EVENTS
Introduction to the Voice Clinic and Endoscopy
Event speakers
Nick Gibbins
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Mr Nicholas Gibbins FRCS (ORL-HNS), MD
Mr Nicholas Gibbins is a Consultant Laryngologist and Head & Neck Surgeon at the University Hospital Lewisham. Trained in London and the South-East of England, Nick has built a reputation as an excellent surgeon, teacher and lecturer. Patient outcomes are a key focus for Nick and, along with the whole of the renowned voice team at Lewisham, has built the largest Voice Database in Europe to analyse outcomes.
His key interests in the voice are the diagnosis and treatment of vocal fold scars and sulci, and the care and treatment of the professional voice. More recently he has been sought after to lecture on musculoskeletal problems that can either originate in the larynx causing muscle tension imbalance or that arising distally and effect the biomechanics of the voice. He has built a team that can address all these issues that includes speech therapists, osteopaths, vocal rehabilitation coaches, kinetic chain specialists, gastroenterologists, neurologists and more.
He writes and publishes regularly and is the current Editor of the Chapter on the Larynx for Gray’s Anatomy (43rd Ed). He is proud to be the current Honorary Secretary of the British Laryngological Association and to be President Elect. His term of office begins in 2025.
Natalie Watson
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Natalie Watson is a Laryngology Consultant at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust with a passion for laryngology and singing. She has a Masters in Clinical Education, for which she was awarded a distinction from King’s College London. Natalie qualified with two distinctions from Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ Medical School and was awarded the prestigious Jelf medal. She obtained an intercalated Honours BSc in Neuroscience having received the Health Foundation Student Research Fellowship.
Currently, she is in the PERFORM working group looking at respirable particles emitted during singing, woodwind and brass instruments, exercise, speech and language therapy exercises and inputting this data into computational fluid dynamic modelling. This project is funded by an EPSRC Grant, sponsored by Public Health England and results directly communicated to the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Tori Burnay
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Tori is the clinical lead speech and language therapist in voice at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals NHS Trust. This role involves a significant commitment to the development of the laryngology provision, including patient pathway development, clinical innovation, training, research, and audit. She has considerable experience in training SLTs at undergraduate and post-graduate levels, running courses through the RSCLT CENs and independently, as well as being a lecturer at UCL on the Speech Therapy MSc. She provides clinical supervision to voice specialist SLTs and other voice professionals and delivers lectures at national and international conferences. She has been a member of the British Laryngological Association since its inception and an integral member of the British Voice Association, sitting on the Education Working Party for nine years, coordinating many conferences, collaborating with laryngology professionals, academics, and the wider MDT, across the globe. She chairs the annual BVA Voice Clinics Forum and the Vocal Health Committee for The British Association for Performing Arts Medicine.
Tori states “It is an honour to join the BLA council as the SLT Representative for the next term to focus on extending the wonderful work of the association, bringing developments in the field to the membership and encouraging dissemination of information of existing and new treatment approaches linking organisations across the globe with a therapeutic perspective.”
Aphrodite Iacovidou
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Ms Aphrodite Iacovidou is an Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) consultant surgeon practising at Imperial NHS Trust, London’s National Centre for Airway Reconstruction within Charing Cross Hospital. Her primary focus lies in laryngology and airway disorders, with a particular emphasis on laryngeal pathology, airway issues, subglottic stenosis, voice disorders and laryngotracheal reconstruction.
Ms Iacovidou runs a weekly Voice clinic at St Mary’s Hospital and operates an office-based phonosurgery/interventional clinic at Charing Cross Hospital.
Ms Iacovidou received her specialised training at some of London’s leading healthcare institutions, including GOSH (Great Ormond Street Hospital), UCLH (University College London Hospital), Northwick Park Hospital, and Imperial NHS Trust. Her training in these diverse environments emphasised the importance of a multidisciplinary team approach to patient care and has equipped her with a wide range of skills to diagnose and treat issues that her patients present with.
She has received awards including BMA research award, Rowena Ryan Best Project award, BAETS best presentation awards and Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh award for her research work. She remains committed to continuous professional development and has expanded her expertise by attending international meetings and courses. She is undergoing continuous work in research with collaborations with other international centres and Imperial College London. She has been awarded Clinical Teacher for Imperial College Medical School.
She performs more than 500 operations per year, both endoscopically and open surgical procedures as well as clinic based operations. She specialises in microlaryngoscopy and laser surgery, photosurgery, airway/tracheal operations, thyroplasty and vocal fold medialisation procedures and laryngotracheal reconstructions. She also offers laryngeal re innervation procedures to eligible patients.
Abi Simpson
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Abi Simpson is the Clinical Lead Specialist Speech and Language Therapist in ENT Laryngology, Airway Reconstruction and Voice in the Complex Laryngology service at Imperial College NHS Trust; where she also leads the voice service. Alongside Professor Guri Sandhu, she runs a tertiary voice clinic, a professional voice therapeutic clinic with Pamela Hey ( Royal Opera) and is part of the multidisciplinary National Airway Reconstruction team.
She has a particular interest in professional voice, laryngeal biomechanics, spasmodic dysphonia and vocal outcomes following laryngotracheal reconstruction.
Abi has a busy private practice and is an external clinical supervisor in voice for two London NHS trusts. She is also on the faculty of the Royal College of Music, lecturing on the MSc course in Performance Science.
Abi has nearly twenty years experience as a speech and language therapist. She has a background in forensic acoustic voice analysis and has previously worked on a number of high profile legal cases including those relating to national security. She has postgraduate training in vocal pedagogy and singing teaching and extensive experience in treating professional voice users, including touring and west-end singers, actors and those in public service, both nationally and internationally.
Abi sits on the British Voice Association Education working party, is faculty member of the British Laryngological Association Voice Clinic course and is one of the course directors for the upcoming Imperial Voice course.