Aaron Rothbart, PhD, CCC-SLP

Dr. Rothbart serves as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Speech Pathology in the Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. His clinical background centers around adult medical speech pathology services, as a clinical practitioner, supervisor, and researcher. While clinical experiences have ranged the gamut across the continuum of care, clinical focuses have centered around functional, person-centered care. He has served in supervisory roles, including managing the outpatient team at Casa Colina Hospital and Centers for Healthcare. As a lead clinical researcher, previous investigations have centered around utilizing assistive technology to support individuals with chronic aphasia and applying transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to increase language remediation among chronic aphasics.

Dr. Rothbart completed his Ph.D. at the University of Oregon, under the advisement of Dr. McKay Moore Sohlberg, a leading expert in the field of cognitive rehabilitation. While at the university, his primary research focus was on the externalized recruitment of resiliency-based factors through clinician-directed behaviors and the establishment of therapeutic alliance. His dissertation focused on applying identified behaviors during traditional cognitive rehabilitation sessions to examine clinical and perceptual outcomes. He continues to conduct research into this line of research. He has expertise utilizing mixed methods approaches, particularly within single-case research design (SCED). He has also been active within the implementation science community, with a distinct focus on applications of evidence-based practices in the field of speech pathology. He serves on various committees, including the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences (ANCDS) Education and Standards Committee and the Joint Committee on Interprofessional Relations Between the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

OHNS 401 The Practice of Medical Speech-Language Pathology (Fall Semester)
OHNS 508, Assessment in Communication Disorders (Y1, Spring Semester)
OHNS 509, Dysphagia (Y1, Spring Semester)
OHNS 513 Adult Neurogenic and Related Cognitive Communication Disorders (Y1, Spring Semester)
OHNS 508, Assessment in Communication Disorders (Y1, Summer Semester)
OHNS 516 Motor Speech Disorders and Cranial Facial Disorders (Y2, Fall Semester)
OHNS 518 Research/Capstone (Y2, Fall and Spring Semesters)
OHNS 523, Counseling in Speech-Language Pathology (Y2, Summer Semester)

• Do Treatment Ingredients Targeting Working Alliance Improve Cognitive Rehabilitation Session Performance in Patients With Acquired Brain Injury? Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2025 May 06; 34(3):1023-1040.. View in PubMed
• Transcranial direct stimulation over left inferior frontal gyrus improves language production and comprehension in post-stroke aphasia: A double-blind randomized controlled study Brain Lang. 2024 Oct; 257:105459. . View in PubMed

• Lyden, Patrick
• Towfighi, Amytis
• Winstein, Carolee
• Lerman, Caryn
• Narayanan, Shrikanth