Health care professionals from across the country gathered at USF Health July 10-11 for hands-on training in advanced techniques used to evaluate voice and swallowing disorders.
Hosted by the USF Health Institute for Voice and Hearing Innovation, the third annual Strobe & FEES course trained speech-language pathologists, physicians and students in videostroboscopy and flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES).
This year’s course marked the first time the institute hosted the event in its new facility, which opened in February 2026 as the nation’s first center to bring together multidisciplinary patient care and clinical research for disorders of communication and swallowing in a single, fully integrated space.
“The Institute for Voice and Hearing is just a unique space; there is no place like it in the world,” said Stephanie Watts, PhD, co-founder of the institute and chief of speech pathology in USF Health's Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery.
During the two-day course, lectures on anatomy, physiology and endoscopic techniques were paired with practicums, where participants practiced passing scopes while working one-on-one with faculty.
Speech pathologist, Megan Urbano, (left), trains Medeline Pakar on a flexible scope during the training course.
More than 50 USF Communication Sciences and Disorders students volunteered to serve as mock patients, giving attendees the opportunity to apply their training while providing students — who are training to be speech-language pathologists themselves — with firsthand exposure to the procedures.
Madeline Pekar, a speech-language pathologist and acute care clinical fellow at Tampa General Hospital, spent the conference practicing flexible scope and stroboscopic techniques.
“I think this conference has been a great learning opportunity,” Pekar said. “The skills will help better evaluate swallowing safety at the bedside of patients who are too ill to be transported to radiology.”
Laryngologists, Dr. Yassmeen Abdel-Aty,MD (left), and Johnathan Brown, MD, lead a discussion during the training course.
Trevor Pharr, a fourth-year USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, worked in small groups with faculty to scope real patients for the first time.
Pharr is spending a research year at the institute under the mentorship of laryngologist Yaël Bensoussan, MD, and plans to pursue a career in otolaryngology with a specialization in laryngology.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to be at this school at this time and to be part of such an exciting lab” he said.