Meet our Team:
The Language and Brain (LAB) lab relies on input, expertise, and perspectives of researchers spanning multiple related disciplines. The team is comprised of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students, led by Dr. Michael Walsh Dickey, with backgrounds in linguistics, psychology, communication science and disorders, cognitive science, biology, neuroscience, and more.
The diversity of members within the LABlab allows the team to approach our research holistically: we bring diverse skills and experiences to bear on our lab mission. Despite differences in discipline, we are unified by our overarching goal: improving language and communication abilities for individuals living with aphasia.
Director
Dr. Mike Dickey
Mike Dickey is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders whose research and teaching focus on adult language processing, neurogenic language impairments (especially aphasia), and the treatment and rehabilitation of adult language disorders. He holds appointments in the Communication Science and Disorders and Psychology Departments and at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System. He also directs the Language and Brain Laboratory at SHRS and serves as director of the PhD Program in Communication Science and Disorders.
Graduate Members
Emily B. Goldberg
Emily is a licensed speech language pathologist (SLP) currently pursuing a Ph.D, in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders at the University of Pittsburgh. She is also a trainee in the Center for Neural Basis of Cognition training program, and a fellow on the Behavioral Brain research training program. Emily's research examines the influence of sleep disturbance on language re-learning that supports treatment outcomes in post-stroke aphasia. She is currently leading the Team Sleep project, which is actively recruiting individuals with post-stroke aphasia across the U.S.
Julia Park
Julia Park is a second-year graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh pursuing a Master's in Speech-Language Pathology. She graduated from Wellesley College in 2019 with a B.A. in Music and Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences with a concentration in Psychology. Julia is part of the SPICES project and is interested in researching behavioral treatment approaches for people with aphasia. In her free time, she enjoys attending orchestral concerts, taking walks, and convincing friends to join her for coffee dates.
Hannah Kirsch
Hannah Kirsch is a post-baccalaureate student at the University of Pittsburgh, where she also earned her Bachelor of Philosophy Degree in Psychology with minors in Spanish and Linguistics in 2022. As part of Team SPICES, she enjoys exploring research related to aphasia treatment and language processing. Hannah plans to begin her Master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology this fall. Outside of the lab, Hannah can often be found crocheting, baking, and playing with her two cats.
Lexi Laconi
Lexi Laconi is a second-year graduate student pursuing a Master’s in Speech Language Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh in Communication Science with a minor in Secondary Education. She is currently assisting with the SPICES project at the Pittsburgh VA Medical Center. Her research interests include language and cognition, as well as applicable treatments for people with aphasia.
Hannah Kramer
Hannah Kramer is a first-year graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh pursuing her Master’s in Speech-Language Pathology. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2022 with her B.A. in Communication Science and Disorders and certificate in Conceptual Foundations of Medicine. She is interested in exploring treatments for individuals with aphasia and is currently involved and assisting with the SPICES project in the lab.
lab lab alumni
Yina Quique
Yina Quique (“Gina Key-Keh”) is a speech and language pathologist from Colombia. She completed her Ph.D. in Communication Science and Disorders at the University of Pittsburgh in 2020, working with Dr. Michael Walsh Dickey and Dr. Will Evans.
She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University (Center for Education in Health Sciences) working on aphasia rehabilitation research combined with healthcare service delivery and outcomes research. As a Fulbright scholar, she is committed to investigating factors that improve aphasia treatment outcomes and to develop culturally sensitive and language-specific assessments and treatments for Spanish speakers with aphasia
Outside academia, she enjoys hiking and good coffee.
@yinaquique
Becca Hayes
Rebecca Hayes is a Research Associate in the Neuroscience of Risk and Development lab at the University of Pittsburgh, and an adjunct instructor in the Speech Language Pathology department at Duquesne University. Her research interests include cognitive aging and its potential impacts on implicit learning and neurorehabilitation. She received her PhD from the Communication Science and Disorders department at the University of Pittsburgh in 2018.
Contact Information:
Evelyn Milburn
Evelyn Milburn was a member of the LABlab team from 2011-2017, and is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. In her research, she investigates how meaning emerges from both linguistic and non-linguistic sources during language comprehension, with particular focus on the interaction between world knowledge and verb constraints, as well as the role of gesture in communication. She is also interested in figurative language, particularly idioms, and in how comprehenders with different language backgrounds overcome the processing challenges associated with figurative language.
Kristen Nunn
Kristen Nunn was a member of the LABlab team from 2014-2018 and is now a PhD student at MGH Institute of Health Professions. Kristen is interested in how corrective feedback during aphasia treatment influences learning. She is also interested in how people with aphasia make adaptations to optimize communication.
Contact Information: Knunn@mghihp.edu
Haley Dressang
Haley Dresang worked with Dr. Dickey and the LABlab throughout her doctoral program. She completed her Ph.D. in Communication Science & Disorders with a concentration in Cognitive Neuroscience from the CNBC. In 2020, she was awarded an NIH T32 fellowship to advance translational neurorehabilitation research at Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute and the University of Pennsylvania (Perelman School of Medicine, Neurology Department).
Dr. Dresang's research characterizes how unimpaired neurocognitive resources can be leveraged to improve communication impairments following neurological injury. Her current research engages intact semantic networks (via neuromodulation and multimodal behavioral interventions) to facilitate word retrieval in patients with stroke-induced aphasia.
Contact Information:
DresangH@PennMedicine.UPenn.edu
@HaleyDresang (on Twitter)
Chia-Ming ‘Able’ Lei
Abel Lei is a research coordinator of Neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine who is in charge of patient recruitment and behavioral data collection at the acute stroke units and ICUs in multiple hospitals in the Medical Center region, and behavioral and neuroimaging data collection for chronic stroke patients in Houston metropolitan area. He is involved in projects investigating the verbal outputs from single-word to discourse level among patients after left hemisphere stroke. LABlab’s tremendous support during his PhD study at Pitt built the foundation of his passion in contributing to the operation of the machine of Science. In LABlab, Abel is known as a tea maniac, orchid whisperer, and sakura dreamer.
Michelle Colvin
Michelle Colvin is currently a visiting assistant professor in the psychology department at the College of Wooster. She teaches courses in both psychology and neuroscience and advises four students on their Independent Study (IS) senior research projects.
LABlab member: 2014-2020
Research interests:
adaptation during reading comprehension
nature and role of cognitive control during language processing
Undergraduate Members
Kate Wholey
Kate is a third-year undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Communication Science with a minor in Linguistics at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the secretary of the University of Pittsburgh's chapter of Phi Eta Sigma. Kate is currently involved in the SPICES project in the lab and interested in the implications of diminished verb retrieval in patients with aphasia.
Hannah Fleytech
Hannah is a junior undergraduate student in the Communication Sciences and Disorders department and plans to pursue a masters in Speech Language Pathology. In addition, Hannah is obtaining a minor in English Literature. She is actively involved in the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association and the University of Pittsburgh Model United Nations club. Hannah is assisting in the Team Sleep project and she is interested in studying traumatic brain injury together with aphasia.
Sapna Chokshi
Sapna is a sophomore undergraduate Computational Biology major in the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences and the Fredrick Honors College. She is also pursuing a minor in Applied Statistics and a certificate in Global Health. Sapna is part of the Team SPICES and Team NLP projects, and is interested in the application of computational and NLP methods to healthcare research. In her free time, she loves to watch Philly sports and try new recipes & restaurants for her food blog, Eats by Sapna.