All About Stephanie

Stephanie Grasso
Lab director, Assistant Professor
Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin

About Stephanie
Stephanie is the principal investigator of the MADR Lab. She wanted to focus on neurologically-based communication disorders within the context of bilingualism.

Facts about Stephanie

• Undergraduate Education: Received her bachelor’s degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders University of Redlands

• Graduate Education: Received her Master’s and PhD at the University of Texas at Austin

• Background: Dr. Grasso has published her research in a many journals, including Alzheimer’s and Dementia, Brain, Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, and Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. She has presented her work at national and international conferences. 

Why Reach Out to Stephanie?

All About Miguel 

Miguel Ángel Santos
Co-Principal Investigator
Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin

About Miguel
Andrew joined the Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory in XXXX. His primary responsibilities involve XXX across multiple projects in the lab:

• Project 1

• Project 2

Cool Facts about Name

• Undergraduate Education:

• Graduate Education:

• Background:

Why Reach Out to Name?

All About Camille

Full Name
Title
Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin

About Name
Andrew joined the Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory in XXXX. His primary responsibilities involve XXX across multiple projects in the lab:

• Project 1

• Project 2

Cool Facts about Name

• Undergraduate Education:

• Graduate Education:

• Background:

Why Reach Out to Name?

All About Diana

Diana F. Cruz
Bilingual Research Speech-Language Pathologist
Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin

About Diana
Diana joined the Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory in February 2024. Her primary responsibilities involve providing direct patient care for key projects, including:

• R01 Grant - Barcelona

• Alzheimer’s Grant - Mexico & Local Cases

• Latino Caregiver Support Group Study

In addition to her clinical duties, Diana serves as the lab manager, where she leads essential operational tasks, including:

• Onboarding of new employees and students

• Scheduling and Coordination

• Supply Ordering and Lab Logistics

• Supervision of Research Assistants (RAs)

• Grant and IRB Management

Cool Facts about Diana

• Family & Fun: Outside of work, Diana is an outdoor enthusiast who loves exploring nature with her family. She’s always planning new adventure trips and activities with her husband and two young kids, making memories in the great outdoors.

Why Reach Out to Diana?

• Wiki Pages & Documentation: Need help creating pages on the lab’s Wiki? Diana has tips and tricks to streamline the process.

• Patient Materials & Support: Have patient-related questions? Diana is available in person or on Teams to assist with patient materials and any specific clinical needs.

• Scheduling Matters: Need to makes changes to your schedule? Tag me in your supervisor chat!

All About Wenfu 

Wenfu Bao
Postdoctoral Fellow
Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin

About Wenfu
Wenfu joined the lab in January 2025. His responsibilities include analyzing data, writing articles and grant proposals, and mentoring students, etc. He is involved in multiple projects:

• Sant Pau Project: Molecular bases of bilingualism's protective effect against cognitive decline

• HABS-HD Project: Examining differences in AD biomarkers and neuroimaging trajectories across different cognitive profiles in monolingual and bilingual Mexican Americans

• R01 Grant

Cool Facts about Wenfu

• Wenfu loves being in nature through hiking and biking. He is excited to explore the outdoors in Austin. 

Why Reach Out to Wenfu?

• Data analysis: Wenfu has analyzed different types of behavioural and neurophysiological data by building models (e.g., linear mixed-effects model, generalized additive mixed-effects model) in R. Also, he is familiar with data visualization through ggplot. 

• Study design: Wenfu has designed multiple psycholinguistic experiments via different methodologies. He can share with you potential considerations when designing an experimental study. 

• Research in CSD: Wenfu might be able to answer your questions regarding pursuing further education in communication sciences and disorders.

All About Rylee

Rylee Manning
Doctoral Student
Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin

About Rylee
Rylee joined the Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory August 2024. She helps with lab materials and primarily work on independent projects:

• Ethnoracial and Linguistic Disparities in Behavioral Treatment for Primary Progressive Aphasia

Facts about Name

• Undergraduate Education: B.A. in French Studies and Comparative Literature, Franklin University Switzerland

• Graduate Education: M. Phil in Linguistics from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland (class of 2021) and an M.Sc. in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Language from the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language in San Sebastián, Spain (class of 2022)

• Background: I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. After high school, I lived in Europe for 5 years before returning to the USA in 2022. Before moving to Texas, I lived and worked in West Lafayette, Indiana and Buffalo, New York. My primary research interests include bilingualism and language recovery after brain injury. Other than my native language of English, I speak French and Italian.

Why Reach Out to Name?

If anyone is curious about bilingualism research or neurolinguistics in general, feel free to message me on Teams. Additionally, if you need tips related to academic writing, identifying and citing references, applying for graduate school, etc., I am always happy to help.

