Susan Thibeault, PhD
Program Director
Dr. Thibeault is the Program Director for the Voice Research Training Program. She is the Diane M. Bless Endowed Chair in Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Surgery. Dr. Thibeault has affiliate appointments in the Departments of Communication Sciences and Disorders, ICTR and Biomedical Engineering.
Dr. Thibeault received her PhD in Communication Disorders from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Current NIH funded research projects in the Thibeault lab include the molecular and genetic mechanisms of vocal fold vibration, tissue engineering and regeneration within the lamina propria and work specific to laryngeal microbiology and immunology. These studies address a clinical need for improved understanding of the pathophysiology of a disrupted extracellular matrix, laryngeal development and involvement of immunity in laryngeal disease. Dr. Thibeault’s lab has developed an expertise in the characterization of vocal fold injury and repair and the development of models for investigation of these processes including multiple animal models, primary and immortalized epithelial and fibroblasts lines and induced pluripotent in vitro construct models. Dr. Thibeault has proven her research experience and expertise in voice research with NIH funding since 2002.
Nadine Connor, PhD
Program Co-Director
Dr. Connor is a Program Co-Director for the Voice Research Training Program. She is a Professor in the Departments of Communication Sciences and Disorders and Surgery with affiliate appointments in ICTR and the UWCCC. She is also the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Policy and Compliance in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education.
Dr. Connor received her PhD in Neurophysiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her primary research focus is the effect of aging on the upper airway, including the larynx and tongue. Her research program is directed at understanding how physiological and structural properties of muscles and the central and peripheral nervous systems change with aging, surgery, diseases and disorders, and how these changes may influence properties of voice production, speech, and swallowing. Dr. Connor currently has an NIH-funded R01 for her project “Bioenergetic Mechanisms of Tongue Muscle Fatigue.” This research examines how tongue muscle fatigue may affect swallowing by looking at properties of muscle contraction and how energy for tongue muscle contraction is altered by aging.
Jack Jiang, MD, PhD
Program Co-Director
Dr. Jiang is a Program Co-Director for the Voice Research Training Program. He is a Professor in the Division of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery and has an affiliate appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. His research focuses on the vibratory properties of the vocal folds via studies of human subjects, excised larynges, biomedical modeling, aerodynamics and analysis of laryngeal microstructure.
Dr. Jiang received his PhD in Speech Pathology and Audiology from the University of Iowa and his MD from Shanghai Medical University. He currently has multiple NIH-funded projects including an R01 for his project “Chaos in Human Phonation and Its Measurement” and another R01 for his project “Optimization and Therapeutic Translation of Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract Techniques.”
