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Loretta M. Nunez, M.A., AuD, CCC-A/SLP, is Senior Director of Academic Affairs & Research Education for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association where she directs activities that support academic, clinical and research education; personnel preparation and faculty development; and higher education trends and forecasting in communication sciences and disorders. Dr. Nunez leads ASHA’s Envisioned Future 2025 strategic objective to advance interprofessional education and interprofessional collaborative practice and represents ASHA on the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC), the Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education, and the Interprofessional Professionalism Collaborative (IPC). The IPC developed the Interprofessional Professionalism Assessment (IPA) and educational tool kit and received the 2024 National Academies of Practice Interprofessional Group Recognition Award for their work. She is an ASHA Fellow, a Distinguished Practitioner and Fellow of the National Academy of Practice in Speech-Language Pathology, and a member of the American Interprofessional Health Collaborive.

She also leads or has led initiatives related to clinical personnel supply and demand, clinical specialty certification, emerging areas of clinical practice, expanding academic program capacity for graduate education in speech-language pathology and audiology, addressing a PhD shortage and directing a national higher education data collection and reporting system for the discipline. Dr. Nunez has served on many committees and as ASHA’s liaison to the Education Testing Service (2003-2014) for the development of national examinations in speech-language pathology and audiology. She has given numerous presentations at international and national conferences over the course of her career.

Prior to joining ASHA in 2003, Dr. Nunez worked in both academic and clinical settings and held faculty appointments at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Akron, and Kent State University. She holds dual ASHA certification and state licensure as a speech-language pathologist and audiologist and holds specialty certification in Listening and Spoken Language from the AG Bell Association. She earned a Doctor of Audiology degree from Central Michigan University and a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts degrees in speech-language pathology and audiology from The Ohio State University.