She graduated from Queen's University with an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. She earned her MSc in Communication Sciences and Disorders (Speech-Language Pathology) and her PhD from Western. Her research interests focus on adults with motor speech disorders and individuals with velopharyngeal inadequacy (VPI) with an emphasis on communicative participation, speech perception and speech intelligibility. She is a speech-language pathologist by training (Western University). Prior to her academic and research career, she practiced for eight years at Thames Valley Children’s Centre and the Grand Erie District School Board. She is a certified member of the Canadian Association of Speech Language Pathologists and Audiologists (CASLPA) and registered with the College of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists of Ontario (CASLPO).