Advancing Research and Education in Laryngology
The Laryngology Society of Australasia (LSA) was formed in 2012 to support and promote laryngology in Australasia for Otolaryngologists, Speech Pathologists and Voice Scientists.
Membership of the LSA is open to professionals working in the field of laryngology and related fields who have an active interest in the work and aims of the society.
The Laryngology Society of Australasia works with several special interest groups and linked collaborative organisations with a common purpose:
Mission Statement
Advance education and research in all aspects of laryngology.
Promote current best practice training and treatment in laryngeal structure, function and disorder throughout Australasia.
Establish and maintain communication between professionals in the field of laryngology, liaise with other similar organisations worldwide and furthermore advocate with government and health providers.
Facilitate meetings, workshops, conventions and other educational activities for those interested in laryngology to foster the development of basic sciences and related clinical practice.
What Our Members Do
The priority for our members is to hold meetings at which those interested in Laryngology can discuss clinical practice and present research papers.
The LSA leads and promotes a range of multi-disciplinary research to advance the development of medical technologies and clinical pathways within Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. As a membership group, we are passionate about pushing the boundaries in collaboration and education with similar organisations internationally, especially through Asia and the Pacific region.
The society intends to hold a major meeting at least every 2 years, with the option to hold annual meetings or smaller meetings in conjunction with other groups as decided by the Committee.
Executive Committee
LSA is led by a committee of representatives all of whom share a passion and commitment to the pursuit of excellence, collegiality, promotion and advancement of the laryngology field.
The Society Executive comprises a President, Vice-President, Secretary and a Treasurer with regional and specialist representatives from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
At least 2 members of the executive, at any time, must be an Otolaryngologist – Head and Neck surgeon and at least two must be Speech Pathologists.
Constitution and Rules of Society
The first AGM was held on 28 July 2013 at St Vincent's Campus, Victoria Street, Darlinghurst, NSW.
View the Constitution of our Society.
Executive Committee Members
PRESIDENT
DR DAN NOVAKOVIC
FRACS, MBBS, MPH, BSC (ENT)
ENT SURGEON
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Dr Daniel Novakovic is an Otolaryngologist, Head and Neck Surgeon who graduated from University of Sydney Medical School in 1999 and received a Masters of Public Health in 2004. After completing ENT Surgical training in Australia he undertook international subspecialty fellowship training in the fields of Laryngology/Neurolaryngology (New York Centre for Voice and Swallowing Disorders, USA) and also Head and Neck oncology (University of Toronto, Canada).
Daniel's clinical interests are in laryngeal / upper airway disorders and care of the professional voice. He runs a multidisciplinary Voice & Swallowing clinic in Sydney. He is Clinical Senior Lecturer and medical director of the Dr Liang Voice Program at University of Sydney and consultant ENT surgeon to the University's Voice Research laboratory.
Daniel has research interests in Respiratory Papillomatosis, Laser tissue interaction, Minimally invasive and office based surgery, Neurolaryngology and Laryngeal Botulinum toxin and the development of a bionic voice prosthesis.
VICE PRESIDENT
DR AMANDA RICHARDS
MBBS, FRACS
ENT SURGEON
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Dr Amanda Richards is an Otolaryngologist, Head and Neck Surgeon from Melbourne. Amanda graduated from her specialty OHNS training in 2012 and has fellowship training in Laryngology from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York, USA) and Head and Neck Cancer Surgery from St George's NHS Trust (London, UK).
Amanda is the lead clinician at The Royal Melbourne Hospital Voice Clinic along with her multidiscipline practice in Voice, Swallow and Upper Airway at Pinnacle Surgery. She is a clinical researcher and supervisor and has been awarded The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons D.R Leslie prize along with the New York Laryngologic Society Fellows Award. Amanda's areas of interest include care of the professional voice, laryngeal cancer, neurolaryngology, laser surgery and office-based procedures.
TREASURER
DR DANIELLE STONE
SPEECH PATHOLOGY
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Danielle Stone is a head and neck cancer specialist speech pathologist with 14 years clinical experience in both Sydney, Australia and Vancouver, Canada. Danielle completed her research masters through The University of Sydney in 2014, investigating functional outcomes following transoral laser surgery for early glottic cancer, publishing her work in the Journal of Voice, presenting at national and international conferences over the last 5 years and winning the award for best Allied Health presentation at the World Congress on Larynx Cancer in 2015.
