Professor Ruth Martin is the Associate Vice-Provost, School of Graduate and Post-doctoral Studies, and Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Physiology and Pharmacology, Otolaryngology, Neuroscience, and Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The University of Western Ontario in Canada. Federally funded, her research program is directed towards (i) understanding the neural basis of swallowing through brain imaging and kinematic studies, and (ii) developing new approaches to the rehabilitation of swallowing and other upper airway health problems.. Professor Martin is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. She is the inventor of the Abilex* device for which she was awarded the 2018 Vanguard Innovator of the Year Award.