Michelle R Ciucci

Michelle R Ciucci, PhD, CCC-SLP is a speech-language pathologist and neuroscientist. She is a Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a joint appointment the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders and Department of Surgery-Division of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery. She is an active faculty trainer on two T32 grants: Voice Science in the Division of Otolaryngology and the Neuroscience Training Program at UW-Madison. The focus of her research program is to explore the behavioral and neurobiological underpinnings of sensorimotor control for cranial motor systems in health and disease. An important aspect of conducting translational research that will have implications for patient care is to establish appropriate physiological, behavioral, and neurochemical assays that can address mechanism. Her primary focus is laryngeal and lingual function and dysfunction with regard to voice, swallowing, and general sensorimotor control. Additionally, her group has developed or modified assays for cognition/memory, affect, gait, and fine and gross limb control. As such, they can contextualize communication and swallowing deficits within the larger context of disease onset and progression.  Importantly, they are exploring mechanisms outside of traditional neurologic framework and the conceptual framework is that Parkinson disease and Alzheimer’s disease, are ‘whole body’ diseases that affects the central and peripheral nervous systems. Vagally-mediated behaviors such as vocalization and swallowing are among the first to degenerate and thus fit into their overarching goal of identifying behavioral and tissue biomarkers that occur early in the disease process. She also advances the study and clinical care of swallowing dysfunction with high resolution manometry. The overarching goal of this line of work is to improve diagnosis and treatment of swallowing disorders with objective physiologic measures. Professor Ciucci has authored over 70 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Howard Hughes Medical Foundation, ASHA Foundation, and Michael J. Fox Foundation. As a clinician, Dr. Ciucci appreciates the clinical implications of her basic science findings with the goal of translating the work to conduct human clinical trials.