Rosemary Martino
MA, MSc, PhD
Dr. Rosemary Martino entered academia after several years of practice as a Speech-Language Pathologist focused on swallowing disorders. She was awarded the inaugural Canada Research Chair in Swallowing Disorders (Tier II), which she held from 2013 to 2023. Her research has supported the training of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows and allied health clinicians. She has contributed at the international and national levels to developing best-practice guidelines related to swallowing in patients with gastrointestinal diseases, stroke, and head and neck cancer. Her research and teaching focus on understanding swallowing impairment, its impact on patients, how best to treat it, and on establishing outcome measures specific to dysphagia.
Research & Scholarly Activities
Dr. Martino was the first Canadian researcher to receive funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to conduct the PRO-ACTIVE trial, a large, multi-site, international pragmatic clinical trial examining the benefits of behavioural, speech-language pathology-led interventions in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) receiving radiotherapy (RT). She is now conducting a follow-up study, PRO-ACTIVE-5, funded by the Rising Tide Foundation for Clinical Cancer Research. This study includes longitudinal follow-up of PRO-ACTIVE participants from 2-5 years post-RT, as well as a pre-implementation study of the PRO-ACTIVE therapy protocol. To complement this research on HNC patients who have undergone RT, she is also leading a study investigating early swallowing and speech interventions in HNC patients receiving surgery (ESSI-SURG).
Research Foci:
- Early identification of dysphagia
- Medical outcomes of dysphagia
- Benefits of behavioural interventions for swallowing and related outcomes
Teaching, Funding & Awards
Dr. Martino’s teaching approach is rooted in her training in dysphagia, clinical epidemiology, and knowledge translation. Her role as an instructor is to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to become critical thinkers. She is the instructor for SLP 1536 Swallowing Disorders and has also facilitated research-to-practice lecture series and reading seminars on selected research topics. As a primary or co-supervisor, or as a committee member, she has supported the research training of 13 PhD students, 28 MSc/MHSc students, 4 MDs, and 3 post-doctoral researchers.
Active Research Funding:
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Martino (Primary Supervisor), UHN Canada Leads Award for Post-Doctoral Researcher (Dr. Elizabeth Cross), University Health Network Canada Leads Program, 2025–2027
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Martino (Co–Principal Investigator; UHN sub-site), InHANCE: Imaging Innovation for Head and Neck Cancer Evaluation and Treatment Delivery (P01, Project 3), National Cancer Institute Program Project Grant (PAR‑16‑457), 2025–2029
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Martino (Principal Investigator), PRO‑ACTIVE 5: Long-term effectiveness and implementation of prophylactic swallow intervention in head and neck cancer, Rising Tide Foundation for Clinical Cancer Research, 2024–2029
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Martino (Co–Principal Investigator), Early Swallowing and Speech Intervention in Surgical Head and Neck Cancer Patients (ESSI‑SURG), Princess Margaret Foundation, 2022–2026
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Martino (Principal Investigator), Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Swallowing Disorders, Canada Research Chairs Program (Research Award), 2018–2023
Awards:
- 2025 | ESSD Merit Award for Best Poster, European Society of Swallowing Disorders (ESSD)
- 2024 | Third Prize, Dysphagia Research Society. (Distinction)
‘A new scale measuring medical outcomes of dysphagia (MOD) in adults with swallowing: Preliminary psychometric testing’ – Research oral presentation. - 2023 | AHNS Second Place Award for Best Poster, American Head and Neck Surgery (AHNS) 11th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer
- 2022 | ESSD Merit Award for Best Poster, European Society of Swallowing Disorders (ESSD)
- 2018- 2023 | Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Swallowing Disorders, Canada Research Chairs Programs (Research Award)