Advancing Research and Education in Laryngology
The Laryngology Society of Australasia (LSA) was formed in 2012 to support and promote laryngology in Australasia for Otolaryngologists, Speech Pathologists and Voice Scientists.
Membership of the LSA is open to professionals working in the field of laryngology and related fields who have an active interest in the work and aims of the society.
The Laryngology Society of Australasia works with several special interest groups and linked collaborative organisations with a common purpose:
Mission Statement
Advance education and research in all aspects of laryngology.
Promote current best practice training and treatment in laryngeal structure, function and disorder throughout Australasia.
Establish and maintain communication between professionals in the field of laryngology, liaise with other similar organisations worldwide and furthermore advocate with government and health providers.
Facilitate meetings, workshops, conventions and other educational activities for those interested in laryngology to foster the development of basic sciences and related clinical practice.
Executive Committee
LSA is led by a committee of representatives all of whom share a passion and commitment to the pursuit of excellence, collegiality, promotion and advancement of the laryngology field.
The Society Executive comprises a President, Vice-President, Secretary and a Treasurer with regional and specialist representatives from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Policies and Constitution
The first AGM was held on 28 July 2013 at St Vincent's Campus, Victoria Street, Darlinghurst, NSW.
Advertising and Promotion Policy
The Laryngology Society of Australasia does not offer advertising or endorsement for non-LSA events.
Constitution and Rules of Society
Executive Committee Members
President
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Dr Amanda Richards is an Otolaryngologist, Head and Neck Surgeon from Melbourne. Amanda graduated from her specialty OHNS training in 2012 and has fellowship training in Laryngology from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York, USA) and Head and Neck Cancer Surgery from St George's NHS Trust (London, UK).
Amanda is the lead clinician at The Royal Melbourne Hospital Voice Clinic along with her multidiscipline practice in Voice, Swallow and Upper Airway at Pinnacle Surgery. She is a clinical researcher and supervisor and has been awarded The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons D.R Leslie prize along with the New York Laryngologic Society Fellows Award. Amanda's areas of interest include care of the professional voice, laryngeal cancer, neurolaryngology, laser surgery and office-based procedures.
Vice President
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Danielle Stone is a head and neck cancer specialist speech pathologist with 14 years clinical experience in both Sydney, Australia and Vancouver, Canada. Danielle completed her research masters through The University of Sydney in 2014, investigating functional outcomes following transoral laser surgery for early glottic cancer, publishing her work in the Journal of Voice, presenting at national and international conferences over the last 5 years and winning the award for best Allied Health presentation at the World Congress on Larynx Cancer in 2015.
Danielle's current research involvement includes predicting tracheosophageal voice outcomes following total laryngectomy in collaboration with national and international research teams.
Clinically, Danielle specialises in dysphagia, voice and speech management of head and neck cancer patients and non-cancer-related voice disorders.
Secretary
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Susie Griffiths completed her Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Hons) in 2004, and Masters of Public Health in 2017 at La Trobe University. She has worked extensively across Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart in the hospital setting providing both acute and outpatient care for adults presenting with swallowing, upper airway and communication disorders across a variety of clinical areas.
Susie holds a Senior Clinician position at the Royal Hobart Hospital coordinating the Speech Pathology led Dysphagia Clinic and working alongside Otolaryngology in the Multidisciplinary Voice and Laryngology Clinics.
Susie also works in private practice with a focus on voice, upper airway and swallowing disorders. Susie is passionate about supporting individuals with voice and swallowing concerns and developing other Speech Pathologists in the field of laryngology
Treasurer
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Kate Baumwol brings over 20 years of experience as a Speech Pathologist, specialising in voice, chronic cough, inducible laryngeal obstruction, and Exercise-Induced Laryngeal Obstruction (EILO).
She currently coordinates the Joint Airway, CPET-CLE and Voice Clinics at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and operates private clinics at the Perth ENT Centre. In 2024 she was honoured with the Chief Allied Health Office of Western Australia’s Allied Health Professional of the Year award for her contributions to public health. Kate Baumwol brings over 20 years of experience as a Speech Pathologist, specialising in voice, chronic cough, inducible laryngeal obstruction, and Exercise-Induced Laryngeal Obstruction (EILO).
She currently coordinates the Joint Airway, CPET-CLE and Voice Clinics at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and operates private clinics at the Perth ENT Centre. In 2024 she was honoured with the Chief Allied Health Office of Western Australia’s Allied Health Professional of the Year award for her contributions to public health.
Regional Committee Members
Regional and Specialist representatives are elected at the AGM to cover the following areas where there is no existing member of the executive in these categories: New Zealand, New South Wales/ACT, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia/Northern Territory and Tasmania.
