BIOSKETCHVrinda Rathiram has worked as a lecturer, researcher and clinical practitioner over the past 22 years. She currently serves as a lecturer within the discipline of Speech-language therapy at the University of KwaZulu Natal. This includes supervision of both undergraduate and postgraduate research, with publications arising from these research studies. Her areas of clinical practice, teaching, research and research supervision are aligned to the fields of adult communication disorders, dysphagia, voice disorders, laryngectomy and tracheostomy.
Furthermore, Vrinda has served as the discipline’s undergraduate and postgraduate research coordinator, facilitating development and implementation of key processes within these portfolios. She has published research articles in both national and international journals and maintains a role as a peer reviewer. Her contribution to staff projects within the discipline of speech-language therapy has focused on key areas of teaching and learning within the profession, maintaining a student-centered focus. She has been instrumental in collaborating with medical disciplines such as ENT to further develop and broaden the scope of learning opportunities provided to students and service delivery to patients, through specialized clinics, with an emphasis on instrumental assessments and more complex disorders within speech-language therapy.
A focus on facilitating master classes in key areas such as adult dysphagia, voice disorders, laryngectomy and tracheostomy has served to provide student training with a more hands on and detailed focus, bridging the theoretical and practical divide. Her contributions on remote care guidelines and simulations served to broaden the online clinical teaching platform offered to speech-language therapy students at UKZN, during COVID-19. These clinical activities proved to be a valuable asset in clinical teaching and continue to form some part of the clinical undergraduate programme.
