Mission Statement
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) caucus is a culturally and linguistically responsive and connected professional community that nurtures positive professional identity to support all clinicians’ and students’ culturally responsive practice. We strive to develop a safe space and be a resource for persons of Middle Eastern and North African origin—including researchers, current and future professionals, and students interested in learning about and providing services to this population. We seek to inspire all clinicians to develop and increase their awareness and knowledge of Middle Eastern and North African cultures and languages to facilitate advocacy and allyship, which actively promote the provision of evidence-based speech, language, and hearing services to marginalized persons of Middle Eastern and North African origin. MENA is dedicated to working with other constituencies in an effort to promote equity and social justice in the professional communities of speech, language, and hearing sciences as well as in the larger society.
Our Goals
- Promote and increase awareness about the cultures and languages of the Middle East and North Africa
- Promote and increase the number of audiologists and speech-language pathologists using culturally competent and responsive evidenced-based services to Middle Eastern and North African individuals with communication disorders, communication differences, and/or related disorders.
- Address the communication interests and concerns of professionals, students, and related professionals who serve Middle Eastern and North African individuals with identified and/or suspected communication disorders, communication differences, and/or related disorders.
- Promote and increase the number of Middle Eastern and North African speech, language, and hearing professionals.
- Promote research that contributes to the body of knowledge on the identification, diagnosis, and treatment of Middle Eastern and North African individuals with identified and/or suspected communication disorders, communication differences, and/or related disorders.
- Be an advocate for marginalized Middle Eastern and North African individuals with identified and/or suspected communication disorders, communication differences, and/or related disorders.
- Serve as a community resource for Middle Eastern and North African families and communities.
Executive Board
Reem Khamis, Chair
Dr. Reem Khamis, also known as Reem Khamis-Dakwar, (Ph.D., CCC-SLP) is a Professor at Long Island University Brooklyn and Director of the Culture, Language, and Society (CLaS) in SLP Lab. She is a founding member of the MENA Caucus. Her research and teaching focus on language development, processing, and clinical practice in diglossic and multilingual contexts, with a particular emphasis on Arabic. Her work engages critical and decolonial frameworks in language acquisition, assessment, and intervention.
Dr. Khamis has published extensively in leading journals, including the Journal of Child Language, American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, and Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics. She is a co-founding member and co-managing editor of the open-access Journal of Critical Study of Communication and Disability, which advances equity-centered research, practice, and policy in communication sciences.
She is also an elected board member of the Arabic Linguistics Society. Dr. Khamis-Dakwar has served on multiple editorial boards, including as a guest editor for the Arabic Linguistics Journal and as a language editor for the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. Her work has been funded by ASHA, the Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America, and international foundations supporting multilingual and multicultural education. In recognition of her leadership and commitment to equity, she received the 2020 CAPCSD Excellence in Diversity Award.
Email: reem.khamis@liu.edu
Hanin Rayes, Treasurer
Hanin Rayes is an assistant professor of audiology in the faculty of Medical Rehabilitation Sciences in King AbdulAziz University. She received her Ph.D. in hearing science from UCL in 2021. She is also an ASHA and American-board certified audio-vestibular clinician with an Au.D. degree from Rush university in the USA. She has strong experience in evaluating hearing and balance in children and adults.
Dr. Rayes’s research interest focuses on speech Perception and rehabilitation. She previously investigated the relationship between FM discrimination and speech in noise perception. She also developed an auditory training protocol to be used in patients’ rehabilitation process, aiming to improve speech discrimination and perception in school-age children. Dr. Rayes also published a speech discrimination test that can be used as an outcome measure for school-age children. Her latest project is developing and evaluating the Hearing Evaluation Reference, an application for audiologists to assess speech perception in paediatric population.
Email: hrayes@kau.edu.sa
Mariam El Amin
Mariam El Amin, PhD is a speech-language pathologist and researcher specializing in child language development and disorders in multilingual populations, with a particular focus on Arabic-speaking children and families. Her work directly addresses longstanding gaps in child language research by advancing the study of Arabic, a widely spoken yet underrepresented language in the field. Through her research on caregiver–child interactions, home literacy environments, and maternal linguistic input, she aims to inform culturally and linguistically responsive assessment and intervention practices. A Fulbright alumna and native Arabic speaker, Dr. El Amin is committed to equity, global representation, and open science in communication sciences and disorders.
Email:
Reeman Marzouqah
Reeman Marzouqah, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, SLP(C), is a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF). Dr. Marzouqah earned her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto (UofT) in Toronto, ON, Canada, where she was a member of the Speech Production Lab, studying upper airway exercises for stroke patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Throughout her Ph.D. studies, she made significant research contributions, resulting in several peer-reviewed journal publications and competitive awards. She was also engaged in community outreach and media interviews. After completing her Ph.D., Dr. Marzouqah was awarded a grant to complete her postdoctoral fellowship in stroke neurology at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Her current research at CSUF focuses on upper airway dysfunctions associated with neurological conditions.
Email: rmarzouqah@fullerton.edu
Maryam Salehomoum
Dr. Maryam Salehomoum (Ph.D., CCC-SLP) is a licensed Speech Language Pathologist and currently teaching at Emerson College. Maryam was born in Iran and learned Farsi as her native language. She was exposed to French and English before immigrating to the US at 12 years of age. Maryam has experienced a shift in her language dominance (from Farsi to English) but has maintained her basic conversational and literacy skills in Farsi. Maryam’s areas of expertise are primarily literacy development and deafness, but she has always had an interest in bi- and multilingualism. In addition to the languages of her childhood, Maryam has also acquired basic proficiency in Spanish and conversational fluency in sign language. Maryam has completed Farsi language assessments from time to time and is highly motivated to develop relationships with Iranian SLP scholars and practitioners.
Email: maryam_salehomoum@emerson.edu
