Callier Leader Receives Speech-Language-Hearing Group’s Top Honor

Dr. Thomas Campbell, executive director of the Callier Center for Communication Disorders and a professor in UT Dallas’ School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS), received the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (ASHA) highest honor during the group’s national convention this fall. 

Campbell was awarded the Honors of the Association, which recognizes ASHA members for their distinguished contributions to the discipline of communication sciences and disorders. Members nominate individuals whose contributions have enhanced or altered the course of the profession. 

“We are very proud of this recognition by his colleagues of Tom’s career-long contributions,” said Dr. Bert Moore, dean of BBS and Aage and Margareta Møller Distinguished Professor. “We are well aware of manifold contributions that he makes to the profession, and having him lead the efforts of the Callier Center, along with the outstanding faculty and students at Callier, puts us at the very forefront of communication sciences.” 

Dr. Christopher Moore, dean of Boston University’s Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, nominated Campbell for the honor. 

“Succinctly summarizing Tom’s diverse and influential contributions is an extremely difficult challenge. He has exhibited a rare capacity to excel in clinical and professional service, administration, scholarship and community building,” he said. 

“He is the consummate professional and indefatigable cheerleader for speech, language and hearing,” Moore wrote in his nomination letter. “He constantly represents, promotes and integrates our concerns into those of the larger scientific, academic, philanthropic and clinical communities. I sincerely cannot think of another member of our profession who leads so effectively over such a broad range of activities.” 

Campbell has published more than 80 papers in top research journals as well as scholarly chapters in textbooks summarizing advances in the discipline. 

“Dr. Campbell has made significant and sustained contributions to advancing the knowledge base of our field,” Dr. Jon Miller, emeritus professor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, wrote in a letter to ASHA supporting the nomination. 

With his colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh, Campbell studied the use of ear tubes and their effect on speech and language development. The federally funded research established that ear infections do not have a lasting effect on speech and language development. 

Campbell’s research on pediatric speech and language has been funded almost continuously for the past 25 years by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His NIH-sponsored research has included projects in traumatic brain injury in children, the impact of lead exposure on speech and language development, and the physiology of speech development in children with speech delay. 

As the Ludwig A. Michael, MD Executive Director of the Callier Center and the Sara T. Martineau Professor in Communication Disorders, Campbell advances the research, student training and clinical service missions of the center, as well as facilitates collaborative efforts with partners inside and outside of UT Dallas. 

In 2008, Campbell established the Callier Postdoctoral Fellowship in Communication Disorders. The program has produced six fellows, who have gone on to work for major research universities across the nation. Under Campbell’s purview, the Callier Prize was instituted in 2009. The prize recognizes individuals from around the world for their leadership in fostering scientific advances in the diagnosis and treatment of communication disorders. In 2012, Campbell founded the Communication Technology Center, which serves as a catalyst for interdisciplinary collaboration and research, and as an incubator for technology projects focusing on communication disorders. 

Campbell has also worked on numerous committees and boards, including the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences, and is a trustee on the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation board. He has also served as a reviewer for the NIH and ASHA, as a member of a research advisory board for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as a referee for numerous journals, and as a member of national consensus panels for childhood speech disorders and for outcomes research in pediatric traumatic brain injury. 

“Having worked on committees under Tom’s leadership, I can attest that he is the linchpin of the groups he chairs,” said Dr. Connie Tompkins, ASHA Fellow and Honors recipient from the University of Pittsburgh, who also nominated Campbell. 

“He wields an amiable manner, deep commitment, disarming humor, and supreme problem-solving skills to maximum effect to move people toward envisioning, tackling and achieving big goals.” 

Campbell is spearheading an initiative that will result in the opening of the Callier Autism Center at the Dallas location in 2015. He is also leading the Callier Center expansion effort in Richardson. The new 50,000-square-foot facility, scheduled to break ground in the spring, will provide the space necessary to sustain research, allow for the growing student population and meet the demand for patient care in North Texas. 

Campbell, who joined UT Dallas in 2006, said that he has been very fortunate over the past 35 years to participate in a variety of clinical, research and leadership activities. 

“The supportive colleagues, students and patients I have worked with have given me great satisfaction and have resulted in lasting friendships. I feel very privileged and honored to be part of this profession,” he said.