Heather Clark, Ph.D. 

Dr. Clark is the Chair of Speech Pathology in the Department of Neurology and Associate Professor in the College of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She is board-certified by the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences and is a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Her clinical responsibilities include differential diagnosis of communication and swallowing disorders in adults and children. She serves as co-investigator in several projects examining the nature of speech, language, and swallowing impairment in degenerative neurologic disease.  Dr. Clark has served as a topic chair for the ASHA convention, program chair of the Conference on Motor Speech, and chair of the fall conference of the North Carolina Speech Language Hearing Association.

Anna Forsman Johnson, M.S., CCC-SLP

Anna Forsman-Johnson is a speech-language pathologist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. She received her clinical training at St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota.  Her clinical responsibilities include diagnosis and treatment of deficits in communication and cognition.  She is currently investigating the feasibility of telepractice for the treatment of language based communication impairments.  She also worked to establish a protocol for cognitive assessment of patients in the acute care setting.

Emily Axelson

Emily Axelson has worked as a speech pathologist across the continuum of care, from acute care to the outpatient setting. She has a special interest in traumatic brain injury evaluation and treatment, as well as early intervention in the acute care setting. Additionally, she serves patients with a variety of acquired neurogenic disorders, including those related to communication, cognition, and swallowing.

Becky Baas

Becky Baas, M.A., CCC-SLP is a pediatric speech-language pathologist at Mayo Clinic. Her clinical and research interests are in the areas of motor speech disorders, craniofacial anomalies, early language acquisition, and hearing impairment in children.

Emily Hosfield

Emily graduated from the University of the District of Columbia with a master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology in 2013.  She has worked for Mayo Clinic since 2013 and has special interest and experience with pediatric aerodigestive and adult swallowing disorders and currently acts as the clinical coordinator of the outpatient adult dysphagia practice. In 2020, she was recognized as an Instructor in Neurology in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.

Anne Kulinski

Anne received her Master’s degree in Speech Pathology from the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire. She has been working at Mayo Clinic- Rochester since 2013 and has special interests in and experience with patients with tracheostomies and evaluating and treating swallowing disorders. Her clinical work is focused on the assessment and treatment of adults with dysphagia and she has lead and contributed to quality improvement initiatives to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and currently acts as the inpatient dysphagia clinical lead. In 2019, she was recognized as an Instructor in Neurology in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. 

Julia Meverden

Julia graduated from St. Cloud State University with a Master’s of Science in Speech-Language Pathology in 2010. She worked for the Mayo Clinic Health System Austin/Albert Lea for 4 years before transferring to Mayo Rochester for the last 8 years. Her clinical work is focused on assessment and treatment of adults with communication and swallowing disorders and she has participated in quality improvement projects for interdisciplinary teamwork in inpatient rehabilitation and optimization of the Speech Pathology hospital practice. Julia was recognized as an Instructor of Medicine in the department of Neurology in 2016. She was the clinical lead of the inpatient communication practice 2017-2021 and became Assistant Supervisor of the Division of Speech Pathology in March 2020.

Gina Mitchell

Gina Mitchell, M.S. CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist and Supervisor in the Department of Neurology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. She obtained her Master’s in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Northern Iowa and began working in Mayo Clinic's brain rehabilitation inpatient and outpatient programs in 1994 and to this day continues to provide clinical care to adults with brain injury. Gina has presented locally, regionally, and nationally on brain injury and speech-language related topics. In addition, she has been an active member of Mayo Clinic's Traumatic Brain Injury Model System research center for many years and is currently working on a community-based study examining the use of telemedicine to provide coordinated brain rehabilitation and community support services in conjunction with the Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance. Gina is a current contributor to ASHA project in developing  an Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guideline on cognitive rehabilitation for adults with acquired brain injuries

Julie Stierwalt

Dr. Stierwalt is a Consultant in the Division of Speech Pathology, Department of Neurology at Mayo Clinic. In this capacity she provides diagnostic and treatment services for individuals with speech, language, cognitive, and/or swallowing impairment across acute care, outpatient and specialty clinic settings. She has conducted research, presented, and published across these topic areas as well. In 2009, she was recognized as a Fellow of the American Speech, Language & Hearing Association.

Rene Utianski

Rene L. Utianski, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BC-ANCDS is a Consultant in the Division of Speech Pathology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She earned her BA in Speech and Hearing Science and Psychology from The George Washington University. She earned her MS in Communication Sciences and Disorders and PhD in Speech and Hearing Science from Arizona State University. She is currently an Associate Professor of Speech Pathology and Assistant Professor of Neurology  in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. Her clinical responsibilities include differential diagnosis of acquired and degenerative speech and language disorders in the outpatient and acute care settings. Her research focus is to define the distinguishing clinical, acoustical, and electrophysiological characteristics of these neurological disorders, refine their differential diagnoses, and inform subsequent treatment.