The 15th Michigan Audiology Coalition ConferenceOctober 21-22, 2021

Speaker's Bio

Amyn M. Amlani, PhD, is President of Otolithic, LLC, a consulting firm that provides competitive market analysis and support strategy, economic and financial assessments, segment targeting strategies and tactics, professional development, and consumer insights. Dr. Amlani has been in hearing care for 25+ years, with extensive professional experience in the independent and medical audiology practice channels, as an academic and scholar, and in industry. Dr. Amlani also serves as section editor of Economics for Hearing Health Technology Matters (HHTM), as well as HHTM’s Director of Professional Development & Education

Speaker's Bio

Before joining GCSI, Bob served for 10 years as Chief of Staff to Senator Arlan Meekhof, the Michigan Senate Majority Leader. During his time in the legislature, he managed many difficult legislative issues and became one of Lansing’s leading experts on the legislative process. Bob has his bachelor’s degree in political science from Grand Valley State University and his law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School.

Speaker's Bio

Casey Stach Au.D., has worked on various cochlear implant programs for the past 31 years. She has been part of the Cochlear Implant Program at the University of Michigan since 2004, and has specialized in pediatric and adult clinical practice. She has served as the chair of the Legislative Committee for the Michigan Audiology Coalition since 2019, and as a State Champions board member for the American Cochlear Implant Alliance (ACIA) since 2013. Both organizations have allowed her to focus on state and federal legislative issues related to hearing loss, insurance coverage, and improving early intervention services for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Speaker's Bio

Debbie Abel, Au.D. received her Bachelor and Master’s degrees from Kent State University and her AuD from the Arizona School of Health Sciences. Dr. Abel spent 13 years in private practice in Alliance, OH after moving an existing practice from the Alliance Eye and Ear Clinic, where she was employed for 14 years, taking the ENT with her. She is the manager of Coding and Contracting Services for Audigy. Formerly the Academy’s Senior Specialist, Practice Management, she was the Director of Reimbursement and Practice Compliance and served as an Academy Board member-at-large and as the chair of the Academy’s Coding and Reimbursement Committee and a member of the Academy’s Ethical Practice Board. She is the immediate Past President of the Doctors of Audiology.
Dr. Abel has authored several chapters in Plural Publication texts including the first, second and third editions of Strategic Practice Management: A Patient Centered Approach/Business and Procedural Considerations and first edition of The Essential Guide to Coding in Otolaryngology: Coding, Billing and Practice Management and soon to be the second edition. The audiology companion book, The Essential Guide to Coding in Audiology: Coding, Billing and Practice Management edited by Dr. Abel, was published in December 2017. Dr. Abel was an adjunct assistant professor at A. T. Still. She was the Alliance Area’s 1994 Athena Award recipient, was awarded the first “Active Advocate of the Year” by the State Leaders’ Network of the American Academy of Audiology in 2006, in 2012, the American Academy of Audiology’s President’s Award and in 2017, ADA’s Joel Wernick Award.

Speaker's Bio

Emily Nairn, AuD is a clinical audiologist in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Division of Audiology at the University of Michigan. She began her career there in 2012 after being awarded her doctoral degree in audiology from A.T. Still University. Her clinical work at U of M includes adult diagnostics, amplification management for hearing loss, aural rehabilitation, and management of implantable bone-conduction devices. She also has a keen interest in the area of tinnitus management and has had an active role in the development and administration of the tinnitus management program at the university.

Speaker's Bio

Gail M. Whitelaw, Ph.D. is a clinical associate professor and Director of the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic at The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH. She teaches coursework in pediatric audiology, ethics, tinnitus, and professional issues. She is a preceptor for the AuD program at Ohio State and provides direct clinical services. She is also the audiology faculty member for the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Disorders (LEND) grant, a Maternal and Health training grant, at the Nisonger Center. Her areas of clinical interest include auditory processing disorders (APD) in children and adults, tinnitus and sound tolerance disorders, and issues related to suprathreshold auditory deficits. Dr. Whitelaw has been involved with leadership aspects of the profession of audiology, including as a past-President of the American Academy of Audiology, past-Chair of the Board of Governors of the American Board of Audiology, and a past-President of the Ohio Academy of Audiology. She is a Distinguished Audiology Fellow of the National Academies of Practice (NAP).

Speaker's Bio

Speaker's Bio

Dr. Jamie McClintic was diagnosed with a profound bilateral hearing loss at three years old. Her disability drives her dreams. She currently works full time as a school based Occupational Therapist and per diem as an adjunct professor for Grand Valley State University’s OTD program. This past summer she released her first book titled, Grieving the Gift” and has been busy promoting this project. When not working, Dr. McClintic chases three active children (one daughter with Down syndrome). She currently serves as a member on various national and community-wide committees that develop resources for children with disabilities. Dr. McClintic is an advocate not only for those who are deaf and hard of hearing but for all children. She will deliver the tear jerking and laughter filled 2021 MAC Keynote presentation.

Speaker's Bio

Katie Kuboushek, Au.D. , CCC-A is the EHDI Program Coordinator and Audiologist at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at University of Michigan Health. Katie’s practice is focused on pediatric diagnostics and rehabilition. Her clinical interests include improving loss to follow-up following referral on newborn hearing screening as well as detection and monitoring of children with congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV).

