Investigator Voice Center Research Laboratories, Mass General Research Institute

Professor of Surgery Harvard Medical School

airway disorders; laryngoscopy; larynx artificial; phonation; speech acoustics; speech alaryngeal; speech rehabilitation; vocal cords; voice; voice disorders; voice quality

Robert E. Hillman, PhD, CCC-SLP is currently the Co-Director and Research Director of the Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Director of Research Programs and Adjunct Professor (Communication Sciences and Disorders) MGH Institute of Health Professions.

Dr. Hillman received his Bachelor’s (1974) and Master’s (1975) degrees in speech-language pathology from the Pennsylvania State University where he was also voted the 1974 Ernest B. McCoy Award as the outstanding senior scholar-athlete. After becoming clinically certified in speech-language pathology, Dr. Hillman went on to receive a doctorate in speech science from Purdue University in 1980.

Since receiving his doctorate, Dr. Hillman has been awarded over 25 grants from governmental and private sources to support his research. He has had research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 1984.

His research and over 100 publications have focused on mechanisms for normal and disordered voice production, evaluation and development of methods for alaryngeal (laryngectomy) speech rehabilitation, development of objective physiologic and acoustic measures of voice and speech production, and evaluation of methods used to treat voice disorders.

In the past, Dr. Hillman has been actively involved in the design and review of research programs at NIH, having served on the “Expert Panel on Voice and Voice Disorders to Update the National Strategic Research Plan" for the National Institute for Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, as a project site visitor for the National Cancer Institute, and as a core member of the Motor Function and Speech Rehabilitation Study Section at the NIH Center for Scientific Review.

He has also served as an editorial consultant and on the editorial boards of several professional journals, and has been an invited speaker at numerous national and international meetings (over 40 invited/keynote lectures).