Effort has been made to ensure that each region has an Otolaryngologist – Head & Neck Surgeon and a Speech Pathologist representative at any one time.
South Australia
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Dr Jane Bickford is currently a senior lecturer in Speech Pathology at Flinders University.
She has worked extensively as a speech pathologist in a range of clinical and community settings, with diverse populations in both Australia and the United Kingdom. Her clinical and research interests include voice disorders, laryngectomy, communicative participation and the therapeutic relationship.
South Australia
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Eng Ooi is Associate Professor at Flinders University and holds the positions of Head of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at Flinders Medical Centre, SA Chair of training, and RACS Board member of Otolaryngology.
Eng is a surgeon scientist who completed surgical training in South Australia with FRACS and a PhD for his thesis on innate immunity pathogenesis in chronic rhinosinusitis. He undertook an advanced Rhinology, Skull Base, Head and Neck fellowship in Toronto with Professor Ian Witterick in 2009-10.
His clinical practice covers Rhinology, Skull Base, Head and Neck Oncology, Dysphagia and OSA surgery. He leads the Flinders ENT research group collaborating with multiple specialties and scientists. His current translational research interests focus on breath and blood biomarkers for cancer detection and surveillance, clinical trials, quality of life and patient reported outcome measures with surgery, oropharyngeal dysphagia, and BiZact tonsillectomy.
He currently has 73 journal publications, 3 book chapters and received 16 research grants and scholarships. He is an editorial board member for 5 journals and invited reviewer for 8 surgical journals. He supervises PhD and Masters students and directs the Rhinology fellowship program at Flinders.
Victoria
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Dr Nicole Free is a lecturer at Australian Catholic University and works clinically as the lead speech pathologist in the Voice Disorders Clinic at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and privately in Melbourne.
Nicole has worked extensively in acute medical and laryngology settings in Australia, the UK and the USA with clinical focus across disorders of voice, middle airway and swallowing. Her PhD research investigated the impact of vocal load and voice exercise in patients with phonotraumaticvocal fold lesions, and her current areas of clinical and research interest include singing voice, changes in female voice across the lifespan, clinical features in neurogenic voice disorders, and with voice in relation to gender identity.
Nicole also has a bachelor of music in classical voice, and enjoys singing in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus and other projects.
Tasmania
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Susie Griffiths completed her Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Hons) in 2004, and Masters of Public Health in 2017 at La Trobe University. She has worked extensively across Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart in the hospital setting providing both acute and outpatient care for adults presenting with swallowing, upper airway and communication disorders across a variety of clinical areas.
Susie holds a Senior Clinician position at the Royal Hobart Hospital coordinating the Speech Pathology led Dysphagia Clinic and working in the Multidisciplinary Voice & Laryngology Clinics. Susie also works in private practice with a focus on voice, upper airway and swallowing disorders.
<p>Susie is passionate about supporting individuals with voice and swallowing concerns and developing other Speech Pathologists in the field of laryngology. </p>
Queensland
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Dr Laura Moroney completed her Bachelor of Speech Pathology at the University of Queensland in 2007 and has worked at The Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital for the last 12 years.
Clinically Laura specialises in dysphagia, voice and management of patients with head and neck cancer. Her clinical work in oncology led to her PhD investigating swallowing and toxicity outcomes for patients with head and neck cancer receiving an advanced radiation therapy technique which she completed in 2019. Laura has a special interest in voice and has led the RBWH Voice Clinic for many years in conjunction with ENT and Neurology colleagues, setting up alternative models of care and co-ordinating student therapy clinics with the university.
She is passionate about improving the availability of voice related professional development for speech pathologists in Australia and has sought to achieve this through involvement in various state and national associations and committees.
Queensland
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Dr Sarah Emmett is an Australian trained Otolaryngologist Head and Neck Surgeon based inBrisbane. She completed her medical degree at the University of Queensland in 2012, and aMasters of Philosophyat the University of Queensland and the Queensland Institute of MedicalResearch in 2017.
Sarah completed her training in Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery inAdelaide; and was awarded her Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.
Following this, she undertook additional sub-speciality training in Laryngology and Neuro-laryngology in Sydney at the Dr Liang Voice Program (University of Sydney) with Associate Professors Daniel Novakovic and Cate Madill.
She is a member of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, the Australian Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Laryngology Society of Australasia, European Laryngological Society and the Australian Voice Association.
Sarah has multiple public appointments at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Logan Hospital and Ipswich Hospital. She is actively involved in ongoing clinical research, and has authored a number of peer-reviewed publications.
