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Her mother is a nurse, so Gabrielle Verrillo, MS ‘21, was always interested in healthcare. But she didn’t necessarily want to go the same route as her mom.
During her undergraduate years at the University of Pittsburgh, she went to the professional and development office at Pitt and took a career quiz. That was where she was first exposed to Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) profession. And, she hasn’t looked back since.
“Something that I immediately liked about it was how many different paths you can take with speech, from working with kids in a school, outpatient setting, or early intervention as well as adults in the hospital or skilled nursing settings,” said Verrillo. “There’s so much you can do I feel like you can really find your interest.”
After graduating from Pitt in 2019 with a degree in Communication Science and Disorders and learning about the SLP program at Salus University, she decided to check it out. She was sold immediately.
“I liked how Salus was a smaller school. That made me feel confident that they’d really be able to focus in on each individual student,” said Verrillo, who added that being closer to her family in North Wales, Pennsylvania, was also a draw. “Coming from Pitt, it’s such a big program and you don’t get to really know your professors like you do in a place like Salus.”
Because her undergrad experience was all in the classroom, Verrillo found early clinical experience — a feature of all Salus programs — was a major benefit and invaluable.
Unfortunately, she was only on campus for eight months before the pandemic hit, which forced much of the rest of her graduate school experience to be online.
“It wasn’t ideal, but Salus did a great job at adapting really quickly,” she said. “They didn’t skip a beat, and that helped me in my job now, because as a travel therapist, I’m bouncing around to different facilities, and they don’t always have great resources at some of the places. But, I was able to adapt during COVID and that experience has helped me in my career.”
That career as a travel therapist has taken Verrillo all over the country. After graduating from Salus, she completed a clinical fellowship in Charlotte, North Carolina for a year, and then moved to California for three months. After that, she went to Texas and then Washington, where she currently works. In the fall, she hopes to land an assignment in New England.
“I would recommend it (travel therapy) to anybody. It’s only three months, so if you don’t like the job or the location, it goes so fast. But you can also take advantage of it and experience so many fun things and meet interesting people along the way,” said Verrillo.
Eventually, she’d like to settle back in Pennsylvania and be closer to her family. And, once her travel experience has run its course, she’d like to specialize in an area of speech.
“I want to find a path that I can hone in on and build my expertise. Right now, my favorite population to work with is the stroke population. There is so much you do from swallowing to motor speech to expressive-receptive language so you can see some really quick progress,” she said. “I’ve only been in skilled nursing so far, but I’d really like to dip my toes in all different settings like a hospital, outpatient, or school so that I can continue to grow as a therapist.”
When she’s not working, Verrillo likes to do all things outdoors with her fiancée, such as camping, hiking and kayaking, and traveling for her job has offered the opportunity to visit several national parks along the way to engage in those activities.
All in all, she is grateful to the University for preparing her to become the best professional possible.
“I thought Salus had a great SLP program,” said Verrillo. “I really appreciated the help and support from all of the clinical educators and professors and how it had that great community feel.”
