Back to Home Skip Navigation LinksBoys Town National Research Hospital - Life-Changing Care, Research & Education News Karla McGregor, Director of Boys Town Hospital’s Word Learning  Laboratory, Has Been Selected for an ASHA Lifetime Achievement Award
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Karla McGregor, Director of Boys Town Hospital’s Word Learning  Laboratory, Has Been Selected for an ASHA Lifetime Achievement Award

Thursday, September 19, 2024

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has chosen Karla McGregor, Ph.D., lead scientist at the Childhood Deafness, Language and Learning Center at Boys Town National Research Hospital and Director of the Word Learning Laboratory, as their next recipient of the Kawana Award for Lifetime Achievement in Publications.

Named for the former director of ASHA publications, Alfred K, Kawana, this Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to scholars ASHA believes have a sustained history of exemplary publications with journal contributions spanning at least 10 years that are deserving in educational, scientific or clinical value.

Dr. McGregor’s nomination cited her decades of scholarship, research contributions to ASHA and other scholarly journals, as well as service to ASHA journals and other research-focused programs sponsored by ASHA.

“I am very surprised and incredibly honored to receive this award,” Dr. McGregor said. “When I look at the list of the previous recipients, I see the names of people who have been my mentors and people who are truly respected in the field, so I feel very humbled to be a part of that list.”

In addition to decades of scientific research into word learning in children, Dr. McGregor has made immense strides in making developmental language disorder (DLD) a more readily recognized and diagnosed developmental disorder. She is also a co-founder of the website DLD and Me.

“Dr. McGregor’s research on developmental language disorder (DLD) has had a transformative impact on the field of communication disorders,” stated Ryan McCreery, Vice President of Research at Boys Town National Research Hospital. “The Kawana Award recognizes not only the volume of her contributions to our knowledge about DLD, but the quality and clinical impact of her research on the people that we serve. Dr. McGregor’s work is an exemplar of rigorous science that can change how we provide care to our patients. To receive this recognition from the largest organization of speech-language pathologists and audiologists in the world is an incredible accomplishment.”

The award will be given to Dr. McGregor on December 5th, during the Researcher-Academic Town Meeting, at ASHA’s 2024 National Convention. Dr. McGregor is the first Boys Town researcher to receive the prestigious Kawana Award for Lifetime Achievement in Publications.