Danielle's current research involvement includes predicting tracheosophageal voice outcomes following total laryngectomy in collaboration with national and international research teams.
Clinically, Danielle specialises in dysphagia, voice and speech management of head and neck cancer patients and non-cancer-related voice disorders.
SECRETARY
MRS KYLIE PERKINS
SPEECH PATHOLOGY
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Kylie Perkins received her Bachelor of Speech Therapy from the University of Queensland in 1989. Kylie was employed as a speech pathologist at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital for 17 years where she developed a specific interest in the evaluation and management of swallowing disorders.
She has extensive experience working in a variety of clinical areas including head and neck cancer, critical care, neurological conditions and the aging population. More recently Kylie made the transition into private practice where she is able to provide a specialised service which spans the continuum from hospital to home.
Kylie is highly regarded as a clinician, mentor and educator with a commitment to incorporating sound empirical evidence into clinical interventions in the area of swallowing assessment and rehabilitation. Her particular area of interest is survivorship and rehabilitation of patients with swallowing disorders following treatment for head and neck cancer. She co-authored two chapters in Ward, EC & Van As-Brooks, CJ 2nd Edition (2014) Head and Neck Cancer: Treatment, Rehabilitation and Outcomes, Plural Publishing, USA as well as a chapter in Harrison, N. Jones & John, C. Rosenbek, Dysphagia in Rare Conditions, an Encyclopedia, Plural Publishing USA, 2010.
Regional Committee Members
Regional and Specialist representatives are elected at the AGM to cover the following areas where there is no existing member of the executive in these categories: New Zealand, New South Wales/ACT, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia/Northern Territory and Tasmania.
Effort has been made to ensure that each region has an Otolaryngologist – Head & Neck Surgeon and a Speech Pathologist representative at any one time.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
DR JANE BICKFORD
BAppSc (SpPath), PhD, CPSP
SPEECH PATHOLOGY
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Dr Jane Bickford is currently a senior lecturer in Speech Pathology at Flinders University.
She has worked extensively as a speech pathologist in a range of clinical and community settings, with diverse populations in both Australia and the United Kingdom. Her clinical and research interests include voice disorders, laryngectomy, communicative participation and the therapeutic relationship.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
DR ENG OOI
ENT SURGEON
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Eng Ooi is Associate Professor at Flinders University and holds the positions of Head of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at Flinders Medical Centre, SA Chair of training, and RACS Board member of Otolaryngology.
Eng is a surgeon scientist who completed surgical training in South Australia with FRACS and a PhD for his thesis on innate immunity pathogenesis in chronic rhinosinusitis. He undertook an advanced Rhinology, Skull Base, Head and Neck fellowship in Toronto with Professor Ian Witterick in 2009-10.
His clinical practice covers Rhinology, Skull Base, Head and Neck Oncology, Dysphagia and OSA surgery. He leads the Flinders ENT research group collaborating with multiple specialties and scientists. His current translational research interests focus on breath and blood biomarkers for cancer detection and surveillance, clinical trials, quality of life and patient reported outcome measures with surgery, oropharyngeal dysphagia, and BiZact tonsillectomy.
He currently has 73 journal publications, 3 book chapters and received 16 research grants and scholarships. He is an editorial board member for 5 journals and invited reviewer for 8 surgical journals. He supervises PhD and Masters students and directs the Rhinology fellowship program at Flinders.
VICTORIA
CLAIRE STANLEY
BSPBATH, CPSP
SPEECH PATHOLOGY
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Claire Stanley completed her Bachelor of Speech Pathology at La Trobe University in 1999. She has dedicated her career to working within the hospital and outpatients setting, predominantly in the neurological, respiratory and critical care setting. She also spent 2 years travelling and working in the UK for the NHS. Claire has expertise in dysphagia, including instrumental assessment (VFSS & FEES), postsurgical voice restoration, and behavioural management of vocal cord dysfunction.
