Swathi Kiran
Director, Center for Brain Recovery
Founding Director, Center for Brain Recovery. Director of Aphasia Research Laboratory. James and Cecilia Tse Ying Professor of Neurorehabilitation Department of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences.
Research interests: Neuroscience, Brain Plasticity, Language Recovery, Rehabilitation, Bilingualism
About
Swathi Kiran is the Founding Director of the Center for Brain Recovery (CBR), Director of the Aphasia Research Laboratory, and James and Cecilia Tse Ying Professor of the Neurorehabilitation Department of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences at Boston University. Dr. Kiran is also the Co-founder and Scientific Director of Constant Therapy Heath, an organization utilizing machine learning methods to develop individualized recovery plans for individuals with traumatic brain injury, aphasia, dementia, or other neurological conditions.
Dr. Kiran brings with her several years of experience since receiving her PhD in Speech Language Pathology from Northwestern in 2001 in the field of speech and language, neuroimaging, and brain recovery, that allow for an interdisciplinary approach to her research at the CBR. Her academic research focuses on neuroscience, brain plasticity, language recovery, and bilingualism, as she also oversees several projects by her graduate and undergraduate students at both CDS and CBR. These projects include Predicting Rehabilitation Outcomes in Bilingual Aphasia using Computational Modeling, Mapping Aphasia Recovery in the Brain, and Neuroimaging in the Everyday World (NEW).
At the CBR, Dr. Kiran and her team hold over 13 events drawing over 4,000 attendees and publish over 30 papers annually, bringing together more than 20 countries to engage in brain recovery research. As Co-chair for the annual NEW conference, Dr. Kiran works to bring together researchers working on emerging technologies and studies to understand the brain in the everyday world through wearable neuroimaging devices. She presents her findings during this two-day conference at Boston University alongside 13 other speakers in the field and over 30 poster presentations by students and affiliates.
Dr. Kiran plans to expand the interdisciplinary collaborative efforts at the CBR to develop advanced neuroimaging approaches to study the brain, sophisticated computational and AI models to predict brain function and continue to provide high-quality clinical care.
My Recent Talks:
Watch my recent talk at TedxBU
Watch my recent talk at the Aphasia Center for Excellence.
Watch 2018 talk for the C-STAR online aphasia lecture
Read about our work in BU today
Aphasia Robs Millions of Communication. Boston University Is Helping Them Regain Their Voice
Appointments:
2022- Present Founding Director, Center for Brain Recovery
2020- 2024 Director, Strategic Planning Implementation, Office of the Provost
2020- present Scientific Advisor, Co-Founder, Constant Therapy Health
2020- 2024 Steering Committee, Hariri Institute of Computing and Computational Sciences, Boston University
2020- present Member, Faculty for Computing and Data Sciences, Boston University
2018- 2022 Associate Dean for Research, Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University
2018- present Faculty, Boston University Neurophotonics Center (NPC)
2017- 2020 Consultant, The Learning Corporation (FKA Constant Therapy)
2016- 2020 Faculty, Hariri Institute of Computing and Computational Sciences, Boston University
2014-present Professor, Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University Sargent College of Health Sciences
2014-present Faculty, Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University
2012-2017 Co-Founder, Chief Scientific Advisor, Constant Therapy
2010-present Faculty, Joint Programmatic Appointment, Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience, Boston University
2009-present Member, Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Boston University
Professional Activities:
International:
2025-present Strategic Committee Member, Audacious Disability Innovation Program, King Salman Center for Disability Research, Saudi Arabia
2022-present Associate Editor, Nature Scientific Reports
2021-2025 Section Editor, Cortex
2020-2023 Chair, Board of Governors, Academy of Aphasia
2020-present Section Editor, Neuropsychologia
2019-present Associate Editor, Brain and Language
2018-2020 Board of Governors, Academy of Aphasia
2018 Conference Chair, Clinical Aphasiology Conference
2018 Associate Editor, Frontiers In Neurology: Stroke
National:
2026-present Editor-In-Chief, Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research-Language
