Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups (Perspectives) is pleased to announce the selection of Danai Kasambira Fannin, PhD, CCC-SLP and Ishara Ramkissoon, PhD, CCC-A, as incoming editors-in-chief of the journal. Drs. Fannin and Ramkissoon will begin their term on January 1, 2025, succeeding Celeste Domsch Ph.D., CCC-SLP and Dawn Konrad-Martin, PhD, CCC-A, respectively. They will join Kendrea L. Garand, PhD, CScD, CCC-SLP, BCS-S and Monique T. Mills, PhD, CCC-SLP as editors-in-chief of the journal.

Dr. Fannin’s Background

Dr. Fannin is an associate professor in the department of communication sciences and disorders at North Carolina Central University. She is also an adjunct associate professor in the department of head and neck surgery and communication sciences at Duke University School of Medicine.

Dr. Fannin earned her master’s degree in speech-language pathology at Saint Louis University in 2003, and earned her PhD from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2008. She has served a variety of roles in Special Interest Group 14 since 2009, most recently as editor from 2021 –2024. In 2021 and 2022, she served as a guest editor on two forums in the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (AJSLP) on increasing diversity in the communication sciences and disorders workforce.

Dr. Fannin has published more than 25 articles, including work in AJSLP, the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research (JSLHR), Language, Speech, and Hearing Service in Schools (LSHSS), Perspectives, and The ASHA Leader. Her research interests include child language disorders and pragmatics, health equity across the lifespan, and determinants of early identification and access to autism services for culturally and linguistically diverse children in underserved areas. Dr. Fannin also promotes dissemination of strategies to diversify the workforce through enhanced recruitment and retention efforts.

Dr. Ramkissoon’s Background

Dr. Ramkissoon is an associate professor in the department of hearing, speech, and language sciences at the Gallaudet University. In addition, she directs the Multicultural Research Lab, focused on multicultural concerns, aging, auditory assessment, and audiology curricular review.

Dr. Ramkissoon earned her master’s degree in audiology at the University Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1994, and she later earned her PhD in speech and hearing science from the same university in 2005. She served as an editor for Perspectives from 2020–2022.

Dr. Ramkissoon has published more than 25 articles, including work in the American Journal of Audiology (AJA), JSLHR, and Perspectives, as well as the Journal of the American Academy of Audiology and Communication Disorders Quarterly and her work has hundreds of citations. Her research interests include cultural responsiveness in the profession, public health audiology, and international engagement.

About Perspectives

Perspectives publishes peer-reviewed research and scholarly articles that help bridge the gap between research and clinical practice in the discipline. Perspectives has four editors-in-chief serving 20 Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Dr. Fannin will oversee content from the following SIGs:

SIG 10: Issues in Higher Education

SIG 11: Administration and Supervision

SIG 14: Cultural and Linguistic Diversity

SIG 17: Global Issues in Communication Sciences and Related Disorders

SIG 18: Telepractice

SIG 20: Counseling

Dr. Ramkissoon will oversee content from the following SIGs:

SIG 6: Hearing and Balance Sciences: Research and Clinical Applications

SIG 7: Auditory Rehabilitation

SIG 8: Public Health Audiology

SIG 9: Pediatric Hearing and Hearing Disorders

Danai Kasambira Fannin can be reached at dfannin@nccu.edu. Ishara Ramkissoon can be reached at ishara.ramkissoon@gallaudet.edu. They welcome your input and suggestions on how Perspectives can best serve the needs of both researchers and practicing clinicians as well as the discipline of communication sciences and disorders at large.