Samantha Shune, PhD, CCC-SLP is an assistant professor in Communication Disorders and Sciences and research scientist in the Prevention Science Institute at the University of Oregon. Her research program is aimed at mitigating the deleterious effects of both healthy and pathologic aging on the eating process. Drawing on her clinical background in medical speech-language pathology, she is focused on integrating the physiologic components of swallowing with a more holistic view of the mealtime process (e.g., cognition, communication, socialization/social relationships). She is particularly interested in how the translation of such research into clinical practice can promote both mealtime safety and improved quality of life for older adults and across a variety of patient populations