Ph.D. Graduate Works to Understand Stress, Anxiety in People With Aphasia

ATLANTA — Hannah Griffey (Ph.D. ’25) remembers the first time she worked with a patient who had aphasia, a language disorder that occurs after a stroke that affects their reading, writing, verbal expression and ability to understand others.

“I didn’t have the tools I needed to help him navigate his mental health challenges, and that moment became the catalyst for my research agenda,” she said. “I’m drawn to working with this population because they are highly aware of their loss and incredibly motivated to reconnect.”

Griffey looked for a doctoral program in speech-language pathology and connected with Jacqueline Laures-Gore, chair of the College of Education & Human Development’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, about Laures-Gore’s work with people who have aphasia and her own research interests.

That conversation solidified her decision to attend Georgia State University, where she focused her dissertation research on stress and anxiety for people with post-stroke aphasia.

“Because of the difficulty people with aphasia have when communicating, it is hard to assess their mental health,” she said. “I essentially asked four questions related to whether we can distinguish between stress and anxiety in post-stroke aphasia, whether proxy reports are accurate, how people with aphasia describe their lived experiences of stress and anxiety in an interview, and whether there are other predictors of what their stress level might be.”

During her doctoral studies, Griffey served as a mentee in the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s Mentoring Academic-Research Careers program and was selected for the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences’ Student Fellowship.

She was also a student fellow in the university’s Center for Research on the Challenges of Acquiring Language and Literacy (RCALL), which provided support for all four years of her doctoral program. The RCALL fellowship program provides an interdisciplinary training experience for Georgia State doctoral students interested in studying language and literacy acquisition.

Griffey also received the college’s Communication Sciences and Disorders Scholarship during the 2024-25 academic year, which reiterated the support she received from the faculty and staff in her department.

“Receiving this scholarship was a tremendous honor,” she said. “It felt like a validation of the years of hard work I’ve put into my academic and clinical journey. It also signals that my department believes in my potential and is invested in my continued success.”

Griffey is the first graduate from the college’s Ph.D. program in communication sciences and disorders and will soon begin her new job as an assistant professor at Brigham Young University.

She plans to apply some key skills from her doctoral journey – like perseverance and consideration for others – to this next step in her career.

“One of the most important things I’ve learned is that kindness and respect can take you far. Whether you're working with research participants, collaborating with colleagues or mentoring students, treating people with compassion creates trust and strengthens relationships,” Griffey said. “I’ve also learned that grit and persistence are essential. There were moments when things felt overwhelming or uncertain, but continuing to show up, ask questions and push forward was key to moving ahead.”