Brief CV

Debbie Sell OBE PhD, MRCSLT, FRSCLT

Present  Appointment

2002-             Lead Speech and Language Therapist, North Thames Regional Cleft Lip and Palate Unit, Great Ormond Street/St. Andrews,Broomfieldand

1996 – 2011    Head of Speech and Language Therapy Department Great Ormond Street NHS Trust.

2010-2013       Joint Research Lead for Allied Health Professionals,  Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust

1999 –              Honorary Senior Lecturer, Institute of Child Health

Other Honorary Appointments

2009-2012       Visiting Professor City University, London.

1999-2003       Visiting Professor, Faculty of Health and Community Studies, De Montfort University

1998                Adjunct Professor, Department of Audiology and Speech Sciences,College of Communication Arts and Sciences Michigan State University,USA.

Selected Professional Activities

2011-               Speech Section Editor, Cleft Palate Craniofacial Journal

2010                Invited Faculty Opponent, The Faculty of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy Göteborg University. Christina Havstam’s PhD thesis. Attitude to Speech and Communication in Individuals born with Cleft Lip and Palate.

2009               Invitation by both Professor Shaw, University of Manchester, and Professor Ness/Sandy, University of Bristol,to be a collaborator on each of their bids to the Healing Foundation to be the UK Centre for Cleft Research supported by VTCT

2008             Invitation by The Smile Train to advise on speech therapy in the Developing World

2007             Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists: Lead for position paper on nasendoscopy by SLTs, and member of working group for position paper on extended scope practitioner

2007-           Speech Consultant to the Americleft Group, USA.

2006-           Editorial consultant for Advances in Speech-Language Pathology

2005-           Member of executive editorial board of the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders

2005-2008   Invited member of subpanel Allied Health Professions and Studies RAE 2008 as user representative

2004 –          Trust Board Member, Michael Palin National Centre for Stammering

2001             Member of the Steering Committee for the development of the UK Postgraduate Qualification for Cleft Palate and Allied Disorders.

2001-            SLT representative on National Audit group, Craniofacial Society of GB and Ireland

1998-            Speech and Language Therapist Representative on the Department of Health, Cleft Implementation Group of the CSAG Report, UK.

1996-1997    Speech Project Director for research group of the Clinical Standards and Advisory Group (CSAG) national study, in collaboration with the Royal College of Surgeons.

1996-1997    Speech Adviser to CSAG Government Committee: an investigation into cleft services in the UK

1996-1997     Chairperson, National Special Interest Group in Cleft Lip and Palate and Allied Disorders

1995-1996     President: the Craniofacial Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

1993              Assistant Director: Eurocleft Speech Group.

1985-              Director Speech and Language Therapy component of the Sri Lankan Cleft Lip and Palate Project

Publications

  • 11 published chapters
  • 50 published peer reviewed papers
  • Production of 2 teaching videos on speech assessment and therapy in cleft palate 1998
  • Co- Editor of 2 books

Teaching

  • Invited speaker: national and international presentations UK, Sri Lanka, Holland, Canada, Sweden, China, Russia, Belgium, India, Southern Ireland, Australia, Italy, Spain, USA, S Africa, Spain, India, Thailand.
  • Examples of keynote presentations: 1998 Herbert J. & E. Jane Oyer Lecture, Dept. of Audiology and Speech Sciences, Michigan State University; 1999 European Congress on Cleft Lip and Palate, Manchester; 9thInternational World Congress on Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Anomalies, Gothenburg Sweden; 2003 Australian Cleft Lip and Palate Meeting, Sydney; 2004 Braithwaite Oration India Cleft Lip and palate meeting, Leuven, Belgium.
  • 1986-onwards        Organised and contributed to reciprocal visiting programmes in the UK for staff from Galle Sri Lanka; Toronto Canada; Stockholm Sweden; Beijing China; Ekaterinburg Russia, Kandy, Sri Lanka
  • 2007           Joint organiser of the first nasendoscopy training course for the assessment of speech and velopharyngeal function for SLTs, UK
  • 2002           Joint organiser of the first national multidisciplinary Prosthetics Course for speech problems associated with velopharyngeal dysfunction in the UK.
  • Researched, planned, developed, delivered and evaluated undergraduate and postgraduate multidisciplinary courses on cleft palate/velopharyngeal dysfunction/craniofacial anomalies for City University and University College London (annually since 1992), University of Malta (2002), University of Latrobe (2003) and Kelaniya (2000 and 2003).

Developing World Experience

  • 1985 – Sri Lanka: directed the teaching, treatment and research related to speech therapy within the Sri Lankan Cleft Lip and Palate Project
  • 1998 to present day – co-founder of the first Speech and Language Therapy Course in Sri Lanka with colleagues at the Disability Studies Unit, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka and International Child Health, University of London.
  • Contributor to the development of the Multidisciplinary Cleft teams in Kandy, Sri Lanka, and Global Hospital Mount Abu, 2004
  • 2007 Advisor to the City University Programme in Cambodia