Speak Out February 2018

Dr Caroline Bowen AM Honorary Division of the Order of Australia

On Australia Day 2018 Dr Caroline Bowen was made a Member in the Honorary Division of the Order of Australia. Speech Pathology Australia submitted its nomination of Dr Bowen in March 2015. What follows is the wording from the Association’s nomination outlining “how the nominee [Dr Bowen] has made an outstanding contribution to the community” and “why the person should be singled out and recognised by a national award”.

++++

Dr Caroline Bowen has an outstanding record of achievement and service to the Australian and international community through her work as a speech pathologist. She is regarded as a foremost international expert in both the clinical field of children’s speech sound disorders and the use of technology to improve speech pathology practice. Dr Bowen has achieved national and international acclaim for her work and skills within the profession, and is a Certified Practising Member of Speech Pathology Australia – the organisation that represents the speech pathology profession in Australia. In 2014, Dr Bowen was awarded an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists in London, United Kingdom. In 2011, she was made a Life Member of Speech Pathology Australia. In 2008, Dr Bowen was made a fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. All these awards recognise professional or scientific achievement, and are bestowed for outstanding contributions to the profession of speech-language pathology. Dr Bowen has the distinction of being the only Australian to be awarded Fellowship/Life Membership to these three speech pathology professional associations and is one of an elite few, in the world, to have received such recognition. In 2000, Dr Bowen was awarded the prestigious Speech Pathology Australia Elinor Wray Award for services to the speech pathology profession, and in recognition of her status as a speech pathologist, Dr Bowen presented the annual Elizabeth Usher Memorial Lecture at the 2003 Speech Pathology Australia convention. Dr Bowen is a founding member of the NSW Private Speech Pathologists’ Association and was made a Life Member of the Association in 1986. Dr Caroline Bowen is a regular speaker, presenter and lecturer, having delivered more than 130 Continuing Professional Development events in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, the Philippines, and the United States of America. In 2005, she undertook the National Tour series of workshops for Speech Pathology Australia and in 2014 conducted a similar series of 27 workshops in five countries and six Australian cities.

Dr Bowen retains on-going appointments as an Honorary Associate in Linguistics at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia; and as an Honorary Research Fellow in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. Dr Bowen commenced work as a speech pathologist in the New South Wales public sector in 1970. In 1976 she co-founded a private speech pathology practice in Sydney, Australia, which she administered for 28 years. During this time she assessed and treated thousands of children and adolescents with a range of voice, speech, language, fluency, hearing and social communication challenges; and adults with voice disorders. This practice provided her with an appreciation of the important role families play in assessment and therapy, and motivated her to complete a Diploma in Family Therapy from the Family Therapy Institute of Australia, Sydney, in 1989. In 1996, Dr Bowen completed her doctoral studies in the area of intervention for children with phonological disorders (a common

10

February 2018 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

Speak Out