14th Annual Michigan Audiology Coalition ConferenceOctober 10-11, 2019

Speaker's Bio

Robert M. DiSogra, Au.D, is an independent audiology consultant in Millstone Twp., NJ. He maintained private practice for 30 years in Freehold, NJ until 2015. He currently teaches undergraduate courses in audiology at Kean University in NJ.

He received his Doctor of Audiology degree in 2003 from the Osborne College of Audiology at Salus University. He holds a Masters Degree in Audiology from Hofstra University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Education from St. John’s University.

Dr. DiSogra developed and taught the Pharmacology/Ototoxicity distance learning course at Salus University for five years. He has taught an on-line class in Pharmacology/Ototoxic Drug Monitoring at the University of South Alabama and has also taught doctoral level/graduate and undergraduate Audiology courses at St. John’s University, Rutgers University and Kean University (NJ).

Dr. DiSogra was the 2016 recipient of the Dr. Joel Wernick Award for his educational contributions within the fields of audiology and hearing science from the Academy of Doctors of Audiology. He was also recognized as the 2013 Alumnus of the Year from Salus University. He is the past Chairperson of the Osborne College of Audiology Advisory Board at Salus University.

Dr. DiSogra is US Navy veteran and served during the Viet Nam era.

Speaker's Bio

Dr. Burdick has been a clinical specialist with Advanced Bionics since 2017. Prior to her time at AB, she completed her fourth year externship at Pediatric Ear, Nose, & Throat of Atlanta. A native of Grand Rapids, MI, Dr. Burdick completed her undergraduate & graduate degrees at Central Michigan University (CMU), graduating in 2016 with her Doctorate of Audiology. Fire Up Chips!

Speaker's Bio

Dr. Colleen Le Prell is the Emilie and Phil Schepps Professor of Hearing Science at the University of Texas at Dallas, and head of the UTD Doctor of Audiology (AuD) Program. Translational research in her laboratory is directed at prevention of noise-induced hearing loss. She currently receives funding for her research from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense (DoD), and industry sources. Dr. Le Prell is a member of the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) Hearing Loss Prevention Cross Sector Council, and reviews grant applications as a member of the Safety and Occupational Health Study Section for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). She actively participates in the DoD Hearing Center of Excellence Pharmaceutical Interventions for Hearing Loss working group, World Health Organization (WHO) Make Listening Safe consultancy, and works on several task forces for various professional organizations.

Speaker's Bio

Dr. Robertson is an Educational Specialist for Sivantos, Inc. Her responsibilities include training customers on software and products both face-to-face and via virtual sessions. She has 7 years of experience working in ENT settings with children and adults, as well as two years of experience at St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf where she focused audiology care on children 0-3 years of age. She has acquired a comprehensive understanding of diagnostics, hearing aid technology, counseling and addressing the hearing needs of individuals. Danielle received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Arkansas State University in 2002 and a doctoral degree in Audiology from Missouri State University in 2007.

Speaker's Bio

Dr. Elizabeth Adams Costa is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Director of Psychological Services at the River School and Chattering Children Clinic. Dr. Adams holds a BA with Distinction from the University of Virginia, a Master of Arts in Psychology and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Gallaudet University. Dr. Adams specializes in child development, and has expertise in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of children with behavioral, cognitive, and developmental differences. Dr. Adams provides training and education to graduate students in psychology and related fields, and is a certified Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) therapist and trainer. Dr. Adams is an active clinical researcher, and services as a special population consultant for Pearson Clinical on the assessment of children with hearing loss. She has published on topics including parenting stress associated with a diagnosis of hearing loss, parent support in the intervention process, the cognitive assessment of children with hearing loss, and cognitive profiles of children with cochlear implants and hearing aids.

Speaker's Bio

Erin L. Miller, Au.D. is a Professor at the University of Akron and the Coordinator of the Northeast Ohio Au.D. Consortium (NOAC). She received her Master’s degree from Kent State University and her Au.D. from the University of Florida. Her clinical interests include amplification and (central) auditory processing disorders and her professional interests include legislative and regulatory matters, ethics and leadership development. She is a past president of the American Academy of Audiology (AAA), the Ohio Academy of Audiology (OAA) and the Northern Ohio Academy of Audiology. She currently chairs the AAA Professional Development Council and Leadership Development Committee. She has been an OAA representative to the Ohio Speech and Hearing Governmental Affairs Coalition for more than 15 years, serving as chair for 6 of those years.