Claire holds a senior position at Monash Health, and works alongside Otolaryngologists at the Swallowing Disorders and Laryngology Clinics. The multidisciplinary team work together to diagnose and treat complex swallowing conditions, voice and upper airway disorders. She also works in private practice at Voice Medicine Australia and the Melbourne Swallowing Analysis Centre in East Melbourne.
Claire's research areas of interest include; swallowing outcomes for patients with unilateral vocal cord paralysis, surgical dysphagia options and instrumental swallowing evaluation. Claire joined the LSA committee as the Victoria representative in 2017 and is in the membership portfolio. She also helps co-ordinate the LSA Grand Rounds with Mr Paul Paddle.
VICTORIA
DR CATHERINE SINCLAIR, MBBS, FRACS
ENT SURGEON
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A/Prof Catherine Sinclair is a dual fellowship trained surgeon in laryngology and head & neck surgery. She completed her Otolaryngology training in Melbourne in 2009, and travelled to New York to pursue two one year fellowships in Laryngology (New York Centre for Voice and Swallowing) and Head and Neck (Thyroid) Surgery (University of Alabama at Birmingham). Between 2010 and 2021, worked with the New York Center for Voice and Swallowing and Mount Sinai Health System, also serving as the Director of the Division of Head and Neck Surgery at Mount Sinai West Hospital and an Associate Professor with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Catherine's research into the laryngeal adductor reflex has gained her international renown, and she won the American Laryngological Association young faculty award in 2018 for this work. In 2016, she led a team who developed a novel continuous laryngeal nerve monitoring technique for surgeries where the vocal nerves are at risk of injury. She is a pioneer of non-surgical ablative options for thyroid nodules and lectures widely on topics related to thyroid disease and their management.
NEW SOUTH WALES
DR DANIELLE STONE
SPEECH PATHOLOGY
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Danielle Stone is a head and neck cancer specialist speech pathologist with 14 years clinical experience in both Sydney, Australia and Vancouver, Canada. Danielle completed her research masters through The University of Sydney in 2014, investigating functional outcomes following transoral laser surgery for early glottic cancer, publishing her work in the Journal of Voice, presenting at national and international conferences over the last 5 years and winning the award for best Allied Health presentation at the World Congress on Larynx Cancer in 2015.
Danielle's current research involvement includes predicting tracheosophageal voice outcomes following total laryngectomy in collaboration with national and international research teams.
Clinically, Danielle specialises in dysphagia, voice and speech management of head and neck cancer patients and non-cancer-related voice disorders.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
KATE BAUMWOL
SPEECH PATHOLOGY
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Kate Baumwol received her Bachelor of Speech and Hearing Science from Curtin University in 2002. Her particular interests are in the management of voice, chronic cough, inducible laryngeal obstruction and EILO.
She currently coordinates the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Joint Airway and Voice Clinics. She runs private clinics Perth ENT Centre in Subiaco. Kate lecturers at Notre Dame Medical Scool and Curtin University, teaching in the area of voice disorders.
Kate also previously worked as a strategic planning coordinator and research metrics coordinator for the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Canada.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
HAYLEY HERBERT
ENT
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Hayley Herbert completed her Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery training in New Zealand in 2014.
She undertook subspecialty Laryngology training - the North Thames Laryngology Fellowship in 2014. Following this she completed a second Fellowship in Paediatric ENT at Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth.
She is currently involved in a multidisciplinary Airway Voice Swallow Clinic at the hospital.
TASMANIA
DANIEL MCCORMICK
ENT
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Mr Daniel McCormick is an Otolaryngologist, Head & Neck Surgeon based in Hobart. After completing OHNS training in 2014, Daniel undertook two Head & Neck Fellowships, initially at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Queensland & subsequently at Lenox Hill Hospital, Manhattan, New York.
Daniel maintains VMO positions at both the Royal Hobart Hospital & St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne.
TASMANIA
SUSIE GRIFFITHS
SPEECH PATHOLOGY
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Susie Griffiths completed her Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Hons) in 2004, and Masters of Public Health in 2017 at La Trobe University. She has worked extensively across Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart in the hospital setting providing both acute and outpatient care for adults presenting with swallowing, upper airway and communication disorders across a variety of clinical areas.
