Nidhi Mahendra, PhD

Nidhi Mahendra

Associate Professor & Chair, Communicative Disorders & Sciences 

Nidhi Mahendra is a teacher-scholar and leader who is passionate about improving the quality of life of persons with cognitive-communication disorders through contributing to science, service, equity design, community engagement, and international collaboration.

Education

  • Ph.D., Speech Language Hearing Science, minor in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Arizona
  • M.Sc., Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology, University of Mysore
  • B.Sc., Speech and Hearing Sciences, All India Institute of Medical Sciences

Recent Publications

  • Mahendra, N. (2019). Dementia: Concepts and contemporary practice (pp. 237-272). In M. Kimbarow (Ed). Cognitive-Communication Disorders (3rd Edition). San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing.
  • Mahendra, N. (2019). Integrating content on LGBTQ issues in course on cultural and linguistic diversity: Instructional design and outcomes. Perspectives on Cultural and Linguistic Diversity, 4, 384-394.

Recent Presentations

  • Mahendra, N. (July 2020). Designing for equity: Big, bold thinking for speech-language pathologists in 2020, Bilingual Therapies Symposium, Austin, Texas.
  • Mahendra, N. (April 2020). The hypokinetic dysarthria of Parkinson’s disease. Guest Lecture, Graduate Seminar on Motor Speech Disorders, San Jose State University, San Jose.
  • Mahendra, N. (October 2019). The aging to dementia continuum: Critical roles for speech-language pathologists and audiologists. 2019 Van Riper Lecture, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
  • Mahendra, N. (October, 2019). Investigating communicative access in advance directive planning for persons with aphasia. 2019 Academic Symposium for Palliative Care Education and Research, San Diego, California.
  • Kohlbry, P., Mahendra, N., Schapmire, T., & Shapiro, A. (October 2019). Setting your personal mission. Invited Plenary Session, 2019 Academic Symposium for Palliative Care Education and Research, San Diego, California.
  • Mahendra, N. (April, 2019). Spartan Aphasia Research Clinic turns two: Lessons learned from implementing a life participation approach for aphasia. CHAMP Spring Conference, San Jose, California.
  • Mahendra, N. (March 2019). Advancing inclusion and social justice in aphasia care: Three things you can do. Invited Presentation, 2019 Aphasia Access Leadership Summit, Baltimore, Maryland.
  • Mahendra, N. (February 2019). Global cultural competence: Going beyond the Certificate of Clinical Competence. Keynote Presentation, Annual Conference, California State University-Sacramento, California.

Noteworthy Grants and Awards

  • Principal Investigator, Testing the Speakaboo app in Hindi - International collaboration for enhancing the assessment of speech disorders in bilingual children. American Speech Language Hearing Association.  Awarded 2019-2020.
  • Principal Investigator, Rehabilitation, Awareness, and Community Education for Stroke (RACES).  El Camino Hospital/Health Care District.  2018-Present.
  • Principal Investigator, Communicative access in advance directive planning for persons with aphasia.  Mary and Gary West Foundation.  Awarded 2018-2019.

Online Resources

Areas of Research Interest

  • Aphasia
  • Dimentia
  • Health equity
  • Healthy aging
  • Multiculturalism
  • Palliative care
  • Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL)

Recommended Reading