Washington, DC — Lucille B. Beck, PhD, national director of the Audiology and Speech Pathology Service for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in Washington, DC, and chief consultant for the VA's Rehabilitation Services Group, has been selected to receive an honorary doctorate from a leading college of optometry, and a distinguished contribution award from a national research group.
The Deafness Research Foundation (DRF) recognized Beck for her "distinguished contribution in the field of speech, language, and hearing" at the Foundation's 50th Anniversary event May 14 in New York. The DRF supports research and provides grants to scientists who advance the cause of hearing and who explore new approaches in hearing and balance science.
Beck also received the honorary degree of Doctor of Science at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry's (PCO) commencement exercises on May 23 in Elkins Park, Penn. She was selected for this unique award in recognition of her many years of demonstrated commitment to Americans with hearing loss.
"We are proud that Dr Beck has been honored for her professional work by two distinguished professional organizations," said Dr. Michael J. Kussman, Under Secretary of Health for VA. "Dr Beck is an internationally respected administrator, policy-maker, researcher, clinician, and educator who has dedicated her entire professional career to providing veterans with the best care anywhere."
President Bill Clinton acknowledged Dr Beck's work in 2000 when she became the first audiologist to receive the Presidential Rank Award. For more than 25 years, Dr Beck has worked to improve the hearing health and meet the communications needs of the nation's veterans.
Kussman noted that Beck's achievements at VA include increasing professional recognition for speech language pathologists and audiologists throughout VA;pioneering the use of and fostering evidence-based practice;and developing and managing the federal hearing health care program. She has initiated groundbreaking collaborations between VA and the Department of Defense (DoD) to develop the first distance-learning audiology program, and recently has worked to increase the understanding of the implications of polytrauma and blast complications on speech, language and hearing.
Beck received her BA at Adelphi University and her MA and PhD from the University of Maryland. She began working at VA in 1977 as an audiologist at the VA Medical Center in Washington. She became chief of the audiology section at the hospital in 1984, and has been chief and coordinator of the VA National Hearing Program since 1995. She became national director of the Audiology and Speech Pathology Service in 1996 and was named chief consultant of VA's Rehabilitation Services Group in 2002.
SOURCE: Department of Veterans Affairs
