Meet our Team
Shilpa Shamapant, M.S., M.A., CCC-SLP— Co-founder, President, Speech-Language Pathologist
Shilpa is the co-founder and president at Austin Speech Labs and is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Neurology at the Dell Medical School. She is licensed by both the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Shilpa specializes in working with young and elderly clients who have aphasia, apraxia and cognitive impairments due to brain injury. She designs and develops treatment protocols along with her team to improve word finding and reading post-stroke.
Shilpa has developed academic studies, presented at the International Stroke Conference, American Speech and Hearing Conference and Texas Speech and Hearing Conference. A notable study of hers includes Intensive Speech Therapy and Phonology which focused on improving single word reading and picture naming post-stroke.
Shilpa collaborates with experts across the country to advance stroke research. Austin Speech Labs won the RAISE Award in 2016 under her guidance for raising awareness about stroke in the community. She won the New Investigator Award in 2006 and ASHA’s First Author Award in 2007.
Throughout her career, Shilpa has trained and supervised clinical fellows as well as graduate and undergraduate interns. Shilpa believes that language defines humanity and long-term, intensive speech therapy promotes language recovery post-stroke.
Shelley Adair, M.S., CCC-SLP—Co-founder, Vice-President, Speech-Language Pathologist
Shelley is the co-founder and morning clinical director at Austin Speech Labs. She has extensive background in the field of speech pathology, working in schools, long-term acute care, outpatient rehabilitation, inpatient rehabilitation, acute care, home health, private practice and nursing home settings over the past twenty-four years.
Shelley holds her Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, has been involved in several research studies across various therapy settings, contributed to treatment protocols for multiple organizations and developed training programs for caregivers and medical providers alike. Much of her career has been spent training and supervising graduate students, undergraduates and clinical fellows.
Within her capacity as vice-president, she is in charge of marketing and communications at Austin Speech Labs. She believes that stroke recovery can be improved with long-term, intensive speech therapy.
Cassandra McGrath, M.S., CCC-SLP—Assistant Director, Speech-Language Pathologist
Cassandra is a speech therapist at Austin Speech Labs. She joined the team in 2013 to provide intensive speech therapy to stroke survivors. Cassandra has over twenty years of experience as a speech therapist. She has a diverse background working in schools, rehabilitation settings, private practice and outpatient clinics. She worked with children primarily and now is focusing on adults with aphasia and dysarthria. Cassandra holds her Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-language Hearing Association.
Mayra Carrera, B.S.—Bilingual Program Lead, Speech-Language Pathology Assistant
Mayra joined Austin Speech Labs in 2012 as a licensed bilingual speech-language pathology assistant. She received her undergraduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin. She helps run our Caregiver Education Program and uses a holistic approach when providing treatment for both clients and caregivers. Mayra enjoys watching the Food Network & HGTV, playing volleyball and spending time with her new husband and cute puppy Kodie.
Suzanne Farrell, M.A., CCC-SLP, CBIS —Speech-Language Pathologist
Suzanne is a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist and a Certified Brain Injury Specialist. She received her undergraduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin and graduate degree from The University of Houston. Suzanne previously volunteered at Austin Speech Labs from 2016-2017 and is thrilled to join the team full time in 2021. Professionally, she has primarily worked with adults in the field of medical speech-language pathology, with experience in every health care setting from acute care to inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation to home health. She also spent several years working outside of the speech therapy world, as a marketing and communications director for a local nonprofit, but her love of helping stroke survivors drew her back into therapy. Suzanne holds her Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Personally, Suzanne is married to her high school sweetheart and is a proud mom to a Texas Ex and a current Longhorn student. In her spare time, she can be found cheering on her beloved Longhorns at any sporting event, hiking the Austin hills, listening to Austin live music, or petting her very old, very blind dog.
Barclay Gatten, M.S., CCC-SLP—Speech-Language Pathologist PRN
Barclay joined Austin Speech Labs as a Clinical Fellow after completing her graduate internship in the Spring of 2019. She received her undergraduate and graduate degree from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. In her free time, she enjoys creating things, reading and talking to her family on the phone back in Virginia.
Brieanna Rocha, MT-BC, NMT—Music Therapist and Volunteer Coordinator
Brieanna is a Board Certified Music Therapist and credentialed Neurologic Music Therapist. She received her bachelor’s degree in Music from Berklee College of Music in 2012. Brieanna has experience working with stroke, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord injury survivors, and has been serving various populations in the greater Austin area since 2013.
Christy Oliver, B.S., J.D.—Grants Manager
Christy joined Austin Speech Labs as the Grant Manager in 2019. She received her undergraduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin and her law degree from Suffolk University Law School in Boston. She practiced law for a number of years in Boston before returning to Austin and joining the Austin Speech Labs team. She has been affiliated with the organization since 2009, as her father was one of the earliest clients, and continues to volunteer on the fundraising committee.
Elle Kemp, M. Ed.—Administrator and Development Coordinator
Danelle "Elle" Kemp joined Austin Speech Labs in 2017. Elle graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Applied Learning and Development and a master’s degree in Special Education from The University of Texas at Austin. Elle has worked as an elementary educator for 10 years in the Austin area. Now, she loves being part of an amazing community of adult learners. Elle is passionate about helping stroke survivors and their families.
Zoe Kuhn, M.S., CFY-Speech-Language Pathologist
Zoe received her undergraduate degree at The College of Wooster in Wooster, OH and completed her master’s degree at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, OH. Zoe was a volunteer at Austin Speech Labs from 2017-2020 and completed a graduate school rotation in 2021 before joining the team. Zoe holds an Ohio License in Early Childhood Education and has a special interest in reading and writing after completing her student teaching with a Title 1 teacher. Zoe feels privileged to begin her career at the organization that inspired her to become a Speech-Language Pathologist.
Jussara Vitorino Woiler, Ph.D — Researcher
Dr. Jussara Vitorino Woiler joined ASL in August 2020 as a researcher. She is a trilingual speech language Pathologist and audiologist. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of the Vale of Itajai in Brazil, and her master’s degree and PhD at the University of Queensland in Australia. Jussara also completed her post-doctorate at the University of Texas Health Science in San Antonio and worked as a researcher in the Brain Development Laboratory at the University of Texas in Austin.
During her masters and PhD, Jussara was involved in perceptual and physiological assessment of respiratory, laryngeal function in children and adults with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and tongue and velopharyngeal functions in adults with Multiple Sclerosis. Jussara has vast experience in working with acquired neurological disease and has presented her studies in social media, conferences and as a professor as well as published her articles in important journals. Jussara has been a reviewer of journals and publishing companies.
Jaime Philip — Accountant
Jaime joined Austin Speech Labs in August 2020. Jaime relocated to Austin from MA 5 years ago with her family. She has over 18 years of accounting and administrative experience, 5 years of which were working for non-profits. Jaime is excited to be a part of Austin Speech Labs, and is looking forward to carrying out the mission of helping stroke survivors and their families.