CI2020 Online - Session 2

Michael Canfarotta
MD

Dr. Canfarotta is a PGY-3 resident in Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Canfarotta is completing a two-year NIH T32 fellowship with faculty members in the Division of Neurotology & Skull Base Surgery and the Division of Auditory Research. His research interests include strategies to optimize electrode array placement, methods to individualize mapping of cochlear implant devices, and the associated influence on cochlear implant recipient speech perception and spatial hearing.

Matthew Carlson
MD

Matthew L. Carlson, M.D., is an ear surgeon who specializes in treating diseases of the middle ear, temporal bone and skull base. His primary research interests include clinical outcomes in cochlear implantation and acoustic neuroma tumors (vestibular schwannoma).

Ivette Cejas
PhD

Dr. Ivette Cejas is an Associate Professor and Director of Family Support Services at the University of Miami Ear Institute. She is a Licensed Psychologist in the state of Florida. Dr. Cejas is a well-known researcher in the area of pediatric cochlear implantation and child development, publishing extensively in this area and presenting at numerous conferences. As part of the UM Children’s Hearing program she provides therapeutic and assessment services to children and families coping with a hearing loss diagnosis or comorbid disorders. She is an advocate for all children with hearing loss and organizes a comprehensive family program at UHealth to assist families through their journey with hearing loss. She is on the Board of Directors of AG Bell and is a member of the American Cochlear Implant Alliance.

Michael F. Dorman
PhD

 Professor Emeritus Michael Dorman received his PhD from the University of Connecticut in Experimental Child and Developmental Psychology. He taught at the City University of New York (CUNY). and was a member of the Haskins Laboratories before moving to Arizona State University where he continues to run a research laboratory.

Barbara Foster
AuD

Dr. Foster is an audiologist with over 20 years’ experience with cochlear implants, over half of them working directly for cochlear implant manufacturers.  She currently works as the Clinical Education Manager at MED-EL Corporation and is passionate about providing unforgettable learning experiences while training on cutting edge medical technology that transforms people’s lives.

Darla Franz

Vice President of Education and Corporate Communication at MED-EL Corporation

Darla is the Vice President of Education and Corporate Communications at MED-EL Corporation. As an audiologist, Darla began working with cochlear implant recipients clinically in 1988 and later joined MED-EL Corporation in 1997. Darla’s passion is ensuring that clinicians working with hearing implants develop a strong foundation in providing excellent patient care.

Erika Gagnon
AuD

Dr. Gagnon is a pediatric cochlear implant audiologist at the Children’s Cochlear Implant Center at UNC. She received her undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She joined the Children’s Cochlear Implant Center at UNC in 2014. Her clinical interests included datalogging, pediatric EAS and expanded cochlear implant indications.

Ann Geers
PhD

Ann Geers, Ph.D is a developmental psychologist, retired research professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas and formerly at Central Institute for the Deaf and Washington University in St. Louis. She currently serves as a consultant to both the University of Texas at Dallas and Washington University. Her work appears in more than 100 published articles and book chapters, documenting speech, language, cognitive, social and academic development of deaf children from infancy through adolescence. She has designed tests specifically for children with hearing loss, including measures of speech perception, speech production, language and intelligence.

Meredith Holcomb
AuD CCC-A

Meredith Holcomb, AuD, CCC-A joined the University of Miami Department of Otolaryngology as Assistant Professor and the Director of the Cochlear Implant Program in June 2019. She spent the first 13 years of her career at the Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. Holcomb is Chair of the Board of Directors for the American Cochlear Implant Alliance and is a faculty member for the Institute for Cochlear Implant Training Advanced Audiology Course. She serves on the Audiology Advisory Council for Advanced Bionics and Med-El, and she is a consultant for Advanced Bionics, Cochlear Americas Corporation, ASHA, and Audiology Online. She was the South Carolina representative for the ASHA Audiology Advisory Council, the immediate Past President for the South Carolina Academy of Audiology, and a Past President of the South Carolina AG Bell Chapter. Dr. Holcomb demonstrates a strong commitment to education, mentorship, and clinical research. She has published book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles and has given numerous invited presentations at national and international conferences on the subject of cochlear implantation and clinical efficiency.

Jacob Hunter
MD

Jacob B. Hunter is the Dedman Family Scholar in Clinical Care at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, having completed his Neurotology Fellowship at Vanderbilt University. His cochlear implant research interests include barriers to implantation and cognition.

Hanif Ladak
PhD, P.Eng.

Professor Hanif Ladak is jointly appointed to the Department of Medical Biophysics and the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. His research interests are in imaging, image analysis and simulation applied to understanding the biophysics of the peripheral auditory system.

Allison Racey
AuD

Dr. Racey is the Manager of Regulated Research at MED-EL Corporation, which includes managing multi-center clinical trials and interacting with the FDA as needed on regulated research issues. Allison received her AuD from UNC-Chapel Hill and is passionate about bringing hearing implant technology to those who have exhausted other options.

William H. Shapiro
AuD

William H. Shapiro received his Master of Arts degree in Audiology in 1978 from Queens College of CUNY. He received his Doctorate of Audiology from the Arizona School of Health Sciences, A.T. Still University. He has worked at the New York University Medical Center since 1984, where he has been involved with all aspects of diagnostic and rehabilitative audiology, including the dispensing and fitting of assistive hearing technology such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and FM systems. He currently holds the position of Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, and is the Director of Faculty Group Practice Audiology. He also is the Supervising Audiologist at the New York University Cochlear Implant Center, a nationally recognized center of excellence in the field of cochlear implants. Dr. Shapiro has co-authored cochlear implant related book chapters, as well as publications in peer reviewed journals. He is a frequent lecturer at professional conventions, both national, and international. He currently serves on the advisory board of one cochlear implant company. He is the 2008 recipient of the “Outstanding Clinician Award” received from the New York State Speech, Language and Hearing Association.

Donna L. Sorkin
MA

Josh Stohl
PhD

Dr. Stohl has been part of MED-EL for over eleven years and is currently the Director of the North American Research Laboratory in Durham, NC. Dr. Stohl earned his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Duke University, and his primary research interests include signal processing and sound coding for cochlear implants.

Holly Teagle
AuD

Holly Teagle is an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, School of Population Health and the Clinical Director of Audiology and Habilitation at The Hearing House in Auckland, New Zealand.

Joanne Travers