Biography

Katia Bruno began the CSD PhD program at Pitt in the fall of 2024, under the guidance of her advisors Professor James Coyle and Associate Professor Kendrea Garand. She chose Pitt for its exceptional mentorship in her area of interest: advancing the field of swallowing and swallowing disorders. Learning how to do high-quality research and collaborating with other PhD students and her mentors in the labs, she aims to contribute to the development of standardized testing and evidence-based, patient-specific treatment approaches that can be directly applied in clinical practice for speech-language pathologists (SLPs). After earning her PhD, she plans to continue my research in this field and pursue a career in academia, where she hopes to shape the next generation of clinicians.