Kendall Steer, 1st-Year Master’s Student, MA Candidate Speech-Language Pathology  

Kendall is a first-year master’s student and is working on her master’s thesis! She is developing a survey for caregivers of children who are or have been in the NICU to better understand their swallowing-related burden and quality of life. 

What sparked Kendall’s interest in dysphagia and swallowing? During Kendall’s undergraduate career, she worked with Dr. Rebecca German at Northeast Ohio Medical University in Rootstown, OH. Dr. German’s lab focuses on dysphagia and airway protection in pre-term and other medically compromised infants in an animal model.

Recent accomplishments: Kendall is a co-author on the Mayerl et al., 2024 paper in Dysphagia: ‘A Ducted, Biomimetic Nipple Improves Aspects of Infant Feeding Physiology and Performance in an Animal Model’.