Associate Professor Debbie Phyland
PhD, MAppSc (Research), BAppSc (Speech Pathology)
Dr Debbie Phyland is a speech pathologist with more than 35 years’ experience across medical speech pathology, voice, research and university teaching. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University and the University of Melbourne, and Director of Clinical Research in ENT and Head & Neck Surgery at Monash Health.
Debbie’s clinical career began in major Melbourne teaching hospitals, including The Repatriation General Hospital, Austin Hospital and The Alfred, where she worked across a broad range of medical speech pathology services during the first 15 years of her career. This extensive medical foundation has shaped her clinical reasoning and problem-solving approach and remains central to her multidisciplinary practice.
Her career has subsequently spanned clinical practice, research and academia. She completed a Master’s degree in research before undertaking her PhD through the Department of Surgery at Monash University, completed in 2014. She has held academic and teaching roles at La Trobe University, James Cook University and the University of Melbourne, teaching across medical speech pathology and voice.
In 2002, Debbie was awarded a Sir William Kilpatrick Churchill Fellowship to investigate the prevention, assessment and management of occupationally induced vocal injuries, undertaking a fellowship program in the USA and Europe. In 2016, she was awarded a Garnett-Passe and Rodney Williams Research Fellowship to investigate the relationship between vocal load, inflammation and swelling of the vocal folds.
Since 2014, Debbie has worked within ENT and Head & Neck Surgery at Monash Health, including as Director of Clinical Research, and has contributed to multidisciplinary services for complex voice and upper airway disorders, including VCD/ILO.
Debbie is a co-founder and partner of the Melbourne Voice Analysis Centre (MVAC), established in 1992. Her clinical work encompasses voice, speech, swallowing and upper airway disorders, including neurological speech and voice disorders, neurogenic and functional voice disorders, muscle tension dysphonia, phonotraumatic lesions, occupational voice disorders, singers’ voices, upper airway dysfunction and voice outcomes following laryngeal surgery. At MVAC, Debbie sees patients jointly with the Centre’s laryngologists, integrating detailed perceptual and acoustic voice assessment with laryngological examination and videostroboscopy as part of a combined multidisciplinary assessment.
As well as being an owner and part of the MVAC team, Debbie is the principal speech pathologist (SP) for her private practice Voice Medicine Australia (a SP team providing assessment and therapy for voice, cough, swallowing and other laryngeal, speech and neurological conditions). Her approach is grounded in bringing together the clinical history, examination, physiology, voice function and voice use to understand the individual and guide management. She places particular value on ensuring that the story tells the picture. Debbie also works extensively with professional and occupational voice users, including performers, broadcasters, media presenters, sports commentators and teachers. Her background as a singer and performer provides additional insight into the technical and occupational demands of voice use in performance.
Debbie has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers, with research spanning voice assessment and outcomes, occupational and singers’ voice, laryngeal pathology, vocal load and inflammation, and neurological and upper airway disorders.
She is actively involved in professional education and mentoring, providing workshops, clinical mentoring and training for speech pathologists in Australia and internationally, particularly in voice and complex clinical assessment and management.
Debbie has held significant professional leadership roles, including President of the Laryngology Society of Australasia, twice serving on the Board of the Australian Voice Association, and Chair of the Voice Committee of the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP). She is currently Vice-President for Membership and Partnerships of IALP, an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing and sub-committee lead for ‘The Women in Science’ committee of The Voice Foundation.
Her contribution to speech pathology and voice has been recognised through the 2010 Elinor Wray Award for Innovation, Promotion & Outstanding Contribution to Speech Pathology; the 2012 Victorian Green Room Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Melbourne Stage, recognising her contribution to the prevention of voice problems among professional performers; the 2014 Australian Voice Association Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Australian Voice Community; and Fellowship of Speech Pathology Australia for General Excellence and Contribution to the Profession and Association. In 2024, she received the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing Victorian Branch Recognition Award for Outstanding Sustained Contribution to the Singing Community, and in 2025 was recognised as an Honoured Member of IALP.
Debbie is a member of AVA, LSA, IALP, IAP, AusPath, The Voice Foundation, IATVS, ASHA (international affiliate) and ANATS.