Board


The SAC Board of Directors includes (2022-2023):

  • the Chair (Executive Committee);
  • the 1st Vice-Chair (Executive Committee); 
  • the 2nd Vice-Chair (Executive Committee);
  • S-LP and audiology Directors;
  • a Director-University; 
  • a Director-Communication Health Assistant; and
  • a Director-Student.

 

To contact the Chair, click here.

To contact the Director-Student, click here. 

 

Loredana Cuglietta

Chair 

R.SLP, S-LP(C)

    

Andrea Bull

1st Vice-Chair

M.Sc., RAUD, RHIP, Aud(C)

Alberta Health Services,
Stollery Children's Hospital, Cleft Lip and
Palate Clinic
Edmonton, Alberta

Loredana Cuglietta has an undergraduate degree from the University of Alberta from the faculty of Education. She received her Master’s in Health Science from the department of Speech Language Pathology at the University of Toronto.

Loredana Cuglietta is currently employed at Stollery Children’s Hospital. This hospital is a full service children’s hospital for complex pediatric care and research. The hospital serves a geographical area of over 500,000 km. Over 40 per cent of the children treated at the Stollery are from outside the Edmonton area; the hospital services patients coming from northern British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nunavut, Yukon and Northwest Territories.

Loredana Cuglietta works in the Cleft Lip and Palate Clinic where she provides care for infants to adolescents up to the age of 18 years old. She works in both pediatric feeding and swallowing, and speech and resonance. During infancy care is focused on helping babies feed and swallow well in order to grow and thrive. As these infants mature, the focus in care shifts to communication and ensuring the velopharyngeal post is working well for speech production. 

    

Audiologist and Business Development Manager, Oticon Canada
Vancouver, British Columbia

Andrea Bull achieved her M.Sc. in audiology from the University of British Columbia and has been practicing as an audiologist and hearing instrument practitioner since 2013. She has worked in a variety of clinical settings including hospitals, private clinics and a non-profit organization. She is currently working as an audiologist and Business Development Manager for Oticon Canada. With Oticon, she focuses on building and maintaining strong customer relationships and providing exceptional business development support, in-depth product training and customer service.

Andrea is also heavily involved in professional volunteer work and has been actively engaged with both her provincial and national professional associations. She recently served on the Speech and Hearing BC Provincial Council as the Director of Public Audiology and continues to serve on committees with both Speech and Hearing BC and SAC, as well as a local non-profit organization to raise autism awareness.




Susan J. Wagner

2nd-Vice Chair and
Director-University

BSc (SPA), MSc (CD), Reg. CASLPO, S-LP(C)

    

Shari Linde

Director

M.Sc., RSLP

Associate Professor, University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario

Susan is an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto (UT) where she is also Coordinator of Clinical Education.  Susan has recently completed a five-year term as the Coordinator of Graduate Studies where she provided leadership and program development in admissions and academic issues; in addition to that she gives in clinical education and interprofessional education.  She received the inaugural Mentorship Award from the Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists.  Susan is co-chairing the development of the new Canadian Assessment of Clinical Competence tool for clinical placements in speech-language pathology and audiology that is being created by the Canadian Academic Coordinators of Clinical Education. 

Susan was the inaugural Faculty Lead – Curriculum at the Centre for Interprofessional Education (IPE) at UT where she and her colleagues led the development and implementation of the requisite IPE curriculum for 11 health science programs that began in 2009.  This involved creating and integrating IPE core competencies, learning activities and the points for interprofessional education system (PIPEs), as well as assessment, evaluation and faculty leadership components. Susan has been an investigator on a variety of research projects, such as the development of an interprofessional objective structured clinical examination (iOSCE), and has published in IPE, including a new model of assessment.  The Susan J. Wagner Student Leadership Award in Interprofessional Education was created in her honour and she received the Inaugural Award of Merit for Outstanding Leadership in Advancing Interprofessional Education through the Centre for IPE.  Susan has a keen interest in continuing professional and faculty development and leads workshops on clinical education, IPE and dealing with conflict nationally and internationally. 

Susan received a B.Sc. in Speech Pathology and Audiology from the University of Alberta and a M.Sc. in Communicative Disorders the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

 

    

Director, Advantage Speech-Language Pathology
Richmond, BC

Shari received her M.Sc. from the University of Western Ontario and has been working as a speech-language pathologist since 1994. She specializes in the communication difficulties of adults and children who have neurological damage, developmental delays or disorders, psychiatric conditions, or autism. She also has extensive experience addressing swallowing impairments.