Susie holds a Senior Clinician position at the Royal Hobart Hospital coordinating the Speech Pathology led Dysphagia Clinic and working in the Multidisciplinary Voice & Laryngology Clinics. Susie also works in private practice with a focus on voice, upper airway and swallowing disorders.
Susie is passionate about supporting individuals with voice and swallowing concerns and developing other Speech Pathologists in the field of laryngology.
QUEENSLAND
DR ELIZABETH HODGE
ENT
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Elizabeth Hodge is a Brisbane-based ENT surgeon. Following completion of her Australian training, and the awarding of her Fellowship from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, she has completed two further sub-specialty fellowships. The first of these was in Head and Neck Surgery at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. Secondly, she completed the Royal College of Surgeons "North Thames Laryngology Fellowship" in London. She was a recipient of the Morgan Travelling Scholarship from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons for the Laryngology and Airway Fellowship.
Her work in London saw her appointed to Imperial College NHS Trust (Charing Cross Hospital and St Mary's Hospital, Paddington) and she also held honorary contracts with the Royal Brompton Hospital and UCLH/The Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital. Her special interests are in voice concerns, laryngeal hypersensitivity, paediatric otolaryngology, chronic cough, swallowing disorders, and head and neck malignancy.
As well as practicing privately she also holds an appointment as a Visiting Medical Officer with the Metro North division of Queensland Health in Brisbane.
AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND
DR JACQUELINE ALLEN, FRACS
ENT
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Dr Allen has published more than 30 journal articles, 8 book chapters and is Section Editor for Current Opinion in Otolaryngology and a reviewer for several international peer-reviewed journals. Her grant-funded research includes airway stenosis, laser technology, laryngopharyngeal reflux disease and cancer development.
She currently lives with her husband and daughter in Auckland.
QUEENSLAND
DR LAURA MORONEY, BSpPath, PhD
SPEECH PATHOLOGY
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Dr Laura Moroney completed her Bachelor of Speech Pathology at the University of Queensland in 2007 and has worked at The Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital for the last 12 years.
Clinically Laura specialises in dysphagia, voice and management of patients with head and neck cancer. Her clinical work in oncology led to her PhD investigating swallowing and toxicity outcomes for patients with head and neck cancer receiving an advanced radiation therapy technique which she completed in 2019. Laura has a special interest in voice and has led the RBWH Voice Clinic for many years in conjunction with ENT and Neurology colleagues, setting up alternative models of care and co-ordinating student therapy clinics with the university.
She is passionate about improving the availability of voice related professional development for speech pathologists in Australia and has sought to achieve this through involvement in various state and national associations and committees.
AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND
DR ALICE COOMBS, FRACS
ENT
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Dr Alice Coombs is an Otolaryngologist, Head & Neck Surgeon based in Dunedin, New Zealand. Alice completed her surgical training in New Zealand in 2019. She then undertook subspecialty training in Head & Neck Oncological Surgery in Perth, followed by a second fellowship in Laryngology in Adelaide. She is involved in the regional multidisciplinary Voice and Head & Neck clinics.
AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND
AMY OUGHTON
SPEECH PATHOLOGIST
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Amy has worked across both the paediatric and adult acute and community environments as a Speech Language Pathologist over the last decade gaining knowledge and expertise in a broad range of disorders. Her passion & focus however, lies within the field of 'Voice'.
Amy is a singer and performer herself, and has combined her training and degree in performance voice with her Speech Pathology training to work primarily in the field of Voice Diagnostics, Rehabilitation & Vocal Injury Prevention with Vocal Athletes in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Amy has been an active member on professional based committees over the last 10 years. She has held the Communication Portfolio for the New Zealand Speech Language Therapists Association, Previous Member on the International Communication Project Working Party and is now excited to be a part of LSA as a Committee Member, and become more actively involved in the organisation focussing in on the area of professional work she loves the most, Laryngology.
Amy is passionate about increasing awareness of voice & swallowing difficulties, vocal injury prevention for vocal athletes nationally and internationally and ensuring clinicians have access to education and professional development opportunities in this specialised field so they can provide best practice to their clients/patients.
