Bay Area Service Providers

The Bay Area boasts several specialty services and programs for individuals with swallowing difficulty. I’ve highlighted some notable ones below, organized by region. Please note that this is by no means a comprehensive list, but rather a curated one. My goal is for this list to grow and evolve to include other service providers who are passionate and highly skilled in dysphagia management as I learn of them. Are you a service provider who specializes in dysphagia that I missed? Submit your info here.

San Francisco

San Francisco is home to the very well-regarded UCSF Voice & Swallowing Center, where patients can access both otolaryngologists (ear, nose and throat specialists) and speech-language pathologists who specialize in voice and swallowing disorders. 

San Francisco Voice & Swallowing Center is in the heart of Union Square, has a laryngologist (specialist in voice, airway and swallowing disorders) as a Medical Director, and has two speech-language pathologists on staff. Their website suggests their clinicians are highly specialized in voice therapy (one of their speech-language pathologists also founded a Gender Affirmation Voice and Communication Program called Passaggio), disorders of the airway, and swallow dysfunction.  

Peninsula/South Bay

The Stanford Multidisciplinary Swallowing Disorders Center is unique in that a patient with dysphagia can receive a comprehensive and multidisciplinary series of assessments that look at different aspects of swallowing over the course of a single day. This means no more delayed bouncing from one expert to another. In consultation with each other, their multidisciplinary team of otolaryngologists, gastroenterologists, speech-language pathologists and registered dieticians all complete their assessments and then integrate their findings in consultation with each other. This unique approach could be a total game changer, especially for folks with complex dysphagia, or for those who are experiencing dysphagia without a clear source. 

Stanford also has an outpatient clinic called the Stanford Voice & Swallowing Center. For individuals with dysphagia related to head and neck cancer, they have a research lab churning out lots of really innovative projects and a free support group.

Sacramento

While not in the Bay Area proper, some patients living in the East or North Bays may find UC Davis Department of Otolaryngology to be within reasonable driving distance. This department houses some very highly credentialed speech-language pathologists and otolaryngologists with expertise in dysphagia management. Per their website, the UC Davis Swallow for Life program “aims to promote safe swallowing along the continuum of a patient’s disease or disorder”. This program could especially benefit those with progressive medical conditions like Parkinson’s Disease, ALS, etc., that tend to be associated with progressive dysphagia that worsens with the course of the disease itself. This program appears to focus on quality of life and harm reduction by incorporating strategies that reduce risk of pulmonary complications related to swallow dysfunction. 

Nursing facilities

If you or your loved one is residing in a skilled nursing facility or nursing home and experiencing dysphagia, it may be difficult to coordinate the transportation of your loved one to an outside facility for a swallow study. For these situations, Doorstep Dysphagia Diagnostics is a mobile swallow study company (and one of only a handful of such companies in California) that will come to your loved one. Their trained clinicians perform Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluations of Swallowing (FEES) evaluations in a variety of residential facilities in coordination with the primary speech-language pathologist.