2026-present Advisor, Open Technology Incubator Venture Fund
2025-present Co-Chair, Clinical Trials Working Group, National Institutes of Deafness and other Communicative Disorders
2024-present Advisory Council Member, National Institutes of Deafness and other Communicative Disorders
2024-present VP, Program Development, American Speech Language and Hearing Foundation
2022 -2024 Board of Trustees, American Speech Language and Hearing Foundation
2020-present Board Member, Research Committee, National Aphasia Association
2019-2023 Standing Member, NIH LCOM panel
2019-2023 Member, Massachusetts Statewide Brain Injury Commission
Grants:
Externally Funded
Research
Research
2025-2030 NIH/NIDCD R01DC022565. Machine Learning Methods for Predicting Post-Stroke Aphasia and Language Recovery. (MPI: Archana Venkataraman, Swathi Kiran) ($3,999,258)
2025-2027 PCORI Engagement Award Contract # 42247 APHASIA Impacts defined by Stakeholders (APHASIA IS):Priorities for Research and Practice. (PI: Maura Silverman, Subcontract PI: Swathi Kiran
2023-2028 NIH/NIDCD R01DC020653. Computational modeling of language impairment and control in bilingual individuals with post-stroke aphasia and neurodegenerative disorders (MPI: Swathi Kiran, Risto Miikulainnen)($3185065)
2023-2027 NIH/NIDCD1R01DC020965. Naturalistic Neuroimaging for Presurgical Language Mapping. (PI: Yanmei Tei, Einat Leibenthal; Subcontract PI: Swathi Kiran) ($201550)
2013-2027 NIH/NIDCD R13 1R13DC017375-01, Academy of Aphasia Research and Training Symposium. PI: Swathi Kiran ($199695)
2020- 2025 NIH/NIBIB 1U01EB029856-01. The Neuroscience of Everyday World- A novel wearable system for continuous measurement of brain function (MPI: Swathi Kiran, David Boas)($5916930)
2023- 2025 NIH/NIBIB 1U01EB029856-04S1. Evaluating the utility of fNIRS in detecting and diagnosing AD/ADRD (MPI: Swathi Kiran, David Boas)($ $409,770)
2022-2024 University of Olso, Norway Subcontract “ Morphosyntactic Production in Stroke-induced Agrammatic Aphasia: A Cross-linguistic Machine Learning Approach”(PI: Valantis Fyndanis, Subcontract PI: Swathi Kiran)($38,000)
2019-2025 NIH/NIDCD 5R01DC016950 Functional reorganization of the language and domain-general multiple demand systems in aphasia. MPI: Swathi Kiran ($3157580).
2018-2023 NIH/ NIBIB R01EB026998 Next-generation optical brain functional imaging platform (PI: Qianqian Fang; Role: subcontract)( $101,126)
2020 –2022 NIDCD/NIH 1U01DC014922 05S1 Computational Modeling of Semantic Decline in Bilingual Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Primary Progressive Aphasia, MPI: Swathi Kiran ($437,924)
2016-2022 NIH/NIDCD 1U01DC014922. Predicting rehabilitation outcomes in bilingual aphasia using computational modeling. MPI: Swathi Kiran ($3101075)
2013-2018 NIDCD/NIH 1P50DC012283-01 Neurobiology of language recovery in aphasia, natural and treatment induced recovery. PI: Cynthia Thompson, ($7,500,000) Sub Project PIs Swathi Kiran (BU: $791,855)
2015-2017 ASHA Office of Multicultural Affairs. Projects on multicultural activities Development of a Free Online Interactive Naming Therapy for Bilingual Aphasia. PIs: Chaleece Sandberg, Teresa Gray, Swathi Kiran
2009-2015 NIDCD/NIH R21/R33DC010461-01 Theoretically based treatment for sentence comprehension deficits in aphasia ($1,615,519), PD/PI: Swathi Kiran
2012-2013 Coulter Foundation Translational Award. Validation of an iPAD therapy for individuals with post-stroke aphasia. ($124,000) PI: Swathi Kiran, Cara Stepp.
2011-2013 NIDCD/NIH 1K18DC011517-01 Mentored Clinical Development Grant. Application of Multimodal Imaging Techniques to Examine Language Recovery in Post Stroke Aphasia ($253,478) PI: Swathi Kiran
2008-2011 ASHA foundation Clinical Research Grant. Effect of a semantic based naming treatment on crosslinguistic generalization in bilingual patients with aphasia. ($50,000). PI: Swathi Kiran
2009-2012 NIH/NIDCD 1R21DC009446. Computational and Behavioral Evidence for Bilingual Aphasia Rehabilitation. ($275,000). PIs: Swathi Kiran, Risto Miikkulainen
2007-2008 ASHA Office of Multicultural Affairs. Projects on multicultural activities The validation of a language use questionnaire across bilingual clinical populations. ($11,720). PIs: Swathi Kiran, Elizabeth Pena, Lisa Bedore.
2003-2006 NIDCD R03 DC 6359-01. Semantic complexity and treatment for lexical access ($216,000) PI: Swathi Kiran
2003-2004 ASHA foundation New Century Research Scholars Grant. ($10,000) Effect of semantic complexity on treatment of lexical access
2002-2003 ASHA foundation New Investigator Award. ($5000) Effect of semantic treatment on crosslinguistic generalization in bilingual aphasia
- Fields
- Faculty and Leadership & Staff