Moya Landsberg attributes her professional success to her teachers, especially at RGGS, where Miss Millicent Jackson, for example, insisted on excellence in writing and stressed the importance of reading widely.

In 1957 Moya attended Kelvin Grove Teachers’ College. She was appointed as a Speech Correctionist with the Research and Guidance Branch of the Queensland Department of Education in Brisbane. Later she served three years as a lecturer in Speech and Drama at Kelvin Grove Teachers’ College. During the years she worked in Brisbane, she obtained her Licentiate from the Australian Association of Speech and Drama and became a Fellow in Speech from Trinity College London. She also studied as an evening student at Queensland University and graduated with a BA (double major English and History) in 1964.

In 1966 she enrolled in the Master’s in Speech Pathology and Audiology programme at the University of California in Santa Barbara. She began her doctoral studies in Speech Pathology.

In 1971 she completed her Doctor of Education degree and in 1972 was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences at Indiana University, Bloomington. She wrote two seminal books “Voice Therapy for Children” and “Voice Therapy for Adolescents” which were used in many University courses world-wide.

She designed a new course entitled “The Care of The Professional Voice,” the first evidence-based university course in the nation for speech pathologists and singing teachers on the care and protection of the larynx. Moya received a grant to spend a summer at the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico studying the effects of altitude on the voices of professional opera singers.

Moya collaborated with otolaryngologists nationally on research projects and studied the treatment of male to female transsexuals and developed expertise in what was then a new area of study for speech pathologists. As a result, she made presentations at many national and international conferences on voice strategies for patients who have undergone sexual reassignment surgery. The Voice Clinic at Indiana University became known as one of the few sites offering evidence-based voice therapy for transgender clients.

In 1985-6 Moya spent a year in Sydney as Head of the University of Sydney’s Cumberland College of Communication Disorders. She returned to Indiana University and in 1995 was appointed as Associate Dean of the Faculties. From 1999 to 2004 she served as Dean of the Faculties and Vice Chancellor For Academic Affairs at Indiana University, Bloomington. During this time, her office initiated the program known as the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in 1995. In 2003, this program received the Hesburgh Award as the best faculty enrichment program initiated by a research university in the USA.

Moya became an Associate Professor with tenure in 1978 and a full Professor in 1986. She is a Fellow of the American Speech-Language Association, and of the Society For Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders in Children (1989). She received the Honours of the American Speech and Hearing Association (in 2001), for outstanding research contributions in her field, as well as many other state and professional honours. She has written or co-authored ten professional books and three book chapters in her field and 67 peer reviewed articles and produced one professional video and received 15 grants. She has also given over 200 invited presentations.

Moya is currently an Indiana University Professor Emerita of Speech and Hearing Sciences and in 2017 was recognised with the presentation of the President’s Medal for Excellence, which is the highest honour that an Indiana University President can bestow.

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