Speaker's Bio

Gael Hannan is a renowned humorist and writer on hearing loss issues. If people find it hard to laugh at themselves, Gael is more than happy to do it for them. Over the past 20 years, she has created awareness campaigns, school programs and award-winning presentations that help people better understand how they can live more successfully with their hearing loss. Gael has a passionate international following for her weekly articles on HearingHealthMatters.org and her book The Way I Hear It: A Life with Hearing Loss.

Speaker's Bio

Gerald Hug MA, CCC-A is currently the Director of Audiology at Hug Center of Hearing, a HearingLife Company. His clinical interests include audiometric testing and treatment of older adults with hearing loss, through hearing technology, hearing education, and counseling about hearing. He has presented and published research articles in the area of hearing outcome measurements. He is a Clinical Supervisor for audiology doctoral students (AuD) from Wayne State University.

Speaker's Bio

My position as a National Outreach Lead supporting CapTel combines my three passions ― community engagement, providing education and making this world a better place. CapTel is a shortened name for captioned telephones. We provide those with verified hearing loss with a NO COST CapTel captioned phone along with no-cost captioning, funded by the government through Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Being part of this wonderful community that truly cares for those with hearing loss and becoming a resource is one of the greatest joys of my life. Forming strong relationships with hearing professionals and earning their trust through consistent and thoughtful service has allowed for continued growth in our offerings as a company. I am passionate about what I do for a living and so very grateful that at the end of the day I lay my head on my pillow knowing that I get to work with others that are just as passionate; and we all have the privilege and opportunity to improve the quality of life for many.

Speaker's Bio

Jill Bollman is the Clinical Trainer for Michigan and Indiana. She joins the Phonak team after practicing Audiology in a university setting and an ENT settting. She received her Doctorate degree in Audiology from AT Still University, her Master’s degree from Rush University and her Bachelors degree in Communicaton Disorders from Central Michigan University. Her clinical experience includes diagnostics for pediatric and adults, hearing aid evaluation and fittings for both pediatric and adults as well as Electrophysiological evaluations and CAPD evaluations.

Speaker's Bio

Karla Quinones, Au.D. is the Pediatric Account Manager for Oticon’s Midwest region serving hearing care professionals in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. Karla’s clinical experience includes work as a Pediatric Audiologist for a leading midwestern children’s hospital where she provided comprehensive infant and pediatric diagnostic evaluations, including a specialized interest in Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD). She holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Central Florida and a Doctor of Audiology from Northwestern University.

Speaker's Bio

Kaylee Smith, Au.D. received her doctorate of audiology in 2015 from Northern Illinois University. Her primary interest is dizzy/balance disorders. Dr. Smith completed a fellowship in the vestibular sciences at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, TN in 2016. After completion of her fellowship, she was employed by Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) in Detroit, MI. She is currently the balance coordinator at HFHS, where she coordinates the schedules and protocols for the balance clinics. Kaylee Smith, Au.D. is also passionate about teaching and supervising students. She is the extern coordinator at HFHS and supervises second year Wayne State Students that rotate through the clinics at HFHS.

Speaker's Bio

Lindsey Jorgensen is an Associate professor at the University of South Dakota where she teaches, does research and sees patients. She obtained her AuD and PhD both at the University of Pittsburgh where she also saw patients at the VA. Since coming to USD, Lindsey has continued to see adult patients as well as pediatric patients focusing on hearing aids and hearing assistive technology. Her research looks at the interaction of hearing technology and cognition. She also currently sits on the board of directors for the American Academy of Audiology.

Speaker's Bio

Luis began working for Starkey in August 2000 as a Field Sales Representative covering Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky. In 2008, he joined the Education & Training Department. Current duties include leading training classes for Starkey staff and customers domestically and internationally. He also helps in the development of training materials and oversees Starkey’s online and e-learning initiatives. Luis received his BA in Telecommunications and Audio Engineering from Indiana University and continued on to receive his MA in Audiology from Indiana University in 1991. After graduate school, he worked as a staff audiologist for an otology practice in Indianapolis where his duties included clinical audiology, special testing, hearing aid dispensing, marketing and public relations. In October of 2013 he earned his AuD from A.T. Still University. Luis is married with three children and resides in Bloomington, Indiana.

