Danny is a native of Brazil where she completed her clinical training. She received her Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from MGH-Institute of Health Professions in 2000. She obtained her CCC-SLP at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2001. Danny has practiced across the age continuum and settings, but the majority of her clinical career has been in acute inpatient care. Her main interests are diagnosis and management of swallowing disorders following acute surgery, trauma, solid organ transplantation, airway reconstruction and critically ill patients including ventilator dependent patients. Current research interests include advancing our understanding of pharyngeal function and its impact on swallow efficiency.. In her spare time Danny enjoys being outdoors, running, coffee shop crawling and eating.
Danny is currently pursuing her PhD in Rehabilitation Science at Massachusetts General Hospital – Institute of Health Professions. She joined the Aerodigestive Research Core at the University of Florida in 2019 for an extended research externship to complete her doctoral dissertation research study under the mentorship and guidance of Dr. Emily Plowman. As part of this, Danny is completing three research studies with Dr. Plowman that include: 1) examining the stability and test-retest reliability of anterior/superior hyoid displacement during swallowing in healthy adults, 2) Determining the impact of a HRM catheter on swallowing kinematics in healthy swallowing and 3) Determining hyoid kinematics on swallowing safety in individuals with ALS.