Our Team
Principal Investigator

Kristen Allison, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Laboratory Director
Phone: 617-373-3697
Email: k.allison@northeastern.edu
Dr. Allison is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders and the director of the SMILe Lab. She received her Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. She has extensive clinical and research experience working with children who have neurodevelopmental disabilities and is passionate about improving speech and communication outcomes for children.
Research Assistants

Morgan Hatfield, M.S. CCC-SLP
Study Coordinator

Maggie Camelio
Project Coordinator
Maggie received a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Clinical Speech-Language Pathology from Northeastern University.

Alyssa Sims
Graduate Research Assistant

Amy Shah
Graduate Research Assistant

Lauren Sullivan
Graduate Research Assistant

April Pierson
Graduate Research Assistant

Xuedi Yang
Graduate Research Assistant

Alanna Grimm
Graduate Research Assistant
Alanna is a first year student in the Masters in Speech-Language Pathology program. She graduated from Northeastern with a Bachelors in Criminal Justice and Psychology in 2021. She took a year off and worked as an ABA Therapist, where she found her way to SLP. She hopes to work in the medical setting with adult or pediatric clients.

Jamie Klag
Graduate Research Assistant

Lauren Matachun
Graduate Research Assistant
Lauren is a second year in the Speech-Language Pathology Masters Program. She graduated in 2020 from Bridgewater State University with a B.S. degree in both communication sciences and disorders and psychology. Her interests in the field include pediatric feeding and swallowing, early intervention, and motor speech disorders.

Florencia Ferreyra
Undergraduate Research Assistant

Piper Lynn
Undergraduate Research Assistant

Sarah Sackey
Undergraduate Research Assistant

Olivia Sabino
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Olivia is a second year studying Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. She intends on continuing her studies in an SLP Masters Program to hopefully work with pediatrics in the future.

Caitlin Kinsella
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Caitlin is a fifth year student working towards a B.S. in Communication Studies & Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology.

Asli Sahin
Lab Co-op Student
Asli is a fourth-year Behavioral Neuroscience major with a Philosophy minor. She is interested in early language development.
Lab Alumni

Sina Salehi
MS '21, BS '17, Former Lab Manager

Laura Shillingsberg
BA '19, Former Lab Manager

Lauren Ho
BS '22

Kayla Doherty
MS '19

Isabel Chalem
BS '22

Haley Bouchard
BS '21, Former Lab Manager

Gaby Capano
MS '19

Jessica Bren
MS '21