Miya
Brophy-Baermann
On July 12, 2021, Miya started her clinical fellowship year at Lincolnwood Skilled Nursing Facility in North Providence. Less than two weeks later, she celebrated her 24th birthday with family and friends. On July 31, she went with her parents to Manchester, N.H. to meet up with her beloved brother and sister-in-law, Belamy and Emma. They toured the Currier Museum's two Frank Lloyd Wright houses and enjoyed a lovely dinner together. Though she got home to Warwick, R.I. late Saturday evening, she decided to do one of her very favorite things... hang out with friends. Just a few short hours later, she was senselessly murdered in a drive-by shooting.
Activist
“I did not choose to be born the way I am with privilege, but that is my life. I can either live with the guilt of having the privilege or I can spend time actively working to break down the systemic injustice and racism using my voice and amplifying voices that are not so readily heard.”
Scholar
On April 16, 2021, Miya Brophy-Baermann defended her master's thesis, "Subjective Perception of Memory and Objective Assessment of Memory: Associations and Contributing Factors." On Mother's Day, at Fenway Park, she graduated from Northeastern University with an M.S. in speech-language pathology.
Advocate
Especially in her graduate school program at Northeastern, Miya became aware of the lack of diversity in her profession, and of treatment inequities in health care. She wanted to do something – to work on diversifying the profession and creating cultural awareness among practitioners. The Miya's Voice scholarship is intended to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the fields of speech-language pathology and audiology. In establishing Miya's Voice, we are guided by Miya and everything she stood for: equity, social justice, helping others, kindness, friendship, empathy...