Miriam van Mersbergen

Miriam van Mersbergen is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Memphis where she teaches Anatomy & Physiology of the Speech Mechanism, Voice Disorders, Advanced Clinical Instrumentation for Voice, and Dysphagia.

She began her academic career studying music and communication arts at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After a brief career in music, she returned to academia and studied speech language pathology and vocology at The University of Iowa under the direction of Kittie Verdolini and Ingo Titze.

She worked as a voice therapist in Chicago and Milwaukee before commencing doctoral studies in speech language hearing sciences and psychology at the University of Minnesota under the direction of Chirstopher Patrick and Leslie Glaze. She has authored over 35 research articles, investigating emotional and cognitive influences on voice production where she integrates electroencephalographic, psychophysiological, acoustic, and aerodynamic measures to capture mind, body, voice interactions.

She is an active member in the American Speech Language Hearing Association, where she is on the coordinating committee for Voice and Upper Airway disorders, the National Association for Teachers of Singing, the Voice and Speech Trainers Association, the American Psychological Association, and the Society for Psychophysiological Research.

She maintains an active clinical career specializing in voice, breathing, and cough disorders and continually yearns for more time to pursue her singing career.