The Frank R. Kleffner Lifetime Clinical Career Award honors an individual's exemplary contributions to clinical science and practice over a period of 20 years or more.
2025
- Jeanane M. Ferre
- Consulting Audiologist, Central Auditory Evaluation and Treatment
- Adjunct Faculty, Northwestern University and Rush University
- Oak Park, IL
Ferre is recognized for over 40 years of contributions to the field of audiology and her transformative impact on the assessment and treatment of Central Auditory Processing Disorders (CAPD). One of her most significant contributions has been a model for clinically differentiating aspects of CAPD, developed with Teri Bellis. This model enables clinicians to accurately design therapy through an evidence-based framework, which discriminates various aspects of processing disorders. Ferre is noted for her work to neuroanatomically delineate the areas of the brain engaged in assessment tasks for CAPD, allowing audiologists to confidently diagnose specific areas of deficit and make evidence-based clinical recommendations. In addition to her clinical practice, she also serves as adjunct faculty at Rush University and Northwestern University, teaching audiology courses in CAPD. An exemplary mentor and presenter, Ferre is widely recognized for translating complex technical research into clinical applications. Her contributions to research, clinical practice, and education are complemented by her contributions to the profession of audiology, with extensive volunteer leadership positions with ASHA and the Illinois Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
2024
- Barbara S. Herrmann
- Audiologist, Massachusetts Eye and Ear
- Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
- Boston, MA
Barbara Herrmann is honored for more than 40 years of outstanding service as an audiologist, scientist, and educator. Her practice and research have made a profound impact on the field of audiology by establishing methods and protocols for consistent quality of care for patients across the lifespan. Since joining Massachusetts Eye and Ear (MEE) in 1981 to start the auditory evoked response laboratory, she has provided exceptional patient care, while being dedicated to improving technologies and advancing assessment and interventions.
She played a role in developing state guidelines for newborn hearing screening and initiating the MEE Pediatric Cochlear Implant Program, advocating for monosyllabic word lists in cochlear implant candidacy assessments. Her contributions to establishing the MEE Auditory Rehabilitation Center addressed the need for integrated aural rehabilitation for patients and families. She has been instrumental in developing and maintaining one of the largest teaching and research databases to inform evidence-based practice protocols and improve patient care. Her extraordinary career has been devoted to enhancing the quality of care and transforming research in clinical audiology.
2023
- Karen Golding-Kushner
- Speech-Language Pathologist and Owner
- The Golding-Kushner Speech Center, LLC
- Golding-Kushner Consulting, LLC
- East Brunswick, NJ
Karen Golding-Kushner is honored for more than 40 years of service and contributions. Her clinical career has been dedicated to advancing clinical treatments for patients across the lifespan with cleft lip and/or cleft palate and associated craniofacial syndromes.
Her seminal textbook, “Therapy Techniques for Cleft Palate Speech and Related Disorders,” has been an influential resource for students and practicing clinicians. Throughout her career, she has provided leadership to the Velo-Cardio-Facial Syndrome (VCFS) Educational Foundation and to the Virtual Center for VCFS to support professionals and families. She was one of the first clinicians to provide telehealth speech services for patients with cleft palate and associated disorders and has served as an expert in telehealth delivery. Since 1980, her private practice has specialized in treatment for patients with cleft palate and craniofacial disorders and syndromes. Golding-Kushner’s lifetime of service has been devoted to advocating for and improving outcomes for children and families affected by communication disorders around the world.
2022
- Edythe A. Strand
- Professor Emeritus, Mayo Clinic
- Rochester, MN
- Affiliate Professor, University of Washington
- Seattle, WA
Edythe Strand is honored for more than three decades of exemplary service as a clinical practitioner, researcher, and educator. A world-renowned expert in neurogenic speech disorders, she has advanced clinical practice in the areas of dysarthria, progressive apraxia, and childhood apraxia of speech. At the University of Washington, Strand established a clinically oriented research program to study acquired and developmental motor speech disorders while providing intervention services. At the Mayo Clinic, Strand served 850–1,000 patients annually, and her treatment program for children with severe apraxia of speech attracted families from around the world. Her groundbreaking work has advanced treatment for motor speech disorders—she created the evidence-based Dynamic Evaluation of Motor Speech Skills to diagnose childhood apraxia of speech, and developed the Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cuing technique to treat it. In a career dedicated to education, she taught more than 200 courses to practicing clinicians. Strand’s lifetime of clinical service and research has advanced neurogenic communication treatments, improved the lives of patients and their families, and created a legacy for future clinicians.
2021
- Alison Lemke
- Clinical Associate Professor; Director of Speech-Language Pathology Clinical Education
- University of Colorado Boulder
- Boulder, Colorado
Alison Lemke is honored for more than 35 years of leadership and outstanding contributions to clinical practice, education, and national board service. Her work has been committed to developing funded services for people with communication disorders in underserved, rural communities, giving thousands of people access to care. She has dedicated her career to clinical teaching and administration in master’s speech-language pathology programs, while serving adults with neurogenic communication disorders in university clinics. At the University of Iowa, she collaborated with a Brian Injury Association of America chapter, mentoring students to work with families and survivors of stroke and traumatic brain injury; started a reading group for people with aphasia; and initiated interprofessional education opportunities in the Health Sciences College. In her current role, she has increased internship opportunities for University of Colorado graduate students to train in clinical settings, implementing a clinical simulation program during the pandemic. Lemke’s lifetime of clinical service, and her devotion to educating students in evidence-based practice, has advanced SLP services across the professions.
View Frank R. Kleffner Lifetime Clinical Career Award recipients before 2021 [PDF].