The Vice Chair

Joan C. Payne, Ph.D., ASHA Fellow, is Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, in the School of Communications. She is a Howard graduate (B.A., Speech Correction), and received her Master's Degree at the Ohio State University, and her Ph.D. in Communication Sciences from Howard University with a specialization in neuroanatomy and neurophysiology. She completed post-doctoral work at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Presently, she is a nationally and internationally known for her research in adult neurogenic disorders and ethnobiological considerations for culturally and ethnically diverse populations. Because of her research, doctoral student mentoring and service to the profession and the academy, she has received numerous awards from the Graduate School and the School of Communications, the District of Columbia Speech, and Hearing Association, and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

Dr. Payne has contributed scholarly presentations, grants, articles, book chapters, texts, and tests in such areas as proflammantory cytokine response and stroke in African Americans, traumatic brain injuries, functional assessment for neurogenic language disorders, Sickle Cell disease, aphasia, dementia, ethnocultural dynamics in acquired aphsia, cultural communication, and speech, language, hearing services in Brazil. She holds the ASHA Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology & Licensure in the District of Columbia.