Meet the JLA Priority Setting Partnership Steering Group

We’d like to introduce you to the people behind the Priority Setting Partnership Steering Group. We have bought together representatives from across the world of stammering.

Our steering group consists of representatives from the NHS, universities, schools, parent groups, national organisations, young people and adults who stammer. Here is a short bio of each member involved in the steering group:

• Thomas Grattoni-May – Young person who stammers, Action for Stammering Children Youth Panel
  • Thomas is 17 years old and he is a member of the Youth Panel for Action for Stammering Children. He was diagnosed with auditory processing disorder when he was 7 years old and it is believed to be the underlying cause of his stammer. He is currently doing A levels in Maths, Further Maths and Physics and he hopes to study atmospheric, oceanic and planetary physics when he is older.

• Phoebe Avbulimen – Young person who stammers, Action for Stammering Children Youth Panel
  • Phoebe is a medical student and Youth Panel member of Action for Stammering Children (ASC). She is particularly interested in research regarding the cause of stammering and she has an interest in Neuroscience. She took part in the BBC Children in Need Rickshaw Challenge in 2018 to raise awareness of stammering and the Charity, ASC. 

• Erin Marlow – Young person who stammers, STAMMA Youth Panel
  • Erin Marlow was born in Leicester in 1997, she has been through many challenges in her life such as being born four months premature with a learning disability and a stammer. Despite all of these challenges, she always has a positive outlook and is passionate about stammer awareness and helping young children and adults with a disability. 

• Naheem Bashir – Person who stammers, Kaleidoscope Health & Care 
  • Naheem is part of Kaleidoscope Health and Care, where his work involves bringing people together to improve health and care. Naheem is a person who stammers and has completed a PhD about stammering, has run a support group for people who stammer and is a trustee of STAMMA.

• Chris Nelson – Teacher 
  • Chris Nelson is an adult stammerer and a practising secondary school teacher, teaching science and law. He has both personal experience of stammering and has taught multiple students who stammered. He has also helped train teaching staff on strategies to assist stammering pupils. He maintains interests in human rights, neurodiversity and the science of learning.

• Steven Gauge – Chief Executive, Action for Stammering Children
  • Chief Executive, Action for Stammering Children

• Corinne Moffat Santos – Speech & Language Therapist City, University of London
  • Corinne is a speech and language therapist with over 30 years’ experience working with children, teens and adults who stammer. She currently works as a lecturer at City, University of London and is a member of the international Lidcombe Program Trainers Consortium, training others in this approach to early stammering intervention.

• Sharon Millard – Speech & Language Therapist and Research Lead Michael Palin Centre
  • Dr Sharon Millard is a Clinical Lead and the Research Lead Speech and Language Therapist at the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering in London. Dr Millard has published a number of research articles and clinical papers and chapters about stammering and therapy in childhood. She is the Co-Chair of the Oxford Dysfluency Conference.

• Kate Watkins – Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Oxford
  • Kate Watkins is a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Oxford.  She teaches psychology at St. Anne’s College in Oxford.  Her research uses brain imaging and measures of behaviour to understand the brain basis of developmental stammering.  Kate’s other research interests include studying brain organisation for language in developmental language disorder and in people who are congenitally blind. 

• Rachel Stevens – Speech and Language Therapist
  • Rachel has been working as a Speech and Language Therapist for 24 years and has a keen interest in the area of stammering. She is looking forward to working with a variety of people on the latest developments within the world of stammering research.