Julie Kobak, MA, CCC-SLP/L received her B.S. and M.A. at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. She has been a certified and licensed speech language pathologist for 15 years and is currently working as the Vice President of Clinical Education at Passy-Muir, Inc. She has worked with tracheostomized and ventilator dependent patients at both pediatric and adult rehabilitation hospitals, including the Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital for Rehabilitation. As a clinical educator, she has provided numerous lectures and inservices on the topic of tracheostomy and Passy-Muir® Speaking Valves at hospitals, state conferences and at the ASHA convention. Julie has also worked as a clinical supervisor and educational supervisory liaison at Kent State University.

Gail M. Sudderth, RRT has extensive experience in a variety of settings as a respiratory therapist. As lead therapist of a 32 bed intermediate care unit in a large teaching hospital, she was an integral member of the weaning team, and focused on the "hard to wean vent patient." A recognized speaker, she has presented at state and national medical professional meetings in the United States and Canada on the topic of airway and ventilator management and the application of the Passy-Muir® Valve. She is currently a full-time clinical specialist for Passy-Muir Inc., while continuing her clinical practice as a per diem staff therapist in northern Virginia.

Linda K. Dean, RRT brought her 23 years of experience as an acute, sub-acute, long term care provider, and clinical educator for Passy-Muir Inc. as an Educational Consultant in 1997. Linda's extensive knowledge of respiratory mechanics, as well as her remarkable teaching skills, makes her an extremely effective instructor. She has over 10 years of experience lecturing on ventilator use of the Passy-Muir valve in multiple venues throughout the US, Canada, Thailand, and Vietnam. A Passy-Muir Clinical Specialist since 2005, she continues her clinical practice per diem at Fauquier Hospital in Warrenton, VA.

Mary Spremulli, MA, CCC-SLP is a medical Speech-Language Pathologist with over 25 years experience. She is the Founder and President of Voice Aerobics, LLC, through which she provides therapy services to adults with speech, voice and swallowing disorders and conducts training seminars and lectures related to the care of tracheostomy patients throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. Ms. Spremulli helped to develop a collaborative standard of care for the tracheostomized patient that received Joint Commission recognition as a model for improving patient safety and outcomes.

Roxann Diez Gross, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is the Director of the UPMC Swallowing Disorders Center and Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology in the School of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. She also holds a secondary appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Communication Science and Disorders Department of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Dr. Gross has authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed research papers and text book chapters on tracheostomy and swallowing function. Her primary area of research examines the interaction between breathing and swallowing in individuals with indwelling tracheostomy tubes, Parkinson’s disease, and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. She has over 24 years of clinical experience, lectures internationally and extensively in the US, and gives workshops on tracheostomy, ventilators and swallowing rehabilitation. She is a member of the American Physiological Society, The Dysphagia Research Society, The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and The American Speech Language Hearing Association.

Laurice Henry MS, CCC-SLP, CASLPA is from Ottawa, Ontario and has worked with adults and children in various clinical settings and acute care hospitals both in the US and Canada for 17 years. She has been working at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario for the last ten years on the Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit treating children with traumatic and acquired brain injury, infants with swallowing and feeding disorders, and infants requiring tracheostomy. She has a specialized interest in the early implementation and use of speaking valves for children with tracheostomies, and is investigating the effects of early tracheostomy on speech and language acquisition. As a consultant for Passy-Muir, Inc, she provides education on the function and implementation of the Passy-Muir® Tracheostomy and Ventilator Swallowing and Speaking Valve.