Speaker's Bio

Kristy Winters, AuD is an audiologist at the University of Michigan Health: Michigan Medicine. Dr. Winters has worked as a pediatric audiologist for 20 years, specializing in the diagnosis and management of childhood hearing loss. Her particular interests lie in hearing aid and bone conduction solutions for children and serves as a lead among her colleagues in the area of bone conduction technologies. She is a member of Michigan Medicine’s Microtia and Atresia Clinic, monitors the Michigan Medicine Bone Conduction Loaner Program, participated in several manufacturer focus groups to improve device functionality for children, and presented at the July 2021 Ear Community Picnic.

Speaker's Bio

Megan M. Cherry, Au.D., CCC-A, is a clinical audiologist in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Michigan Medicine. She earned her Au.D. from the Ohio State University and completed her externship at Michigan Medicine. She is the current president for the Michigan Audiology Coalition.

Speaker's Bio

Dr. Pesch is a developmental/behavioral pediatrician at CS Mott’s Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, MI and assistant professor at University of Michigan Medical School where her research focuses on health services delivery around congenital diseases, autism and childhood obesity. She is also mom to three girls, her youngest born with congenital CMV. She is the current president of the National CMV Foundation.

Speaker's Bio

Dr. Nichole Kingham was awarded a master’s degree in Audiology at the University of Washington and obtained her clinical doctorate from A.T. Still University. She was a member of the 2012 class of James Jerger Future Leaders in Audiology and is the Past President of Washington State Audiology Academy. Dr. Kingham has worked in private practice since 2003, where she hired the first Audiology Assistant in Washington State and has trained and promoted Audiology Assistants since 2009. She currently sits on the Washington Department of Health Speech and Hearing Board and is a Member at Large on the American Academy of Audiology Board of Directors.

Dr. Kingham’s mission is to empower the small business owner by providing resources to help engage today’s savvy consumer. Through experience, trial and error, research and mentorship, she has developed key insights for delivering exceptional patient experiences. She wants to share what she’s learned so that the Audiology Private Practice doesn’t become a thing of the past.

Dr. Kingham has a passion for practice development, protocol development, efficiency improvement, marketing strategies and staff training. She has developed an Audiology Assistant training program that is utilized in many clinics around the US and loves to speak about practice growth strategies and how to successfully incorporate audiology assistants into a busy practice.

Speaker's Bio

Patricia L. Purcell, M.D. M.P.H., is an assistant professor and clinical researcher in pediatric otolaryngology at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan. She earned her M.D. at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas and completed residency in Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle. She completed an additional two-year research fellowship during residency during which she earned a Master’s in Public Health with a focus on Maternal and Child Health. After residency, she moved to Toronto to complete a fellowship in pediatric otolaryngology at The Hospital for Sick Children. She is passionate about patient care and public health policy relating to children with hearing loss and vestibular disorders.

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

Dr. Banakis Hartl is currently a neurotology and skull base surgery fellow at the University of Michigan. Dr. Banakis Hartl obtained her AuD from Northwestern University. She went onto medical school at Northwestern University and completed a residency in Otolaryngology at University of Colorado School of Medicine. In addition to her clinical practice, she has a specific interest in improving outcomes for those with hearing loss. Her current research focus is on the development and use of a model for quantifying cochlear input via measures of intracochlear pressure. This tool has been employed to characterize potential for cochlear trauma during surgical manipulations and to understand the cochlear input drive in normal hearing. She has also studied binaural hearing and single-sided deafness in an animal model. This work has led to a multi-institutional project to develop a novel speech-in-noise and localization stimuli to be delivered in an acoustically treated testing space, allowing for more fine discrimination of localization ability and more precise development of “real-world” noise stimuli to challenge device performance.

Speaker's Bio

Dr. Tyler received a B.Sc. (Communication Disorders) and a M.Sc. (Audiology), at the University of Western Ontario followed by a Ph.D. in Psychoacoustics from the University of Iowa. Dr. Tyler is currently a Professor in Otolaryngology and in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Iowa. He has been a visiting scholar in China, South Africa, Australia, Sweden, Poland, Germany and France. In 2016, Dr. Tyler was named an Honorary Professor in The Society of Medicine and Natural Science, at the University of Parma, Italy, for his contributions to the Cochlear Implant field. His primary areas of interest include tinnitus, hyperacusis and cochlear implants. Dr. Tyler has edited several books related to cochlear implants and tinnitus in addition to numerous publications. He has a member of several committees to further the advancement of audiology including the National Health Institute, Veterans Administration, National Science Foundation, World Health Organization American Academy of Otolaryngology. Dr. Tyler maintains a clinical practice which includes evaluating patients with tinnitus and hosts an annual Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Treatment Workshop.

Speaker's Bio

Robert M. Traynor practiced audiology and interoperative monitoring in Greeley, Colorado, treating patients of all ages for 46 years. He is a frequent lecturer domestically and has lectured internationally in over 40 countries. For 17 years he was Senior International Audiology Consultant to a major hearing aid manufacturer. He is an Adjunct Professor of Audiology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Salus University and Rush University.

Speaker's Bio

Samuel R. Atcherson, PhD, is professor of audiology and professor of otolaryngology—head and neck surgery at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. His clinical and research efforts focus on audiologic rehabilitation needs, auditory and vestibular electrophysiology, and health literacy, and he is director of the Auditory Electrophysiology and (Re)habilitation Laboratory. Dr. Atcherson is on the Board of Trustees for the Arkansas School for the Deaf/Blind and Visually-Impaired, former president of the Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Losses, co-founder of the Association of Audiologists with Hearing Loss, and a bilateral cochlear implant user.