Melanie Fried-Oken - Portland, OR (PDX), OR

Melanie is a speech-language pathologist and researcher in the field of AAC where she provides expertise about assistive technology for adults with developmental or acquired disabilities who cannot use speech or writing for expression. Melanie is a Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics, Biomedical Engineering and Otolaryngology at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU); co-director of OHSU University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) and ASHA fellow. Together with Dr. Hank Bersani, she edited the book Speaking Up and Spelling It Out, a collection of essays written by adults with disabilities using speech technology. She was a partner with the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (RERC on AAC) and currently leads a non-invasive brain-computer interface team that has been funded by the National Institutes of Health for the past 15 years. Melanie works with adults with acquired and developmental disabilities in clinic and in the community, and conducts externally funded research on assistive technologies for communication.