Speaker's Bio

For the past seventeen years, Nancy Gallihugh has been providing educational audiology services for Kalamazoo RESA to ensure that students with hearing loss are identified and provided with the necessary tools to access language. Previously, she supervised the industrial audiology program and provided clinical audiology services at Constance Brown Hearing Centers in Kalamazoo. She is a part-time instructor at Western Michigan University, teaching the Industrial and Public Health Audiology class for the audiology doctoral program. She currently serves on the boards of the Michigan Audiology Coalition, the Kalamazoo RESA Foundation and Breakfast Optimist Club of Kalamazoo

Speaker's Bio

Dr. Shepard is former Chair of the division of Audiology and Director of the Dizziness and Balance Disorders Program at Mayo Clinic – Rochester. As Professor of Audiology, Mayo Clinical School of Medicine – emeritus Dr. Shepard continues with a clinical private practice in Missoula, MT for the assessment and recommendations for treatment of patients reporting dizziness and balance disorder symptoms. He is also involved with research through the Mayo Clinic and teaching at the U of MT.
He received his undergraduate and masters training in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering from University of Kentucky and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He completed his PhD in auditory electrophysiology and clinical audiology from the University of Iowa in 1979. He has specialized in clinical electrophysiology for both the auditory and vestibular systems. Activity over the last 39 years has concentrated on the clinical assessment and rehabilitation of balance disorder patients and clinical research endeavors related to both assessment and rehabilitation.

Speaker's Bio

Patricia Mazzullo, Au.D., served as a clinical audiologist at the Hearing and Balance Center of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai for over 6 years. She also served as an adjunct professor in the Clinical Doctoral Program in Audiology (Au.D.) at her alma mater, the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), as well as in the undergraduate Communication Sciences and Disorder department at Marymount Manhattan College. In 2019, Dr. Mazzullo was selected for the CUNY Graduate Center Alumni Spotlight, highlighting the achievements of graduates of the institution.
Her clinical interests and expertise includes pediatric and adult hearing assessments, adult hearing aid fittings and follow-up, electrophysiological testing, and pediatric and adult vestibular assessment. In addition, Dr. Mazzullo played an integral role in developing a multi-disciplinary pediatric vestibular team at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai. In addition, Dr. Mazzullo presented a case study on a three year old with Benign Paroxysmal Vertigo of Childhood (BPVC) and pediatric vestibular test procedures at the 2019 AudiologyNOW conference. Dr. Mazzullo has extensive experience working with children and adults with special needs, and completed the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program at the Westchester Institute for Human Development during her audiology residency.

Speaker's Bio

Paul is an Audiologist who has directed his career focus on Intraoperative Neural Monitoring. Starting in 2001, he worked with a neuro-otologist on skull-based infratentorial tumors and by 2003 he transitioned to the broader field of Intraoperative Neural Monitoring with Biotronic Neural Network. He engaged in the field work for spine, vascular, as well as large skull-based mapping procedures. By 2006 he achieved a professional level certification as a Diplomate of the American Board Neural Monitoring (D.ABNM) and shifted from field work to computer-based IONM monitoring with remote oversight over the last 12 years. In 2014 he acquired AABIOM professional BCS-IOM certificate. Since 2001 he has directly monitored, and overseen remotely, over 7000 operative cases. Additionally, in partnership with company education, he has taught didactic foundation courses in IONM, conducted advanced training courses in ABR and cranial nerve monitoring, and trained neurologists the skill-based knowledge for professional telemedicine. Currently he is a Lead Clinical Quality Assurance specialist with NuVasive Clinical Services participating in performance audits, writing policy and procedure guidelines, and engaging hospital QA metrics. Also, he is the Board Treasurer with AABIOM

Speaker's Bio

Paulette is the Director of Audiology as well as the Cochlear Implant team coordinator. She received her Master of Arts degree in Audiology from Wayne State University in 1984. She is accredited by the American Speech Language hearing Association and is licensed by the state of Michigan. Paulette has been on staff at the Michigan Ear Institute since 1986. Her interests include testing children and working with pediatric and adult cochlear implant patients. She believes that it is both remarkable and rewarding to see the changes that cochlear implantation can make for the severely to profoundly hearing impaired population. Paulette is actively involved in state audiology committees. She enjoys volunteering at The Henry Ford Greenfield Village in their herb gardens. Paulette is a current member of the MAC program committee and the MAC board.