Shari has worked in a large variety of settings, including private clinics, hospitals, schools, preschools, public health, private homes, and the University of British Columbia. She enjoys doing medical-legal evaluations, and will frequently travel within British Columbia and Alberta.

Shari has completed advanced training in Oral Myofunctional Disorders. Shari is Hanen Certified for "More Than Words", "It Takes Two to Talk", and "TalkAbility."  She is on the Registry of Autism Service Providers in BC, with designations as a speech-language pathologist and behaviour consultant.

Shari is the Director of Advantage Speech-Language Pathology in Richmond, BC, which has a large team of SLPs, assistants and volunteers. Advantage SLP was awarded Small Business of the Year with the Richmond Chamber of Commerce in 2019. 

Shari is recognized as a Clinical Assistant Professor with UBC and is committed to taking students regularly for clinical placements. 

Shari provides speech-language pathology services in English and French.
 

 

Darin Quinn

Director

BSc., MSc. S-LP

    

Christine Santilli

Director

M.Sc., Aud - Reg, Aud(C)

Director of Therapeutic Services, Horizon Health Network

Fredericton, New Brunswick

Darin Quinn received his MSc. in speech-language pathology at Western University in 1997. His career began in Barrie, Ontario where he worked in both hospital and private practice sectors, focusing on adult neurogenic communication disorders, dysphagia, and voice.  While there, he also taught several related courses in the Communicative Disorders Assistant program at nearby Georgian College. In 2005, an opportunity to lead the adult neuro rehab team at the Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation brought him back to his home city of Fredericton. In 2012, he became manager of hospital Audiology and SLP departments in the Fredericton and Upper River Valley Areas and soon after added the role of Regional Lead for Audiology, where among other things, he worked closely with hospital audiologists from around the province to advocate for review and enhancement of NB’s Newborn and Infant Hearing Screening Program. He served as President of New Brunswick’s dual association/regulator, NBASLPA, between 2015-2018 and continues to stay active with its work. Darin is currently the Director of Therapeutic Services for the Fredericton and URV Areas of Horizon Health Network, overseeing nine therapeutic disciplines, including Audiology and SLP.

    

Manager, Audiology Hearing and Speech Nova Scotia
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Christine graduated from Dalhousie University’s School of Human Communication Disorders in 1982. She currently works as Manager of audiology services for Hearing and Speech Nova Scotia. Christine’s clinical experience is in the area of pediatrics working in diagnostics at the IWK Children’s Hospital site before assuming management of the newborn hearing screening program. As  department Manager, Christine continues to promote early identification  and family focused intervention. Christine is an adjunct professor at Dalhousie University, teaching pediatric audiology for over 20 years. Volunteer experience includes previous participation as NS rep on the CASLPA board, president of the NS association, contributions to SAC position papers and current membership on the Canadian Infant Hearing Task Force.

 

John Hillier

Director

Aud(C) (NL)

    

 

Patty Matsuo

Director

S-LP(C) (ON)

Audiologist, Janeway Children's Hospital
St. John's, Newfoundland

John Hillier completed his Masters of Communication Sciences and Disorders in 2012 at Western University. He has over eight years experience in diagnostic audiology and he has been employed at the Janeway Children's Hospital since 2014. John has a clinical background in pediatric and adult audiology and he has attempted to diversify his scope of practice as much as possible by developing interests in many areas of the profession, including, but not limited to, vestibular management, newborn hearing screening and the provision of hearing aids to pediatric, adult and geriatric populations.

In addition to Eastern Health he is also associated with his provincial worker's compensation board where his work as a consulting audiologist to provide consultation services on claims submitted for noise induced hearing loss as well as ensure appropriate and quality service from audiologists and hearing aid providers. As an individual who has taken a leadership role in his provincial association and who has been involved in advocacy both for communication health professionals as well as people with hearing loss, he is very much interested in helping SAC achieve the goals listed in its strategic plan. He has a background in liaising with provincial governments, advocating for hearing health care, and in his provincial association. He is particularly interested in promoting the professions as well as ensuring individuals receive the highest quality care possible to address any communication disorders they may have. John believes he has the experience, commitment and passion to help benefit Speech-Language and Audiology Canada as a director on the SAC board.

