The Lary Project

Terry McDermott - Manager, Acting Treasurer and Board Member

Terry founded The Lary Project. He has lived with a voice problem for over four years after his larynx was damaged when he was placed on a ventilator in Colombia of all places. He has had larynx surgery and voice therapy in the UK, Colombia and Belgium so it is fair to say he has had quite an insight into voice problems and their treatment from a patient’s perspective.  His voice problem has improved considerably with treatment and he is keen that all those with voice impairments get the support and treatment they need.

His professional background, in addition to working in The Third Sector (charity/social enterprise sector), includes career guidance, 4 years in security services in Colombia, the Caribbean and Indonesia and television production on various current affairs, documentary and entertainment shows such as "The Apprentice".

Qualifications/memberships: BA Hons in Law from Cambridge University; MA/PGDip Career Guidance from UEL (ongoing); Fellow of the School for Social Entrepreneurs.

Tom McDonald - Board Member

Tom’s professional background is in television production where he has produced many high profile shows including Jamie Oliver’s new series, "Jamie's American Roadtrip" for Channel 4 (as Series Producer) and "Picture This" for Channel 4.  The latter show was nominated for a Royal Television Society Education Award.  He is currently Series Producer on BBC1's "Junior Apprentice".

Qualifications: MA and MPhil in English from Cambridge University.

Cathryn Wood - Chair and Board Member

Cathryn currently works in Grants Management at The Wellcome Trust. Prior to this role, she was a Producer for BBC Radio 4 and worked on a variety of factual programmes including "You and Yours", "Start the Week" and "In Our Time". She is also a trustee of Vauxhall City Farm and a Winston Churchill Fellow.

Qualifications: MA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University.

Sara Harris – Patron/Honorary Adviser (Speech Therapy)

Sara Harris is Specialist Speech and Language Therapist (Voice) at Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and current President of the British Voice Association. She started working in voice in 1978 at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, where, together with Tom Harris, she set up the Oxford Voice Clinic. Over the last few years she has been responsible for running the follow up voice clinic and an SLT lead nasendoscopy treatment clinic at Queen Mary's.

Sara was one of the co-founders of the Voice Research Society (now the British Voice Association) in 1985 and a joint editor of The Voice Clinic Handbook in 1998. She has contributed a number of book chapters and research articles to various textbooks and Journals in voice. She has recently been made a Fellow of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (2008).

Tom Harris MA FRCS – Patron/Honorary Adviser (Laryngology/ENT Surgery)

Tom is Consultant ENT Surgeon at University Hospital Lewisham, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich and Queen Mary’s Hospital Sidcup. A selection of his other roles include: Senior Lecturer at GKT; Consultant to RADA; and member of the Editorial board of The Journal of Voice (USA). He is a past Member of the British Voice Association Council.

Married to a Speech Therapist, Tom Harris opened one of the first Multidisciplinary Voice Clinics in Britain (in 1982). He was the Founding Chairman of The Voice Research Society, now renamed The British Voice Association.

He is the principal editor and contributor to The Voice Clinic Handbook, and his publications include subjects such as functional laryngeal anatomy and the importance of videostroboscopic assessment in voice disorder and phonosurgery. He wrote the official world report for the IALP on The Pharmacological Management of Voice Disorders. He is one of the team members that developed the use of manipulative therapy in hyperfunctional voice disorders.

He has recently been made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.