Aarthi Madhavan

• Center for Healthy Aging

My research interests lie in attempting to mitigate the negative health consequences of dysphagia (swallowing disorders) in older adults. In working toward this goal, my lab will be focused on improving assessment and screening of dysphagia in the elderly population; specifically in developing a screening tool for the early identification of swallowing difficulties in the community dwelling elderly population. This research involves close collaborations with clinicians and researchers in the fields of aging, nutrition, cognition, neuromotor abilities, and questionnaire and tool development.

Oral Motor Control, Speech, Voice and Swallowing

A Bio-Physiologically Integrated Approach to Studying Mechanisms of Swallow and Speech in Down Syndrome. Wilkinson, K. M. (PI), Madhavan, A., Etter, N., Lee, J., Olmstead, A., Miller, C. A., Sandberg, C., & Williams, D. (2023-2028).  National Institutes of Health Project INCLUDE.

This grant examines the mechanisms underlying speech and swallow function in individuals with Down syndrome. We examine the relation of structural and functional characteristics associated with the genetic underpinnings of Down syndrome (trisomy 21) to the functional production of speech and of swallow.  The team includes experts from across the CSD department in areas of clinical swallow measurement, oral somatosensation, speech production, speech perception, language, and brain imaging. 

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