Sarah Masso

Sarah Masso is a Senior Lecturer with the Discipline of Speech Pathology in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. She holds a Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) Fellowship from the Australian Research Council (DE200101078) and serves as an Academic Fellow. Additionally, she maintains an adjunct research associate position with Charles Sturt University, Australia.

Dr. Masso completed postdoctoral research at Memorial University of Newfoundland (2017), The University of Sydney (2018-2019), and The University of Lübeck, Germany (2021-2022). She is a Certified Practicing Speech Pathologist and maintains membership with Speech Pathology Australia, Services for Rural and Remote Allied Health (SARRAH), and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

Her research interests focus on the identification and diagnosis of children with early speech and language delays who may be at risk for literacy difficulties, implementation of technology to support clinical practice, and exploring effective interventions for children with speech sound disorders. Dr. Masso is particularly committed to advancing evidence-based practice in speech pathology and is a member of the Communication Sciences and Disorders research team.

Dr. Masso's recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on speech sound disorders, early literacy development, and assessment methodologies. Her work frequently examines the relationship between polysyllable production and emergent literacy skills in preschool children. She has made significant contributions to understanding multilingual speech assessment and has investigated the impact of oral sucking habits on speech development.

• Western Sydney Local Health District Quality Awards, First Running Up for Delivering Integrated Care (2020)
• South West Sydney Research, Collaborative Achievement Award (2019)
• Journal of Speech-Language Hearing Research 2017 Speech Editor's Award (2018)

Dr. Masso has successfully supervised multiple higher degree research students, including King Bamford (2020), M. Ibric (2021), and E. Yun (2022). She has secured significant research funding, including a $424,999 ARC DECRA Fellowship for her Polysyllables and Emerging Early Literacy (PEEL) project (2020-2023), a Humboldt Research Fellowship (36,000€) for her German speech investigation, and multiple grants totaling over $120,000 for telehealth evaluation and early childhood language development projects.

Dr. Masso actively contributes to international collaborations, working with researchers in Canada (Memorial University of Newfoundland), Germany (University of Lübeck), and Hong Kong (University of Hong Kong) to advance understanding of speech disorders across different linguistic contexts.