    

Manager of Rehab and Subacute Geriatric Unit, Trillium Health Partners
Toronto, Ontario

Patty has worked in healthcare for the entirety of her career – in hospital, community and private practice. Her clinical focus has been with adults with dysphagia and acquired communication disorders. Beyond clinical practice, she has contributed to the Speech-Language Pathology profession as a lecturer at the University of Toronto, Past President of OSLA, contributing author of a dysphagia curriculum for developing countries, subject matter expert with CAASPR, contributor to SAC committees, and presently, advocate for long term care reform in Ontario. Patty is currently working as manager of a rehab and subacute geriatric unit at Trillium Health Partners. 

 

Kelly Root

Director

S-LP(C) (QC)


Assistant Professor (Professional) and Coordinator of Clinical Education at The School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University
Montreal, Quebec

Believing in a synergetic and interprofessional approach, Kelly’s work with people with complex acquired communication disorders and dysphagia, and her work mentoring student clinicians from coast to coast, is collaborative and empowerment focused. She looks forward to working with SAC members to unify and strengthen their voice, increase accountability, and advocate for communication health as a basic human right. Having worked and lived across Canada in both official languages and volunteered with the Canadian accrediting body of S-LP and Audiology programs, Kelly brings a pan Canadian perspective to the board. In her current role of Assistant Professor (Professional) and Coordinator of Clinical Education at The School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University, Kelly has taken on leadership roles at the school, faculty, and national level - gaining experience in the area of governance and development of policies and procedures.


Prior to joining McGill, Kelly practiced as an S-LP at the Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation. Additionally, she volunteered with newcomers to Canada to improve access to employment. She has travelled internationally partnering with communities developing S-LP services. Kelly is passionate about equity and access to healthcare and education and will bring this passion to her work on the board.\
   

 

Ozi Jones

Director

S-LP(C) (ON)


Speech-Language Pathology Professional Practice Lead, Royal Victoria Regional
Health Centre
Barrie, Ontario

Ozi Jones has a double honours undergraduate degree from York University from the faculty of Arts. She received her Masters in Communicative Disorders from the school of Human Communication Disorders at Dalhousie University and her Masters in Health Management from the Degroote School of Business and Rehabilitation Sciences at McMaster University.

Ozi is currently employed at Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre as the Speech-Language Pathology Professional Practice Lead.  Her particular interests lie in swallowing, stroke quality improvement, and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) within the field of Speech Language Pathology. She believes her education and experiences in health management; (as it relates to policy analysis and development, knowledge translation and quality improvement) will be beneficial to the SAC board as they embark upon the implementation of a new strategic plan that incorporates resource development, targeted public awareness and EDI processes.

In her spare time, she enjoys writing, singing, and raising her wonderful family.   
 

 

Gillian Purdy

Director-Communication Health Assistant

BA, CDA

    

Danielle Busayong

Director-Student

S-LP Student (BC)

 

Communicative Disorders Assistant,
First Words Preschool Speech and Language Program
Ottawa, Ontario

Gillian Purdy completed her BA at the University of Ottawa with a double concentration in French Language and Literature and Public Policy. After a number of years working in sales and administrative positions, she decided to pursue a career in communication disorders.  After completing a number of university level courses in psychology and linguistics, she completed her Communicative Disorders Assistant certificate at St. Lawrence College.

Gillian currently works as a communication disorders assistant (CDA) for the First Words program, which is a preschool speech and language program in Ottawa. As a CDA, she provides intervention to clients and their families with a variety of speech and language disorders, including motor speech, social/pragmatic delays, receptive and expressive language delays and articulation/phonological disorders. 

 

    

Speech-Language Pathology Student at the University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia

Danielle is a Speech-Language Pathology student at UBC. She is passionate about intersecting activism with the SLP and audiology fields to advocate for anti-ableism and anti-racism in practice. She is interested in pediatrics and speech sound disorders. Danielle runs an informational Instagram dedicated to challenging perceptions in the field (@dictionwithdani.slp). With her avid interest in intertwining activism with clinical practice, she served as a panelist for California State University Sacramento’s R.A.I.N.B.O.W. club’s event to share her perspective and experience on the growing Neurodiversity-Affirming movement. She has always been eager to be involved in her community, and established a summer language program for under-served populations at a local community centre.