Speaker's Bio

Professor Litovsky received her PhD in 1991 in Developmental Psychology, with post-doctoral training in auditory neurophysiology and biomedical engineering. She has published over 120 papers and book chapters. Her research focuses hearing abilities covering lifespan of humans to include infants and elderly adults, in particular on cochlear implants. The research questions seek to understand auditory development in children and adults who are born deaf, or who acquire deafness during childhood, and the potential benefits gained from bilateral cochlear implants. Her work focuses on various measures, including psychophysical performance in response to binaural cues, as a means of understanding binaural processing and plasticity. In addition, her lab is advancing knowledge about the role of cognition, attention and memory in implanted patients. Objective measures in her lab focus on pupil dilation and fNIRS as ‘real time’ assays of listening effort during speech-in-noise tasks. The goal of the objective measures is to assess the impact of adding a second ear to bilateral CI users and to patients with single sided deafness who receive a CI in the deaf ear.
Professor Litovsky teaches courses in undergraduate and graduate programs, serves on numerous national and international grant review panels and editorial boards, and in various positions of leadership in the research community. She is currently President Elect of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology. She has received a number of awards, including a Fulbright Senior Fellowship. Her lab has over 20 students, postdoctoral fellows, engineers and audiologists. Her ongoing research program has been funded for over 20 years by more than $10 million in grants from the National Institute of Health in the USA.

Speaker's Bio

Susan Holmes-Walker, PhD RN, owner and founder of the Sulan Group LLC is a registered nurse licensed in the states of Michigan and Florida. Dr. Holmes-Walker has experience as an adult pain clinical nurse specialist, hospital-based case manager, clinical quality facilitator, and higher education administrator. She is also an educator with the passion for adult pain management. Her mission is the provide health care professionals with information and to increase understanding of quality pain assessment and non-opioid pain management to prevent transition from acute to chronic pain.

Speaker's Bio

Susan Shore. Ph.D. Is a Professor of Otolaryngology, Molecular and Integrative Physiology and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan where she also holds the Joseph Hawkins Collegiate Research Professorship. Dr. Shore has spent over two decades at the Kresge Hearing Research Institute at University of Michigan, where her NIH and private foundation-funded research has focused on the contributions of multisensory systems to auditory brain circuits in normal and noise-damaged systems. Currently, the translation of these basic science discoveries is focused on human clinical trials testing a novel, multisensory tinnitus treatment. Dr. Shore has received numerous awards for her research including the Lydia Adams de Witt award for Women in Science and Engineering. As principal investigator of a long-standing NIH funded training grant, Susan is also committed to training the next generation of sensory scientists. In her spare time, she is a performance ballroom dancer.

Speaker's Bio

Teresa Zwolan, Ph.D., CCC-A, is a Clinical Professor and Director of the University of Michigan Cochlear Implant Program. She received her Ph.D. in Audiology from Northwestern University and has worked at the University of Michigan since 1990. She is actively involved in patient care, research and administrative aspects of the program. To date, more than 3,500 patients have received a cochlear implant at the University of Michigan. Dr. Zwolan also serves as adjunct faculty at Wayne State University where she teaches a graduate course on Cochlear Implants. She has authored/co-authored several papers on cochlear implants that focus on clinical management of children and adults, and has authored several book chapters dealing with various topics related to cochlear implants.

Speaker's Bio

Speaker's Bio

Dr. Ramachandran is the Educational and Training Specialist for the MidAmerica Region at Oticon. Prior to this she was a Senior Staff Audiologist and the Research Coordinator for the Division of Audiology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Ml, as well as an Adjunct Assistant Professor and the Clinical Educational Coordinator for the AuD program at Wayne State University. Dr. Ramachandran serves on the Editorial Board for Plural Publishing, Inc. She has published numerous articles, books, and book chapters. Her professional leadership services have included the Executive Board of the American Academy of Audiology, the Board of Directors of the Accreditation Commission for Audiology Education, and as President of the Michigan Academy of Audiology