Christy L. Ludlow, PhD, began her career as a speech-language pathologist before moving into clinical and basic research on speech and voice at the National Institutes of Health, where she conducted research for 35 years. She was Chief the Laryngeal and Speech Section and became a Senior Investigator in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke conducting both basic and clinical neurophysiological studies of normal and disordered voice, speech, and swallowing. She then moved to the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at James Madison University, where she led the PhD program and established the Voice and Swallowing Service, a joint collaboration between the university and the Sentara RMH Hospital.
Dr. Ludlow has published over 230 research articles, chapters, and books on the central nervous system control of voice, speech, and swallowing and the pathophysiology and treatment of voice, speech, and swallowing disorders. She holds five patents on methods and devices for the treatment of swallowing disorders. Her awards include the NIH Director's Award and Honors of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, the American Laryngological Association, the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and the National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association, for her research contributions.
