The Aphasia Institute Community is thrilled to announce that Dr. Aura Kagan, our esteemed colleague, friend, and mentor, has been appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada (C.M.). This prestigious honor celebrates her exceptional contributions to Canadian society and her groundbreaking work in the field of aphasia; a language disorder usually as a result of stroke, brain injury or brain illness that affects a person’s ability to communicate.
Dr. Kagan is one of Canada’s national treasures. Her tireless advocacy for communicative access, compassion, innovative thinking, and unwavering dedication have forever changed the landscape for people with aphasia and their families—not only in Canada but across the world. Dr. Kagan served as the Executive Director of the Aphasia Institute from 2002 to 2022 and continues to serve as Executive Advisor, Research and Strategy.
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Dr. Kagan joined the Aphasia Institute in 1986 as its first full-time speech-language pathologist and immediately began addressing the real-world challenges faced by individuals with aphasia and their families. One of her groundbreaking contributions is the development of Supported Conversation for Adults with Aphasia (SCA™), an evidence-based approach to reducing language barriers, designed to empower individuals with aphasia, and recognized in the Canadian Stroke Best Practice Guidelines. SCA™ is now used globally by clinicians and trained volunteers, helping thousands of individuals with aphasia and their families each year.
Dr. Kagan’s academic contributions have been equally impressive, and she has received numerous awards for her contributions. She was named a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association in 2003, received the Ontario MOHLTC Innovations Award in 2006, the Audrey Holland Award in 2017, and the UK Robin Tavistock Award in 2020.
The Aphasia Institute is proud to celebrate Dr. Kagan’s remarkable achievements, and we continue to build on her spirit of innovation through our direct services, ground-breaking research, and innovative health care provider training programs that train clinicians from all over the world and help people with aphasia and their families learn how to communicate effectively and begin to navigate their own lives again, one conversation at a time.
Congratulations, Dr. Kagan, on this well-deserved recognition!
https://www.gg.ca/en/appointments-order-canada-december-2024