Warrenville, IL – September 10, 2015 – More than 100 audiology students attended the 11th annual Phonak University held at Phonak US headquarters in August. Like many attendees before them, Phonak U provides audiology doctorate students an invaluable mentoring opportunity as they contemplate real-world career considerations and receive advice from a wide range of key industry opinion leaders about how to leverage their clinical training to create successful, satisfying and rewarding careers. As in past years, guest faculty from around the country along with Phonak management took attendees through a full agenda of lecture topics, hands-on clinical workshops and evidence-based case studies.
“I hope the students left the conference with the knowledge that practicing Audiology with a solid, contemporary evidence base for everything they do is the only path to professional autonomy,” said industry opinion leader and Phonak U faculty member Therese Walden, AuD.
Faculty members facilitated highly interactive discussions about the state of the industry, market challenges and opportunities, considerations for choosing various roles and jobs offered across the industry, professional ethics and discussions about transforming the future of audiology.
“I also hope the key takeaway from my talks is the need for the students to start early in their career with the premise that the patients they care for deserve the highest level of professionalism and that generally takes hard work and dedication,” added Dr. Walden.
In addition to classroom and workshops, attendees toured the Phonak Audiology Research Center (PARC) in Warrenville and were engaged in hands-on applications of research, technology demonstrations and various aspects of building hearing aids at the company’s 80,000 sq ft. state-of-the-art operations and distribution facility. They also enjoyed an outdoor dinner event where they spent time relaxing and networking with fellow students from other audiology programs.
One highlight of the event was an opening night keynote address by Beverly Zwahlen, a passionate Phonak wearer who is spending time now that she’s retired from her successful career as an energy engineer to inspire others to act on their own hearing health.
“I wish everyone at Phonak could have be privy to the dozens of conversations I had with students who attended and described Phonak U as a completely unique experience,” explained Bill Dickinson, VP of Audiology at Phonak US. “We have received an unbelievable number of emails from students expressing their gratitude for providing them with such
a meaningful learning experience.”
Adding to that are the 230 posts by attendees with a reach of 15,600+ on social media (check out their postings at https://www.tintup.com/t/phonaku). If the posts are any indication, 2015 Phonak University was a resounding success and a great accomplishment for everyone involved in this year’s program.
For more information, please visit www.phonakpro.com or the Phonak Expo Page on AudiologyOnline.
