Our Team

Kittie Verdolini Abbott, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Email: kittie@udel.edu

My focus is voice and voice disorders. My interests stem from my history as vocal performer as singer and actor. As many occupational voice users, I sustained vocal impairment in my youth, which led to my pursuit of speech-language pathology for possible illumination and remediation. My studies and clinical practice have led me to critical observations that I believe can inform our clinical practice in voice and voice disorders. Essential work has involved research in hydration, biomechanics, physiology, and emotions in voice. My interests have spanned professional and other adult voice users, and more recently, pediatric voice. Work in my lab has been supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health since 1997.

PhD Students

Umit Dasdogen
Email:umitudas@udel.edu

I began my career in acting in Turkey, earning an acting diploma from Mujdat Gezen Art Center in Istanbul. I then earned a BA in opera performance from Istanbul University State Conservatory and a post-graduate degree in singing from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Related employment included working as a vocalist in the Vienna State Opera and as an actor at Istanbul City Theatres. I decided to shift my focus from acting and vocal performance to speech and voice science, and went on to receive an MS in Speech- Language Pathology from West Virginia University. Practicum experience there involved providing services (in-patient and out-patient) at WVU’s Ruby Memorial Hospital and HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital. My research interests include professional vocal performance, voice training, voice acoustics, neural structures, functions of voice, and motor control and learning of voice production. “Learn by doing” is my philosophy.

Hagar Feinstein Email: hagarfe@udel.edu

Hagar Feinstein is an Israeli SLP licensed by the Israeli Ministry of Health. Currently, she is a PhD student at in Communication Sciences and Disorder at the University of Delaware. She is interested in pediatric voice and specifically voice as a major component of communication. Her main interest is in the connection between language and cognitive development and voice, and the effect of these factors on voice disorders and voice treatment in young children. Her clinical experience working with children at risk and their families highlighted the importance of direct intervention in voice disorders in young children and the need for theoretical and clinical knowledge in this domain. In addition to treating children with voice disorders, she has also treated children with different types of developmental difficulties including language impairments, childhood apraxia of speech, speech disorders, stuttering, and autism. She is dedicated to the proposition that as clinicians we should treat based on cutting edge knowledge and she aspires to contribute to the evolution of pediatric voice treatment to help children and their families.

Marianna (Annie) Rubino
Email: arubino@udel.edu

Marianna (Annie) Rubino, CCC-SLP, has a BA in English Literature from the College of the Holy Cross, an MFA in Acting from The University of Houston PTTP, and an MS in Communicative Sciences and Disorders from New York University. Annie has acted professionally in New York City (off-Broadway), Chicago, Washington DC, Houston, and Milwaukee and has multiple Shakespeare, contemporary theatre, sketch comedy, and improv comedy credits as well as movie, TV, and commercial credits. She is a member of the stage actors’ union, Actors’ Equity. Annie is a 3+ year ongoing adjunct course lead and instructor with New York University’s online master’s program in Communicative Sciences and Disorders where she teaches Motor Speech Disorders and Advanced Voice Disorders. In Delaware, she works as a speech-language pathologist with Christiana Care Health System and at the UD Clinic. Professional associations include VASTA, PAVA, and ASHA. Current research interests include psychophysiological aspects of voice treatment including identity, emotion, and translation of actor voice methods to non-actors in a clinical setting.

Christopher Apfelbach
Email: capfel@udel.edu

Christopher Apfelbach’s interest in clinical voice disorders began after he sustained a vocal injury as an undergraduate classical singer. Parallel interests in exercise science and physical training, developed during his time as an American Council on Exercise-certified personal trainer, led him to consider how voice disorders might respond to broader physiological changes. His LLC, Apfelbach Voice & Language, focuses on providing voice lessons for singers recovering from vocal injury, as well as speech-language therapy services for fluency disorders, augmentative and alternative communication, and voice. At the moment, his research focuses on endocrinology, vocal fatigue, muscle tension dysphonia, and the biology of chronic stress conditions. Professional associations include ASHA, PAVA, and NCVS. Following completion of his dissertation, Apfelbach hopes to pursue academic posts that allow him to maintain an active profile in both the clinical and research domains of voice and communication disorder research.

Martín Vivero
Email: martinv@udel.edu

Martín Vivero is a Speech and Language Pathologist with a Diploma in Vocology. In Chile, his country of origin, he had the chance to work at the Hospital del Salvador for four years, one of the oldest and largest public hospitals in the country, place where he could develop his skills as a clinician and as an instructor for future generations of SLPs from Universidad de Chile. As a member of the ENT team, he treated a great array of patients with voice, speech and swallowing disorders, as well as people with hearing impairment. He also collaborated in several researches and led a variety of sessions in the hospital, universities and ENT/voice-related conferences. Additionally, his profound and long-lasting interest in singing and music has motivated him to pursue constant musical training, influencing his work as a clinician and as a researcher. Currently, his research aims to address brain mechanisms involved in voice therapy and training, including topics such as memory, learning, music and singing.

Aude Cardona
Email:audemm@udel.edu

Aude Cardona received her Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance from Manhattan School of Music. She is a mezzo-soprano who has performed both classically and in collaboration with hip hop/pop recording artists. She is a former teacher of voice at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and has taught voice privately in New York, Paris, and Berlin. She is a Certified Iyengar yoga teacher following a three-year training program and has conducted yoga workshops for vocalists in New York City at the Manhattan School of Music and elsewhere. She is recognized as a Certified Vocologist by the National Center for Voice and Speech. Her research interests center on yoga, meditation, and voice, with particular focus on the role of interoception.