Holly Storkel, Ph.D., joined NIDCD in August 2022 to serve as Program Officer for the Language Program, part of NIDCD’s Division of Scientific Programs. Dr. Storkel was previously a professor in the Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders Department at the University of Kansas.
Dr. Storkel’s expertise in language and language disorders includes two decades of conducting NIDCD-funded research on sound and word learning in children with phonological or language disorders. Her work has included theoretical and experimental research to understand the typical process of language learning and to uncover the nature of language disorders; clinical trials to develop behavioral treatments for children with developmental language disorders; and a focus on pragmatic clinical trials and implementation science to move treatments into real-world settings.
Her extensive experience in judging the scientific merit of research in language and language disorders stems in part from four associate editor/editor-in-chief positions with journals, two terms as a standing panel member on NIH study sections, and work with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation grant and awards program. She also has ample experience mentoring early-career investigators.
Dr. Storkel received a bachelor's degree in speech and hearing sciences from Indiana University in Bloomington, and a master's degree in speech-language pathology and a doctorate in speech and hearing sciences from the University of Washington in Seattle. She completed a clinical fellowship year during her doctoral program by working in a private practice specializing in language disorders in children. She was a postdoctoral fellow in speech and hearing sciences and cognitive psychology at Indiana University before joining the University of Kansas faculty in 2001.