Speech Pathologist / Voice Consultant
- Completed Speech Pathology training in Melbourne, Australia (1986).
- Completed Master of Applied Research (1998) and PhD (2014)- both focussed on voice research.
- Worked clinically with gender affirming voice care and gender diverse clients for 30 years & with peri-operative voice care for pitch altering surgeries for 25 years.
Profile
Prof Debra Phyland, PhD, MAppSc, DipEd, BAppSc, FSPAA
Dr Debbie Phyland is a speech pathologist and academic having primarily worked in acute hospital and private practice settings, and universities lecturing and undertaking research. She is co-founder and now owner of the multi-disciplinary Melbourne Voice Analysis Centre team and for Voice Medicine Australia (a team of 8 SPs). Debbie is appointed as Adjunct Associate Professor for the School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University and Director of Clinical Research Director for the ENT, Head and Neck Department of Monash Health.
Debbie is well published and regularly invited to present at international conferences. In 2002, she was the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship, in 2010 the prestigious Speech Pathology Australia Association’s Elinor Wray Award for ‘Outstanding contribution to the profession’ and with Fellowship category in 2014. She has won several other awards and scholarships, including a fulltime Garnet-Passe Post-Doctoral fellowship, 2016-2018. For over twenty-five years, Debbie has been the resident SP for Melbourne Theatre Company and countless professional national theatre productions. In recognition of her sustained input, she was the recipient of a Victorian Green Room Award ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Melbourne Stage’ in 2012 and an Australian Voice Association award for ‘Outstanding contribution to the Australian voice community’ in 2014.
Debbie is a past-president of the Laryngology Society of Australasia (2014-2017) and current Chair of the Voice Committee for International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP, 2018-current). Her research and clinical interests include gender affirming voice care, laryngology, occupational voice disorders, voice assessment and rehabilitation.
Memberships & Publications
- Australian Professional Association for Trans-Health (AusPATH)
- International Association of Communication Sciences & Disorders (IALP) -Chair of Voice Committee
- Laryngology Society of Australasia (LSA)
- International Association of Phonosurgery (IAP)
- Speech Pathology Australia (SPA)
- American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA)-international affiliate
- The Voice Foundation (TVF)
- Editorial Board of the Voice Foundation (TVF)
- Australian Voice Association (AVA)
- Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing (ANATS)
- Australian Society of Performing Arts (ASPAH)
- Voice Medicine Australia Connect (Owner)
- International Association of Transvoice Surgeons (Associate)
- Churchill Fellows/Alumni Association
- LSA 2023 Presentation: Investigating the outcomes of pitch raising surgery and peri-operative voice therapy (Free, Phyland, Oates, Quinn & Paddle)
- Gender and Voice Interest Group (Australia) invited Online Worskhop: Changing Resonance in Gender Affirming Voice Care 2020
- Victorian Chapter, ANATS invited presenter: Working with the singing voice in transgender and gender diverse people with vocal incongruence 2015
- Latrobe Trans-female Voice Care Clinic-Clinical Supervisor of SP students 1998-2002