Meet the Team
Principal Investigator
Rocío Norman, PhD CCC-SLP
Associate Professor with Tenure (effective 9/1/24)
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
School of Health Professions
University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio
Email: normanr@uthscsa.edu
Phone: 210-450-8352
Lab Website: https://labs.uthscsa.edu/normanr/
Areas of Expertise:
· Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Assessment and Rehabilitation
· Military Medicine and Veterans Health
· Cognitive-Communication Disorders secondary to Traumatic Brain Injury and Dementia
· Caregiver Interventions for Traumatic Brain Injury and Dementia
Education:
· University of Wisconsin-Madison, PhD, Communication Sciences and Disorders, 2017
· University of Texas at Austin, MA, Communication Sciences and Disorders, 2008
· Florida International University, BFA in Theatre
Dr. Rocio Norman is Associate Professor with Tenure (effective 9/1/24) in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the School of Health Professions at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio and director of the Norman Cognitive-Communication Lab (https://labs.uthscsa.edu/normanr/). Her research centers on improving the lives of individuals with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and dementia through behavioral interventions.
Dr. Norman completed her speech-language pathology training at UT Austin and completed a Clinical Fellowship at the VA Polytrauma Center in San Antonio, Texas. Her experience working with veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan motivated her desire to pursue clinical research addressing cognitive and communication disorders resulting from combat related mTBI. In 2013, she was recruited to Dr. Lyn Turkstra’s lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she was awarded several training grants to complete her PhD, including an NIH Predoctoral Fellowship, an R25 fellowship through the UW Center for Women’s Health Research, an Emma Allen Speech Language Pathology Fellowship and the American Speech-Hearing Association’s New Century Scholar Award.
In 2018, as a new faculty member at UT Health, she received both a School of Health Professions Pilot Grant and a Texas Society for Allied Health Professions Research Grant to fund her program of research in cognitive and communication disorders secondary to mTBI. In 2019, she was selected as a KL2 Scholar at the University of Texas Health Science Center, where she utilized methods such as discourse analysis and electroencephalogram (EEG) measures to richly characterize language output and shed light on the underlying cognitive mechanisms of language performance after mTBI. Since that time, Dr. Norman has established national and international research collaborations and received competitive funding as PI and site PI from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health. She currently serves as PI on funded research addressing: caregiver needs of older adults with dementia, long-term outcomes of combat-related mTBI and clinical interventions for speech and hearing disorders after traumatic brain injury. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Trials, Brain Injury, American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, Military Medicine, Neuropsychologia and Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
In 2019, Dr. Norman was awarded a Teaching Excellence Award and the George Kudolo Award for Excellence in Research at the School of Health Professions. In 2023 she was nominated for the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine Deborah Wilkerson Early Career in Rehabilitation Award and in 2023 she was selected for the Spectrum Award at the School of Health Professions, an award recognizing all around excellence in research, teaching and service.
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Lab Assistants
Tara is currently a Ph.D. student in neurobiology at The University of Texas at San Antonio. She received her B.S. in Biology from Texas State University. Her research focuses on utilizing event related potentials (ERPS) to investigate language processing in clinical and bilingual adult populations.
Gina Baxter is a second-year M.S. student in Speech-Language Pathology at UT Health San Antonio. She earned her undergraduate degree at Texas A&M University College Station. Her research interests include cognitive communication and TBI. She enjoys practicing jujitsu and camping with her family.
Alexa is a first-year speech-language pathology student at UT Health San Antonio. She graduated with a B.S. in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Alexa hopes to learn more about speech-language pathology through research while gaining valuable experiences so that she can one day help those in need.
Ashlynn is a second-year graduate student studying speech-language pathology at UT Health San Antonio. She has a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Houston. Ashlynn hopes to improve her knowledge about research and people with traumatic brain injury.
Lillian is a first-year speech-language pathology student at UT Health San Antonio. She graduated with a B.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Oklahoma. She enjoys reading and spending time with friends and family in her free time.
Megan is a first-year graduate student studying speech-language pathology at UT Health San Antonio. She has a B.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Texas State University. Her research interests include stuttering and TBI. She enjoys cooking, volleyball, and spending time with her dog.
Lauren is a first-year speech-language pathology student at UT Health San Antonio. She graduated with a B.S. in Allied Health from Texas A&M University and a B.S. in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. She enjoys traveling, spending time on the lake, and being with friends and family.
Grace is a second-year speech-language pathology student at UT Health San Antonio. She graduated with a B.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Oklahoma. Her goal is to work in a medical setting with patients with neurogenic communication and swallowing disorders. She enjoys reading, drinking coffee, and spending time outdoors.
Monserrath is a first-year speech-language pathology student at UT Health San Antonio. She received her B.S. in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Texas at Dallas. Monserrath hopes to work in a medical setting with individuals from all age groups with traumatic brain injuries and swallowing disorders.
Skylar is a first-year student at UT Health San Antonio pursuing a M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology. She graduated from Arizona State University in 2022 with a B.S. in Speech and Hearing Science and a minor in Family and Human Development. Her research interests include TBI, neurodegenerative disorders, and the relationship between mental health and communication.