8 September 2014

National Stroke Week begins today (8 September) and The University of Queensland has two leading speech pathology experts available to speak to media.

Professor Linda Worrall and Associate Professor David Copland from UQ’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences are internationally recognised for their research into aphasia - language difficulties experienced post stroke.

Stroke is Australia’s second biggest killer after coronary heart disease and a leading cause of disability.

Professor Linda Worrall: Professor Worrall has been co-director of the Communication Disability Centre since 1997. She has a particular interest in aphasia rehabilitation and has led the National Health and Medical Research Council funded Australia-wide Centre for Clinical Research Excellence in Aphasia Rehabilitation since 2009. She is one of the world’s leading experts in aphasia.

Contact: l.worrall@uq.edu.au, 0412 130 042.

Associate Professor David Copland: Associate Professor Copland is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow conducting research in the areas of language neuroscience, psycholinguistics, and neuroimaging of normal and disordered language. He is chair of the Research and Postgraduate Studies Committee of the UQ School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and is a group leader at the UQ Centre for Clinical Research where he leads the Language Neuroscience Laboratory.

Contact: d.copland@uq.edu.au, 0434 351 931.

Media: UQ Faculty of Health and Behavioral Sciences Senior Marketing and Communications Officer Helen Burdon, 07 3365 7436 or 0412 744 437, h.burdon@uq.edu.au.