Tamatha Rutherford, MCD, CCC-SLP, graduated from Auburn University in 1992 with a master's degree and has been practicing primarily in the adult population since that time. She has worked in all settings: home health, outpatient clinic, inpatient acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, and now in private practice. Mrs. Rutherford is the owner and operator of Swallowing Specialists of Central Ga, LLC since 2018. She has provided clinical instruction for graduate externships as well as served as a supervisor for many clinical fellows. She has developed and supervised clinical competencies for Adult Diagnostics, Treatments, MBSS and FEES evaluations in the acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, and outpatient settings. She is a resource peer reviewer and a resource developer for the MedSLP collective. She currently holds the charter for the SPOHNC Support Group in the Macon, Georgia area, Out of the Mask, and is a member of the Foundation for Swallowing Disorders.

Mrs. Rutherford has lectured for multidisciplinary audiences within brain injury, dysphagia, communication, and cognitive impairments as it related to other rehabilitation disciplines. Mrs. Rutherford currently specializes in HNOC management in a private practice setting. She currently holds certifications in MBSImP and is LSVT Certified and has experience and training with HNOC lymphedema management. She continues to maintain practice privileges at an acute care hospital, provides lunch and learning opportunities for the speech language pathology departments, and consults for complicated cases within the acute care and inpatient rehabilitation setting. She provides lectures to medical residents from Mercer University during their placement in the acute care hospital as well as training with specific residents placed with Gastroenterology within an outpatient clinic.