Dysphagia in Asia

This past summer, Dr. Catriona Steele was invited to present Dysphagia workshops in China and Korea as part of the BFE Learn From the Best initiative. Dr. Steele is a scientist and Director of the Swallowing Rehabilitation Research Laboratory at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. Her teaching experience includes face-to-face and web-based University courses, and many workshops and invited lectures across North America, Europe, China, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

Dr. Catriona Steele and Dr. Zulin Dou

Dysphagia Workshop – China - July 17, 2010

The workshop in China was hosted by Dr. Zulin Dou, Director of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Sun Yat-sen University in Gunagzhou and Dr. Hongmei Wen, Ph.D. in Neurology and associate professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University. Dr. Dou is also the author of the book Assessment and Treatment of Dysphagia for which Dr. Wen has written the section on sEMG.


Dr. Steele presented her half-day workshop on evidence-based practice in swallowing assessment and Dysphagia rehabilitation with a focus on sEMG biofeedback to 70 physicians and therapists. Earlier in the day, she had the opportunity to consult with Dr. Wen on several challenging cases and looks forward to the potential of future collaboration with Dr. Dou, whose interests include the use of biofeedback in psychology and continence/pelvic floor muscle rehabilitation as well as Dysphagia.


Special thanks to the hosts for their warm welcome and for having the presentation materials translated to Chinese. We would also like to thank Vish Medical for its financial support of this event.

Dr. Steele with members of the KASLP

Dysphagia Workshop – Korea – July 24, 2010

Dr. Steele’s workshop in Seoul was graciously hosted by Miseon Kwon, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Research Professor, Dept. of Neurology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine and was sponsored by the Korean Association of Speech Language Pathologists (KASLP). Also present was Dr. Do-Heung Ko, a prominent researcher in speech science and president of the KASLP. The half-day workshop was attended by 200 Speech Language Pathologists.

Sincere thanks to the Dr. Kwon for providing a superb translator and for all her work to make the day a success. We would also like to thank Thought Technology for its sponsorship of this event.

Online Dysphagia Training

Dr. Steele teaches several BFE online classes on Dysphagia. During monthly “grand rounds” sessions participants are offered the opportunity to present case studies to the group and to consult with Dr. Steele. Click here for more information on the Dysphagia software suite and online classes.