Leora R. Cherney, PhD, CCC-SLP, BC-ANCDS, FACRM

Scientific Chair
Shirley Ryan AbilityLab

Leora R. Cherney PhD is the Scientific Chair of Think and Speak at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago) and Professor of both Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Communication Sciences & Disorders at Northwestern University. She has 40+ years of clinical and research experience in the area of adult neurologic communication disorders with specific emphasis on aphasia. Her cutting-edge research includes both single-subject research studies and randomized clinical trials and measures outcomes relative to both impairment and participation levels. She has been using novel software that she developed as a platform to examine the rehabilitation process - how acquisition, maintenance, and generalization can be optimized by manipulating various treatment parameters that affect how people with aphasia learn. She has a continuous record as PI on federal, private, and industry-sponsored research grants. She has received numerous prestigious awards including Honors of the Association from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA), the Illinois Speech-Language Hearing Association (ISHA), and the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences (ANCDS). She is also a fellow of ACRM and recipient of ACRM’s Women in Rehabilitation Science Award. Dr. Cherney has co-authored five books, has over 120 publications in journals and textbooks, and regularly presents at workshops and conferences nationally.

Poster(s):

• Emotion Recognition in Individuals with Right Hemisphere Stroke

• Investing in Rising Rehabilitation Researchers by the C-STAR Pilot Program

• Stimulus Development for a Working Memory Treatment for Aphasia Using Large Language Models