Kelly Root, M.Sc., S-LP(C), S-LP-Reg, is a speech-language pathologist, educator, and mentor with extensive experience in clinical education, adult neurogenic communication disorders, dysphagia, and AAC. She has held clinical, teaching, and leadership roles at Dalhousie University, McGill University, Hearing and Speech Nova Scotia, and the Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation, with international clinical experience in Nepal, Haiti, and Ecuador.
Kelly’s work is grounded in communication access, reflective practice, and learner development. Her professional focus has centred on supporting adults with complex communication needs, including AAC users, individuals with primary progressive aphasia, and cognitive-communication disorders, while advancing clinical education through mentorship and simulation-based learning. Across more than sixteen years as a clinical educator and faculty member, she has mentored more than 400 students and clinicians across Canada in both official languages. Her most recent professional contribution is the development of Dalhousie’s externship mentorship placement model, which creates opportunities for senior learners to mentor novice learners.
Through teaching, clinical program development, interprofessional education, faculty development, and national service with SAC and CACUP, Kelly works to build psychologically safer learning environments where students develop confidence, clinical reasoning, and professional identity, while advancing speech-language pathology through mentorship, clinical education, and service.
