Debbie Sell,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, FRCSLT (born 21 June 1954) is a leading British speech and language therapist.

Life and career

Sell qualified in 1976 with a diploma in speech pathology and therapeutics from the College of Education in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. Her first appointment as a speech therapist was at Whipps Cross Hospital, where she worked from 1976 to 1978. Between 1978 and 1981, she worked at St. Georges Hospital,

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre-Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times. The name is of Anglo-Saxon ori ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In 1981 she moved to

Great Ormond Street Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS F ...

in London and was appointed head of the department of speech and language therapy in 1996. She gained her Ph.D. in 1992 from

De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body ...

for an investigation of speech outcome in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

cleft palate A cleft lip contains an opening in the upper lip that may extend into the nose. The opening may be on one side, both sides, or in the middle. A cleft palate occurs when the palate (the roof of the mouth) contains an opening into the nose. The ...

subjects with delayed surgery. She was a key member of the Sri Lankan Cleft Lip and Palate Project, and was Assistant Director of the Eurocleft Speech Group. In the late 1990s, she directed the speech research of the national UK Clinical Standards Advisory Group (CSAG) study in cleft lip and palate, and was subsequently a member of the National Cleft Implementation Group. She became Honorary Lecturer at Institute of Child Health and then Honorary Senior Lecturer in 1999. From 1999 to 2003, she was

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

at the Faculty of Health and Community Studies,

, and in 2003 was Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies University of Latrobe in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and the Royal Children's Hospital.

Career

Her research interests are several and include the management and evaluation of velopharyngeal function, including surgical and prosthetics outcomes associated with structural anomalies and the 22q11DS group, the delivery of speech and language therapy in the

developing world A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreeme ...

for patients with cleft lip and palate, and methods for the perceptual evaluation of speech. Sell has worked on developing speech therapy training in Sri Lanka, and she has used nasopharyngoscopy as a means to allow people to see inside their mouth while working on speech therapy.

Current posts

* Head of Speech and Language Therapy,

* Lead Speech and Language Therapist, North Thames Regional Cleft Lip and Palate Service (St. Andrew's Centre, Broomfield Hospital,

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

and

* Honorary Senior Lecturer, Institute of Child Health,

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

* Visiting Professor, Faculty of Health and Community Studies,

* Adjunct Specialist, Department of Audiology and Speech Sciences,

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

Honors and awards

She was awarded the Fellowship of the

Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (abbreviated as RCSLT) is the professional body for speech and language therapist, speech and language therapists in the United Kingdom and is a registered charity. It was established on 6 Januar ...

for "work of special value to the profession in one or more of the following areas: research, teaching, publishing, practice" in 1999. In 2001, she received a Distinguished Fellowship Award from the La Trobe University/Children's Hospital in

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung/ or ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known ...

. In 2005 she was awarded the

for services to the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

Selected publications

* * * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sell, Debbie 1954 births Academics of De Montfort University Academics of University College London Alumni of De Montfort University Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire Academics from Leicester National Health Service people Speech and language pathologists Fellows of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists