Dr. Patricia Lara's area of research focuses on transgender issues that affect quality of life. These issues include, comfort level and knowledge of voice modification/gender affirming treatment approaches, preparation of culturally competent and knowledgeable future speech language pathologists and interprofessional education related to vulnerable populations. Her other research interests include recovery of acquired language disorders following damage to the language centers of the brain, particularly auditory comprehension, cognitive communication disorders and issues that affect the aging population.