OBSVAC Home General Information: • Equipment • The Director • Affiliate Scholars • Student Assistants Our Products: • Pedagogy tapes OBSVAC on the web: • Ribcage and Abdominal Movement during Singing • OBSVAC and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation		OBSVAC Affiliate Scholars Tom Abelson, M.D., FACS, prominent Northeastern Ohio ENT (Cleveland Clinic Foundation Solon) treats professional voice users, including principal singing artists of both classical and popular idioms. A graduate of Oberlin College (B.A.) and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (M.D.), Abelson did post-doctoral surgical internship and residency, Mt. Sinai Hospital, and Otolaryngology residency, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio. For over a decade, Abelson has been associated with Oberlin Conservatory of Music as lecturer and consultant for the Institute of Voice Performance Pedagogy. Appointed an Oberlin College Affiliate Scholar, 1997, Abelson is OBSVAC medical advisor and examiner for on-campus fiberoptic/stroboscopic research protocols that include many Oberlin student singers. Douglas Hicks, Ph.D., is Director of The Voice Center, and Head of Speech-Language Pathology, Department of Otolaryngology and Communicative Disorders, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio. Hicks is frequent presenter at national symposia on professional voice care, prominent member of the Voice Foundation, and an Oberlin Affiliate Scholar (1997). A prolific author, his articles appear in numerous professional journals. He is a certified Speech Pathologist, and holds the Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, the M.A., Northwestern University, and the B.A., Wooster College. In cooperation with Dr. Tom Abelson, Hicks is advisor and examiner for on-campus fiberoptic/stroboscopic studies, OBSVAC, and an active participant in the Oberlin Institute of Voice Performance Pedagogy. Paul Oncley, Ph. D., brings a rich and varied background to his appointment as Oberlin Affiliate Scholar (1996), OBSVAC. A thoroughly trained instrumental and vocal musician, professor of voice, military acoustician, research scientist at Bell Telephone Laboratories (associate of Harvey Fletcher), Oncley helped design and complete the first studies of voice training that make use of the Sound Spectrograph developed by Bell Laboratories and Kay Elemetrics. He served as research engineer with Boeing Airplane Co., was Senior Research Scientist for the study of community noise, has given numerous presentations, and participated in panel discussions for the Acoustic Society of America, NATS, and the Voice Foundation. He pursues several research projects with Oberlin students, and shares his knowledge on a wide range of acoustic and performance problems. Ronald C. Scherer, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Bowling Green State University, Department of Communication Disorders, College of Health and Human Services, is a prominent national figure in voice care and voice research fields. For a number of years, he was Senior Scientist at the Wilbur James Gould Voice Research Center, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and has had a long tenure as organizer and frequent presenter at annual Voice Foundation symposia. He is a published researcher of note, primarily in the areas of voice production, phonation mechanics, acoustic analysis, and pathologic aspects of voice performance. Appointed Oberlin College Affiliate Scholar (1995), he designs and carries out research protocols. Peter Watson, Ph. D., Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University, Department of Communication Sciences, combines scientific and professional music backgrounds. He has contributed to numerous studies dealing with the mechanics of breathing for singing, and continues to pursue this interest with Oberlin student singers at OBSVAC. His degrees include a Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Sciences, M.S. in Speech and Hearing Sciences, and the M.M. in Vocal Performance, all from the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, and a B.M. in Vocal Performance, from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. Claudio F. Milstein, is a speech scientist with clinical interests in voice disorders. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he completed his Masters in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at the University of Buenos Aires. In 1985 he joined the National Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, where he taught Voice for Actors and Vocal Techniques for the Stage. In the U.S. he obtained his Ph.D. in Speech Sciences from the University of Arizona. In Boston he conducted clinical work at the Voice and Speech Laboratory of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and held an appointment as a Research Affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Currently he is a staff member at the Department of Otolaryngology and Communication Disorders, Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Some of his primary interests are on Voice Disorders, Care of the Professional Voice, Laryngo-Pharyngeal Reflux, Functional Voice Problems, and Paradoxical Vocal Fold Motion.