SRCLD Presentation Details
  Title  
       
    Language Research at NIH: Perspectives from NIDCD and NICHD  
Author(s)
Judith A. Cooper - NIDCD/NIH
Ruben P. Alvarez - NICHD/NIH

SRCLD Info
SRCLD Year: 2016
Presentation Type: Tutorial
Presentation Time: (na)
Abstract
NIH and the research community are facing a myriad of changes and challenges. It is critical for individuals seeking NIH funding to be current and knowledgeable, for the benefit of themselves and those they mentor. Researchers in child language ARE being funded and NIH maintains an ongoing commitment to supporting that research. This presentation will address topics of importance to new as well as more senior researchers. Discussion will include critical updates about NIH, NIDCD and NICHD; opportunities for beginning researchers; recent trends in language research; and where to go for help.
Author Biosketch(es)

Dr. Judith A. Cooper is currently Deputy Director of the National
Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders at the NIH. In
addition, she serves as Director, Division of Scientific Programs,
within NIDCD, and finally, she has programmatic responsibilities for
the areas of language, language impairments, and language in deaf
individuals. She received her B.F.A. at Southern Methodist University
in 1971 with a major in Speech-Language Pathology, her M.S. in
Speech-Language Pathology at Vanderbilt University in 1972, and her
Ph.D. at the University of Washington in 1982 in Speech and Hearing
Sciences. She was elected a Fellow of the American
Speech-Language-Hearing Association in 2006 and received the Honors of
the Association in 2007.

She joined the National Institutes of Health as a Health Scientist
Administrator (HSA) within the National Institute of Neurological and
Communicative Disorders and Stroke in November, 1982. Dr. Cooper became
an HSA within the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication
Disorders, upon its establishment in October, 1988; subsequently served
as Deputy Director as well as acting director of the Division of Human
Communication; Chief, Scientific Programs Branch; and has been in her
current position since January, 2004.

Dr. Cooper's current responsibilities include overseeing and
coordinating the activities of her division; advising within NIDCD
and across the NIH regarding issues related to language and language
disorders; participating in trans-NIH initiatives focused in language
as well as autism; and, working with potential and funded researchers
in language across the US and beyond, providing advice, direction, and
encouragement related to research grant focus, development and
preparation.

 

Dr. Ruben P. Alvarez is currently director of the Language, Bilingualism, and
Biliteracy Program in the Child Development and Behavior Branch at the
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development (NICHD) at the NIH. Dr. Alvarez’s previous research focused
on bilingual language development and neuroscience using behavioral,
psychophysiological, and neuroimaging methods. His language research
program is focused on developing and supporting research that advances
understanding of normative language development from infancy through early
adulthood. This includes understanding language and communication processes
in bilingual and biliteracy development particularly among young dual language
learners for whom English is a second language.

Dr. Alvarez received his Ed.D. in Human Development and Psychology from
Harvard University. Prior to his position at NICHD, he completed a postdoctoral
fellowship at the National Institute for Mental Health, and served as an assistant
professor at the University of Tulsa and the Laureate Institute for Brain Research.

Dr. Alvarez's current responsibilities include advising within NICHD
and the NIH regarding issues related to language development, and working
with potential and funded researchers in child language, providing advice,
encouragement, and direction related to research grant focus, development
and preparation.