Announcing the 2025 Dr. Martha Taylor Sarno Advocacy Award Recipient — And How You Can Be Part of the Legacy

Each year, the National Aphasia Association bestows our highest honor in honor our Founder,  Dr. Martha Taylor Sarno — a pioneer, advocate, and voice for change. Today, we celebrate our 2025 recipient and invite you to learn about the award’s roots, the honoree’s work, and how you can carry the torch for advocacy.

Legacy of Dr. Martha Taylor Sarno 

• Dr. Sarno founded the NAA in 1987 with a vision: to bring visibility, support, and connection to people affected by aphasia.
• Early in her career at the Rusk Institute, she built one of the nation’s first adult aphasia rehabilitation programs, emphasizing dignity, function, and community.
• Her approach was never just clinical — she believed in educating families, caregivers, and systems about aphasia’s human side.
• Over decades, she earned honors like the Daily Point of Light for her volunteer leadership Points of Light and the Honors of the Academy of Neurological Communicative Disorders and Sciences for her scientific contributions.
• The Martha Taylor Sarno Advocacy Award was created to reflect the values she championed: bold voice, compassionate connection, and meaningful change.

Meet the 2025 Award Recipient, Dr. Thomas Broussard, Jr.

• He has  advocated consistently over time, never resting.
• He became known as the “Johnny Appleseed of Aphasia,” sowing awareness in many communities at their own cost.
• He helped educate across audiences: families, professionals, hospital systems.
• His advocacy is methodical, evidence-based, yet accessible.
• He always welcomes collaboration and believes no opportunity is too small to speak up.
• He maintains a rich body of resources, publications, and ongoing contributions to the aphasia world.

“Thank you SO much to the staff and board members of the National Aphasia Association (NAA) for the Dr. Martha Taylor Sarno Advocacy Award this year! I was shocked and surprised, and more than grateful to be just one more rung in the ladder climbing towards Dr. Sarno’s journey of aphasia awareness worldwide. I am also happy to hear that the NAA is focused on and working to add more info about aphasia and adding the NAA URL into more stroke-centered hospital’s websites.That would be great! So far, only one stroke-centered hospital of the 418 hospitals surveyed to date have the NAA (www.aphasia.org) in their website! Just two hospitals next year would increase the total by 100%!”

How You Can Be an Advocate Too

• Join our Ambassador Program — help spread the word in your area
• Wear NAA Merch — each purchase helps visibility and funds our mission
• Share your story or work on social media or within your networks
• Attach your name to advocacy by producing an event, video, or post about aphasia
• Volunteer with NAA or local groups to help with awareness, support, or outreach
• Donate so we can support more advocates, resource creation, and systemic education

“To be heard is a simple human right.”