MRRI is pleased to announce that Kelly Horel, M.S., SLP, has recently accepted a position at MRRI. Ms. Horel graduated from Rutgers University with a B.A. in Linguistics and minors in Psychology and Cognitive Science. While at Rutgers, she worked as a Research Assistant in a Phonetics Laboratory. After graduation, she began working at MRRI under Erica Middleton, PhD, and Myrna Schwartz, PhD, in the Language and Aphasia Lab. Ms. Horel worked as a Research Assistant at MRRI from 2011-2013.

She was inspired to go to graduate school to become a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) after working with Adelyn Brecher, SLP, and with the people with aphasia who would come in to participate in research studies. Ms. Horel graduated from Boston University in 2015 with an M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology. From there, she worked clinically in a variety of settings including sub-acute rehabilitation, home health, and in local schools. After taking some time off for the births of her children, Ms. Horel began working part-time at the Adler Aphasia Center (Maywood, NJ) as an aphasia group facilitator. This position renewed her passion for working with people with aphasia. Remembering her experiences at MRRI, Ms. Horel explained, “When I saw that MRRI was looking for a research SLP, I knew I had to reach out!”

She is excited to be starting her position as a Research Associate – Speech Language Pathologist in the Language and Learning Laboratory under Dr. Middleton and the Speech and Language Recovery Laboratory under Marja-Liisa Mailend, PhD. In this role, she will be administering language and cognition tests and transcribing and coding data, among other tasks. In thinking about her new role, she noted “I am eager to contribute to research that will support clinicians in helping people with aphasia in their recovery process.”