معرفی
Dr. Rebecca Francis is a Lecturer in Speech Pathology within the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University, where she serves as a topic coordinator for Speech Pathology programs. She teaches courses in motor speech disorders and anatomy and physiology of communication and swallowing, with a primary focus on clinical applications.
Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Speech Pathology Honours from Flinders University (2018) and a PhD completed in 2025, which examined cognitive and behavioral changes in Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and their interaction with dysphagia management. Her research interests span motor speech disorders, swallowing physiology, cognitive aspects of neurodegenerative diseases, and implementation science in healthcare settings.
Dr. Francis's publication record demonstrates a consistent focus on MND, dysphagia, and swallowing disorders, with recent publications emphasizing clinical management approaches, behavioral interventions, and sensory aspects of swallowing in neurodegenerative conditions. Her work shows a progression from biomechanical studies of swallowing in elderly populations to more complex investigations of cognitive-behavioral interactions in MND.
- 2024 Flinders University Building Research Leaders Program
- 2025 MND South Australia MND Care Research Grant ($99,000)
- 2021 Flinders University Kickstarter Grant ($5,000)
As a Certified Practicing Speech Pathologist, Dr. Francis actively contributes to clinical guidelines development as a member of the Australian MND Guidelines Clinical and Content Advisory Group and Research and Policymaker Advisory Group. She currently leads a research study funded by MND Australia and MND SA that partners with people with lived experience of MND to determine preferences for managing cognitive and behavioral changes.
