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Swallowing, Voice and Neuroimaging Laboratory
Teachers College, Columbia University
Teachers College
Columbia University

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Staff and Research Assistants

Lab Manager

Cagla Kantarcigil, MS

Email: ck2561@tc.columbia.edu

Cagla is a second year graduate student in the Speech and Language Pathology program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is currently the lab manager of the SVN Lab. She is responsible for the organization of many activities and carrying out administrative tasks. After receiving her Bachelors Degree in her home country of Turkey, Cagla moved to the United States. Here, she received an MS in Child Development with an Early Intervention Specialization from the Erikson Institute and worked as an Early Intervention Specialist. During that time, she became interested in Speech and Language Pathology, specifically dysphagia. Upon graduation, Cagla plans on working with individuals with dysphagia and voice disorders.

Doctoral Students

Avinash Mishra, MS

Email: am3850@tc.columbia.edu

Avi is a doctoral student in the Speech-Language Pathology program at Teachers College, Columbia University. He earned a BA in Speech and Hearing Science from the University of Iowa and an MS in Speech-Language Pathology from Northwestern University. His primary research experience has been in the area of dysphagia, though he has conducted research in otoacoustic emissions, cleft palate, and dosage effects of therapy. Avi is currently interested in treatment efficacy and neuroimaging studies as they relate to swallowing in both normal and abnormal populations. Outside of academia, Avi enjoys playing tennis and watching all sports.

Akila Rajappa, MS, CCC-SLP, BRS-S

Email: atr2123@tc.columbia.edu

Akila is a doctoral student in Speech-Language Pathology at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a board recognized specialist in swallowing and swallowing disorders with an educational background in speech pathology, audiology, and psychology. Akila has 15 years of experience in the treatment of speech, language, cognitive, and swallowing disorders in the adult/geriatric population. She has also supervised Clinical Fellows in the healthcare setting. Akila has a passion for dysphagia rehabilitation and her interests include swallowing neurophysiology, neuroplasticity, exercise physiology, multimodal treatment, aging, movement sciences, home program planning, and spreading dysphagia awareness in the community. Akila is actively involved with ASHA and serves on the Public Relations committee of BRS-S. Akila is multilingual in English and Indian languages and also enjoys Indian Classical Dance. She spends her leisure time with her family and actively coaches her two daughters in learning a variety of multicultural arts. She also enjoys providing community service to the elderly.


Research Assistants

Carol Park, MA

Carol is in her second year of the MS program in Speech and Language Pathology at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research interests include investigating dysphagia and speech/language disorders in neurologically impaired populations. She is a former Arthur Zankel Urban Fellow (2011-2012) and a current recipient of a Career Development Grant through the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Carol holds an MA in Humanities from the University of Chicago and has taught Reading/Composition at the community college level prior to attending TC.



Yan-Hui Lye, BS

 Yan Hui is in her second year of the MS program in Speech and Language Pathology at Teachers College, Columbia University. She has a background in Bioengineering and she helps with fMRI analysis tasks on various swallowing variables. She hopes to help people from different backgrounds with their communication and swallowing difficulties after she graduates.




Volunteers
Grace Chan, BS

Grace Chan is in her second year of the MS program in Speech and Language Pathology at Teachers College, Columbia University.  She is from Vancouver, Canada, where she completed her BSc. Biology degree at the University of British Columbia. She has always been interested in the medical field, and has recently been particularly interested in adult and pediatric swallowing disorders. 

Kristine Kang, BS

Kristine is in her second year of the MS program in Speech and Language Pathology at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is from South Korea and Costa Rica.  This is her seventh year in NYC and feels like a native New Yorker. She hopes to work with the adult population in a medical setting and  then transition to working with children in the school setting. Kristine's interests include traveling, going to new restaurants, and going to the gym.


Andrew Angeles, BA

Andrew is in his first year of the MS program in Speech and Language Pathology at Teachers College, Columbia University. He earned his BA in Psychology with minors in Linguistics and Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. He has always been interested in the medical field and naturally became interested in medical speech-language pathology which lead him to a career change. Andrew's current interests include adult dysphagia, aphasia, and multilingual processing. Outside of school, he enjoys singing, spending time with friends, watching Broadway shows, and learning languages. Andrew is excited to be volunteering in the SVN Lab.


Keovmorkodh Chhuon, BA

Kai is in her first year of the MS program in Speech and Language Pathology at Teachers College, Columbia University. After graduating with a BA in intercultural Communications, she traveled to Argentina to mentor children with cleft palate. She then continued volunteering in South East Asia where she became interested in swallowing and voice. She has worked with stroke patients which reinforced her passion in the field. She hopes to gain experience in the area of dysphagia by volunteering in the SVN Lab.


Amber Khan, BS

Amber is in the MS program in Neuroscience and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She assists with fMRI analysis tasks which identify various swallowing variables as they relate to neural control and development. Her research interests include locating and predicting the manifestation of changes which occur across neurological, behavioral, and cognitive processes. Amber would like to use neuroimaging techniques to further measure and describe brain and behavior.