a professional actor and singer, member of Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. He has performed in musicals and plays at off-Broadway and regional theaters, as well as in a national tour. He is also a violinist and has dabbled in song writing.
Dr. Rubin started directing the Lakeshore Professional Voice Center in 2004, after completing a fellowship in Laryngology and Care of the Professional Voice under the direction of Robert T. Sataloff, M.D., D.M.A., at the American Institute for Voice and Ear Research. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale College with degrees in Theater Studies and Economics. He received his medical doctorate from Harvard Medical School.
In addition to his clinical and artistic expertise, Dr. Rubin is active in voice research. He has written numerous scientific articles and book chapters, and is a frequent speaker at national and international meetings.
INVITED INTERNATIONAL SPEAKERS
Dr. Nupur Kapoor Nerurkar
Dr. Nupur Kapoor Nerurkar is an ENT surgeon, who has graduated in 1994 from KEM Hospital with a first rank at the Bombay University. Following her Laryngology training on the Hargobind Fellowship in 2003 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center she is practicing exclusively as a Laryngologist. She is currently heading the Bombay Hospital Voice & Swallowing Center, is DNB Co-ordinator - ENT Department and Director of the Laryngology Fellowship program, which has trained over 30 fellows to date.
Dr. Nerurkar is a member of the American Broncho-Esophagological Association (ABEA), the American Laryngological Association (ALA) and the British Laryngology Association (BLA). She is an Executive Committee member of the International Association of Phonosurgeons (IAP). Besides being the immediate past President of the Association of Phonosurgeons of India (APSI) and being on the Governing Council, she is the Chief Editor of the “Textbook of Laryngology” which is the Official Textbook of the APSI. She has also authored an “Atlas of Phonomicrosurgery”, been Associate Editor of two Laryngology Text book Series and currently is Associate Editor of LPV, which is the official publication of the British Laryngology Association.
Dr. Jack Jiang, MD, PhD
Dr. Jiang is Director of International Collaborative Research and Translational Research for the Department of Surgery, and he is Director of the Otolaryngic Biomedical Engineering Research Center and the Laryngeal Physiology Lab. He has published more than 230 original manuscripts in the area of voice measurement and disorders, and serves on the editorial boards for The Laryngoscope, Journal of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology, and Journal of Voice. He has served on Study Sections for the Center for Scientific Review of NIH since 1998, and he is a 2001 recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
Dr. Jiang’s research focuses on objective pathological laryngeal function assessments, laryngeal physiology, biomechanics of vocal fold vibration, medical instrumentation, medical software development and application. Dr. Jiang is also working on the development of accurate protocols for voice measurement in patients with laryngeal pathology, including professional voice users and children.
Evelien D’haeseleer
Evelien D’haeseleer is professor at the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences of Ghent University and guest professor at the Musical Department of the Brussels Royal Conservatory.
Since 2006, she teaches several courses regarding voice and language in the master Logopaedic and Audiological Sciences. She also works as a voice clinician at the multidisciplinary gender team and ENT Department of Ghent University Hospital.
Her main areas of interest within voice research are transgender voice, voice in elite vocal performers and effectiveness of voice therapy. She is a member of the IALP voice committee and also a reviewer for several international journals concerning voice topics.
Diane Robinson
Diane Robinson's company, Chicago Voice Center, is now recognized for its work with gender diverse adults and children and the wellness professionals who serve them, to understand how gender identity can be supported and expressed through voice and speech.
Recent work includes that with the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Howard Brown Health's After Hours program, Minnesota's One Voice Trans Voices Festival, Earlham College's Transgender Singing Conference, the Gender Spectrum Facebook Group Roundtable Series, The Voice Lab's Loquacious Ladies support group, Psychological Consultants, Inc., the Louisiana Queer Conference and Louisiana Trans Advocates, the Voice and Speech Trainers Association, and the Creative Bodies Creative Minds conference in Graz.
Diane has completed training for clinicians with Northwestern University, the World Professional Association of Transgender Health, and the Transgender Voice and Communication Training offered by groundbreaking speech pathologists Sandy Hirsch, Leah Helou and Christie Block.
Diane also draws from her extensive background and ongoing career as an actor and voice coach. She holds an MFA in Acting from the University of California, Irvine, and has performed and directed in regional theaters across the US.
She is a member of WPATH, Actors Equity and VASTA.
Wen Xu M.D.
Professor, Department of Otolaryngology
Director of Laryngology
Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University,China
Vice-chairman of Laryngology Committee of Chinese Society of Otorhinolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery
IALP voice committee member
LP Voice Committee Vice chairman of Voice Foundation China Chapter
Editorial Board Member of Journal of Voice
Editorial Board Member of Chinese Journal of Otorhinolaryngology Head Neck Surgery
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