Catriona Steele, PhD

Senior Scientist, KITE (TRI)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4294-6561
Keywords: swallowing and swallowing disorders, dysphagia
Dr. Steele's research focuses on understanding the pathophysiology of dysphagia (swallowing impairment) and exploring treatments that are effective to restore functional swallowing. Three lines of research form the primary foci of work in the lab:

1) Characterizing normal and disordered sensory and motor function for swallowing, particularly related to tongue function in swallowing liquids of different consistencies

2) Exploring the effectiveness of tongue pressure resistance training as an intervention for dysphagia of neurologic origin

3) Developing a noninvasive device to detect swallowing impairment in clinical screening and assessment

Related Links

Lab Website

Developing Standards for Measures of Swallowing

Study Status: Active
Study Purpose: The purpose of this study is to improve our understanding of swallowing by developing reference values. Reference values show what swallowing looks like for most people. These values help health care providers know if someone’s swallow is typical. This project is based on work we did before. To move forward with this work, we need to study more people. We are studying healthy adults aged 18 and up and those who have trouble swallowing.
Background: Having trouble swallowing is a big health problem. It can happen because of many diseases, illnesses, and injuries. One of the main tests to check for problems swallowing uses a special x-ray that takes moving pictures. Most people who get this video x-ray already have swallowing problems. This means we do not have much information about how normal swallowing looks. This makes it harder for health care providers to figure out and treat swallowing problems. To help improve health care practice, we want to measure healthy swallowing in people of all ages. We also plan to study people with diseases that make swallowing hard. By doing this, clinicians can see if their patient results are different from what is expected. In the end, we hope that this study will lead to better time management, treatment planning, and outcomes for patients.
Study Methods: We are studying people who have trouble swallowing and people who do not. Participants will have up to 3 appointments. The first is a 30-minute review of the study consent form. After, they will fill out short questionnaires. These can be done online or in-person. The study ends with an in-person visit for the video x-ray. During this visit, participants take around 30 sips or bites of food and drink. Afterwards, our research lab will study the videos to measure for reference values.
Health Conditions: Digestive system conditions

 

For a list of Dr. Steele's publications, please visit PubMed, Scopus or ORCID.

Senior Scientist, KITE (TRI)

Professor (status), Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto
Faculty Member, Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto