Ileana Ratiu

Dr. Ileana Ratiu, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is a Clinical Associate Professor, Program Director of the M.S. in Communication Disorders at Arizona State University, and affiliate faculty in the John Shufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering. She earned both her M.S. in Communication Disorders and Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Science from ASU, where she also completed doctoral research focused on bilingual cognition and acquired neurogenic disorders. Dr. Ratiu is a licensed speech-language pathologist with clinical expertise in cognitive-communication disorders associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI), stroke, and other neurological conditions. She has provided care to both monolingual and bilingual adults across clinical and academic settings.

Dr. Ratiu’s research focuses on how traumatic brain injury affects executive function, memory, language processing, and reading comprehension in bilingual and monolingual adults. Her work integrates behavioral and physiological methodologies, such as eye-tracking, to investigate the cognitive-linguistic consequences of acquired brain injury. This multimodal approach enables her to examine how subtle deficits in attention, working memory, and cognitive flexibility impact language control and everyday communication. Her ultimate goal is to reduce diagnostic disparities by developing more sensitive, functional assessment tools that better capture the real-world impact of cognitive-linguistic impairment, particularly in underserved and multilingual populations.

In her role as Program Director, Dr. Ratiu leads the strategic direction, accreditation compliance, and academic innovation of the M.S. in Communication Disorders program. She has expanded clinical training opportunities, developed interprofessional initiatives, and spearheaded strategic planning efforts to promote inclusive excellence and student success. Under her leadership, the program has grown in enrollment while maintaining high outcomes in student satisfaction and licensure pass rates.

Dr. Ratiu has published in peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain and Language, American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, and Quality of Life Research. She presents regularly at national and international conferences such as the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the Psychonomic Society, and the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CAPCSD). 

Dr. Ratiu is committed to integrating clinical practice, academic scholarship, and community engagement to improve the quality of life for individuals with communication disorders and to train future clinicians who reflect and serve the diversity of the communities in which they work.