All About Sonia 

Sonia-Karin Marqués Kiderle
Bilingual Research Speech-Language Pathologist
Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin

About Sonia
Sonia joined the Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory in August of 2021. Her primary responsibilities include Supervision and transcription of the Connected Speech Project, Supervision of Research Assistants (RAs), Assessment and therapy data management and analysis, and providing direct patient care for key projects, including:

• R01 Grant - Barcelona

• Alzheimer’s Grant - Mexico & Local Cases

Facts about Sonia

• Undergraduate Education: Bachelor's Degree in Speech and Language Therapy - Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), 2017-2021

• Graduate Education: Will be starting the PhD program at the University of Texas at Austin this fall!

• Background: Sonia is from Barcelona, Spain, and grew up in a multilingual household speaking German, Aragonese, Spanish, and Catalan. She later added English and French through school. Drawn to both humanities and science, she pursued Speech and Language Pathology. Her studies have taken her to Antwerp, Belgium, for an Erasmus exchange, and she has also spent extended time in Germany with family.

Why Reach Out to Name?

• Connected Speech Project

• clipping, whisper, transcriptions and other processes, reach out if you have any questions about that!

• Patient Materials & Support: Have patient-related questions? Sonia is available in person or on Teams to assist with patient materials and any specific clinical needs

• Catalan related questions, or Spanish Castilian related questions, to adapt better questionnaires, therapy materials, etc.,

All About Name 

Full Name
Title
Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin

About Name
Andrew joined the Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory in XXXX. His primary responsibilities involve XXX across multiple projects in the lab:

• Project 1

• Project 2

Cool Facts about Name

• Undergraduate Education:

• Graduate Education:

• Background:

Why Reach Out to Name?

All About Júlia 

Júlia Filella Mercè
Bilingual Research Speech-Language Pathologist
Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin

About Júlia
Júlia joined the Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory on July, 2023. Her primary responsibilities include recruitment, assessment, and treatment (using the VISTA or LRT protocol) of patients with Primary Progressive Aphasia in the Clinical Trial and Observational Study branches.

• R01 Grant - Barcelona

Facts about Júlia

• Undergraduate Education: Bachelor’s degree in Speech and Language Therapy at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Before focusing on research, I worked as a speech and language therapist with patients with neurological and neurodegenerative diseases in clinical and hospital settings.

• Graduate Education: Master’s degree in Oropharyngeal Dysphagia at the School of Language Pathology of Hospital de Sant Pau. Master’s degree in Nutrition and Health at the Open University of Catalonia.

• Background: I’m from Barcelona, Spain. My native languages are Catalan and Spanish, and I’m fluent in English.

Why Reach Out to Júlia?

You can reach out to me if you are interested in learning more about speech and language therapy in patients with primary progressive aphasia (PPA).

All About Núria 

Núria Montagut
Bilingual Research SLP
Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin

About Núria

Núria joined the Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory on September 2020. Her primary responsibilities involve recruitment, assessment, and treatment (using the VISTA or LRT protocol) of patients with Primary Progressive Aphasia in the Clinical Trial and Observational Study branches in:

• Project R01-Barcelona

Facts about Name

• Undergraduate Education: Bachelor’s degree in Speech and Language Therapy at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

• Graduate Education: Master’s degree in Speech and Language Therapy in Communication Disorders in Brain Damage at the Ramon Llull University in Barcelona. Master’s degree in Communication and Language Disorders at the Autonomous University of Barcelona

• Background: I’m from Barcelona, Spain. My native languages are Catalan and Spanish, and I’m fluent in English.

Why Reach Out to Name?

I have been working as an SLP at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) since 2004. I currently attend inpatients during their acute phase at the Neurology, Neurosurgery and Stroke Unit, as well as outpatients suffering movement disorders, dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases, with special attention to patients with primary progressive aphasia patients. I held my thesis in 2024 focuses on Speech and Language Therapy in Primary Progressive Aphasia.

All About Name 

Full Name
Title
Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin

About Name
Andrew joined the Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory in XXXX. His primary responsibilities involve XXX across multiple projects in the lab:

• Project 1

• Project 2

Cool Facts about Name

• Undergraduate Education:

• Graduate Education:

• Background:

Why Reach Out to Name?

All About Maria 

Maria Fernanda Porto Torres
Neuropsychology. Predoctoral fellow
Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin

About Maria
Maria joined the Multilingual Aphasia and Dementia Laboratory in December 2024. Her primary responsibilities involve providing therapy and completing her PhD thesis across multiple projects in the lab:

• R01

• Non R01 Barcelona

• MOTIVATING LANGUAGE TREATMENT THROUGH NOVEL WORD LEARNING: A SERIES OF SINGLE-CASE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS IN VARIANTS OF PRIMARY PROGRESSIVE APHASIA (NOVA-PPA)

Cool Facts about Name

• Undergraduate Education: Bachelor’s degree in Psychology

• Graduate Education: Masters in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology

• Background: I am from Colombia. I speak both Spanish and English.

Why Reach Out to Name?

If you would like to know anything about being a psychologist and neuropsychologist. I have clinical experience in neuropsychological care. I also have experience in research and university teaching in cognitive and applied neuroscience.