Western Australia
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Vivian is a clinical Senior Speech Pathologist. She is involved in the Multidisciplinary Voice and Laryngology Clinic and Advance Scope Speech Pathology Clinic Royal Perth Hospital. She also practices privately inPerth,Western Australia.
Vivian considers herself a lifelong learner and is passionate about sharing her knowledge and experience with university students and fellow clinicians to improve the outcomes of individuals with voice and laryngeal disorders.She maintains strong links with CurtinUniversity and Edith Cowan University including the WA Academy of Performing Arts where she provides guest lectures in the area of voice.
New Zealand
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David is a Laryngologist and Head & Neck Surgeon at Auckland City Hospital (ACH), where healso serves as the Clinical Director of the Department of ORL-HNS. His clinical focus is ondisorders of the voice, swallowing, upper airwayand H&N cancer. In the Interdisciplinary Laryngology Clinic at Auckland City Hospital, David works with a team of Speech Language Therapists. David is also member of the Northern Regional Head & Neck Cancer Multidisciplinary Team at ACH, and has a particular interest in minimally invasive techniques for treating Head & Neck Cancer, such as transoral laser microsurgery and transoral robotic surgery.
David also works closely with his Paediatric ORL-HNS colleagues at StarShip Children’s Hospital to contribute to the care of children with voice disorders.
David is an Examiner for Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, and he serves a board member for the Laryngology Society of Australasia, for the Safe Airway Society, and for Kakariki Hospital in Auckland. He is passionate about education, and has organised several successful educational courses and workshops in Auckland: the Laryngology DissectionCourse and the Head & Neck Dissection Course at the University of Auckland; and the Safe Airway Society Workshop in Auckland.
New South Wales
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Dr Thomas Stewart is a Laryngologist in practice in Sydney. He graduated from the University of Sydney Medical School in 2007.
Following internship and residency he gained further surgical experience in Ear, Nose and Throat surgery while obtaining a Masters of Medicine in Clinical Epidemiology, also from the University of Sydney. He was accepted onto the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery specialist training scheme in NSW in 2014, and was awarded his Fellowship in Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery in 2019. He then completed a further subspecialty fellowship in Laryngology inNew York in 2020, under the supervision of Dr Andrew Blitzer, a world pioneer in Neurolaryngology.
He manages the breadth of Laryngology conditions, with a focus on office based procedures, voice disorders, phonosurgery and glottic insufficiency.
Western Australia
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Vivian is a clinical Senior Speech Pathologist. She is involved in the Multidisciplinary Voice and Laryngology Clinic and Advance Scope Speech Pathology Clinic Royal Perth Hospital. She also practices privately inPerth,Western Australia.
Vivian considers herself a lifelong learner and is passionate about sharing her knowledge and experience with university students and fellow clinicians to improve the outcomes of individuals with voice and laryngeal disorders.She maintains strong links with CurtinUniversity and Edith Cowan University including the WA Academy of Performing Arts where she provides guest lectures in the area of voice.
New South Wales
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Danielle Stone is a head and neck cancer specialist speech pathologist with 14 years clinical experience in both Sydney, Australia and Vancouver, Canada. Danielle completed her research masters through The University of Sydney in 2014, investigating functional outcomes following transoral laser surgery for early glottic cancer, publishing her work in the Journal of Voice, presenting at national and international conferences over the last 5 years and winning the award for best Allied Health presentation at the World Congress on Larynx Cancer in 2015.
Danielle's current research involvement includes predicting tracheosophageal voice outcomes following total laryngectomy in collaboration with national and international research teams.
Clinically, Danielle specialises in dysphagia, voice and speech management of head and neck cancer patients and non-cancer-related voice disorders.
New South Wales
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Associate Professor Cate Madill has worked as a voice trainer, speech pathologist and voice specialist for the last 25 years. She is recognized nationally and internationally as a voice specialist and has published in peer-reviewed academic journals.
She originally trained as an actor and singer at Flinders University of South Australia and worked as a performer before her graduation with the University Medal in Speech Pathology from The University of Sydney. She has subsequently held numerous lecturing positions in Voice in both Speech Pathology and Acting degrees and has completed a PhD invoice quality and personality attribution research. She specializes in diagnosis and treatment of voice disorders in voice professionals, singers and performers, and facilitates increased vocal effectiveness in those people who depend on vocal skill to inform, move, motivate and inspire. A/Prof Madill is alsothe director ofCate Madill Voice and Speech–her team providing speech pathology services at multiple locations across Sydney. She is currently the Co-director of the University of Sydney VoiceResearch Lab overseeing a large research and education program with a mission to improve outcomes for people with voice disorders.