A Passion for Student Success Leads Amanda Brunner, M.S. ’14, CCC-SLP, TSSLD, Back to NYMC

After years of working in clinical settings throughout Westchester, Brunner returns to support SLP students and help bridge the gap between academic learning and clinical practice.

When Brunner began her undergraduate studies at Ithaca College, she was undecided about her future aspirations. Coming from a family of nurses and physicians, she knew she wanted a career in health care but was interested in exploring a path of her own.

At the time, her grandmother suffered a stroke and experienced aphasia. Brunner witnessed the SLP help her grandmother and was immediately interested in the career. She started taking speech classes and was fascinated by the science and psychology behind it. “I remember sitting in my first phonetics class and learning about how we produce all the different sounds in our language that we never really give a second thought to,” she says.

Once she completed her bachelor’s degree, she was drawn to NYMC’s SLP program for its medically based curriculum and local clinical affiliations. Her cohort consisted of approximately 20 students, about half the size of today’s incoming classes.

After graduating from NYMC, Brunner began her clinical career at a nursing home rehabilitation center in New Rochelle, New York, where she completed her clinical fellowship before continuing as a full-time clinician. Working with both short-term rehabilitation and long-term care patients, she gained experience across a range of needs. Additionally, the facility had a tracheostomy and ventilator unit, giving her an opportunity to develop specialized knowledge and skills in working with patients who required respiratory support.

After several years working with adults, Brunner made a career shift into pediatric rehabilitation. She spent approximately eight years at a pediatric rehabilitation hospital, where she worked with children and young adults across a wide range of programs and levels of care.

The hospital included inpatient and outpatient programs, long-term care, a preschool program, and a school for students who were unable to attend school in their home districts because of their medical needs. Students received education alongside intensive physical, occupational, and speech therapy, with care coordinated by an interdisciplinary medical team.

Brunner also grew into leadership roles, progressing from a clinician to a lead and senior clinician and eventually supervising colleagues and graduate students. The hospital regularly hosted graduate students from nearby programs, including NYMC, giving Brunner another opportunity to discover her growing passion for teaching.

In 2016, Brunner returned to NYMC as a clinical educator, working with graduate students in the speech clinic. She continued in that role for about five years, overlapping with her clinical work. Throughout these experiences, Brunner found that one of the most rewarding aspects of her career was helping students translate what they learned in the classroom into clinical practice.

Now, Brunner is especially excited to support students as they navigate the demands of graduate education and prepare for their clinical journey. She sees her role as an opportunity to provide both academic support and the perspective of someone who has spent years applying those concepts in real-world settings.

When asked what advice she would give to current students, Brunner offered two perspectives — one as a faculty member and one as a former student. “From a faculty standpoint, utilize the support offered from staff and faculty. They are on your side,” she says. “From a student perspective, go at your own pace. Don’t compare your own journey with someone else’s, find what works best for you and keep moving forward.”