Raele Robison was born in raised in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania- a small town affectionately referred to as, “The Christmas City.” She spent the majority of her life in Bethlehem before moving to receive an undergraduate degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. During her undergraduate studies, Raele worked as a patient safety assistant in an inpatient hospital where she fostered her interest in becoming a medically-based Speech-Language Pathologist. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) degree in 2013, Raele moved to Tampa, Florida to complete a Masters degree in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of South Florida (USF). At the onset of her graduate degree, Raele expressed interested in working on a research thesis under the tutelage of Dr. Plowman to deepen her understanding of bulbar dysfunction in neurodegenerative disease populations and particularly in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Her Masters Thesis examined the impact of lingual resistance exercise training in a a case series of individuals with ALS.
Following completion of her Masters degree in Speech Language Pathology, Raele followed Dr. Plowman to the University of Florida to enroll in a Doctorate in Rehabilitation Sciences. During her Doctoral studies, Raele has been the recipient of a NINDS Minority Pre-Doctoral Supplement grant and more recently was awarded a coveted F99/R00 grant from the NINDS. Her doctoral dissertation will examine the role of lingual homeostenosis of functional aspects of swallowing in individuals with ALS. Her F99/R00 grant will afford her the opportunity to then complete a funded post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Nicole Pulia at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.