Say It Loud: The Miller School at the 2024 Fall Voice Conference

Robert Fritz and Dr. Adam Lloyd in front of a poster presentation at the Fall Vocal Conference
Article Summary
  • The Miller School’s Department of Otolaryngology presented on the treatment and management of vocal disorders at the 2024 Fall Voice Conference.
  • The voice care team from Miller School presented their longitudinal study on vocal health in singers.
  • Dr. David Rosow presented work on the effects of different approaches to injection medialization for vocal fold paralysis while Miller School resident Luke Pasick discussed the environmental impact of single-use versus reusable laryngoscopes.

The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine had a strong showing at the 2024 Fall Voice Conference, with five voice-specialized speech pathologists—Robert Fritz, Gabriella Leibowitz, Dr. Adam Lloyd, Christine Martin, and Maria Murljacic—laryngologist David Rosow, M.D., two residents and three former fellows representing the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery.

Interdisciplinary Vocal Disorder Management

The conference takes a multidisciplinary approach to the treatment and management of vocal disorders.

“It takes an interdisciplinary team to manage people with voice problems, so it makes sense that we would have an interdisciplinary conference to support that kind of education and innovation,” said Adam Lloyd, S.L.P., an assistant professor of otolaryngology in the Division of Speech Pathology at the Miller School.

From left to right, Robert Fritz, Maria Murljacic, David Rosow, Christine Martin, Gabriella Leibowitz, and Adam Lloyd, at the Fall Vocal Conference
From left, Robert Fritz, Maria Murljacic, Dr. David Rosow, Christine Martin, Gabriella Leibowitz and Dr. Adam Lloyd, at the Fall Vocal Conference

Attendees from speech pathology, laryngology and the professional performing arts convene at the Fall Voice Conference each year to participate in invited lectures, panel discussions and scientific presentations.

At the conference, participants also discuss difficult case studies, best practices of clinical application and how to most effectively serve different patient populations.

The Miller School team was represented in a variety of ways, including by theatrical song and dance:

• Miller School speech pathologist Maria Murljacic did a podium presentation on primary muscle tension dysphonia and mood disorders.
• The voice care team from Miller School presented a poster on their nine-year longitudinal study on vocal health in singers.
• Dr. Rosow, Nicolas Casellas, M.D., an otolaryngologist who trained under Dr. Rosow at the University of Miami Voice Center, and Miller School resident Luke Pasick presented their respective work on best practices in coding and billing in laryngology, the effects of different approaches to injection medialization for vocal fold paralysis and the environmental impact of single-use versus reusable laryngoscopes.
• The Miller School team won second place in the talent show for their Chicago-themed video submission, “The Voice Clinic Tango,” directed by voice pathologists Robert Fritz and Gabriella Leibowitz and featuring the Miller School team of laryngologists, speech pathologists, nurses, medical scribes and patient access specialists.

Along with disseminating information, the Fall Voice Conference serves an important networking function, both for students and residents seeking jobs and for researchers seeking collaborations.

Maria Murljacic speaking from a podium at the Fall Voice Conference
Maria Murljacic speaking at the Fall Voice Conference

“It’s important for us to investigate as an institution, but it’s more meaningful if we can create multi-institution collaborations, building on what we do with the larger community of voice experts outside of just our institution,” said Dr. Lloyd. “Getting together with colleagues across the country and coming up with projects is how we make a significant impact on the field of voice disorders.


Tags: Department of Vocal Performance, Division of Laryngology and Voice, Dr. Adam Lloyd, Dr. David Rosow, Fall Voice Conference, otolaryngology, vocal fold pathologies, vocal folds