CI2020 Online - Session 1

Allison Biever
AuD

Dr. Allison Biever received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Alberta in 1989 and her master’s degree in Audiology at the University of Colorado in 1992, after which time she worked as a fellow in one of the first cochlear implant programs in Colorado. In 2005 she received her Au.D. from Central Michigan University. She currently works at the Rocky Mountain Ear Center has been helping people regain their hearing through the miraculous technology of cochlear implants. She was awarded the LaFawn Biddle Award and the Hands & Voices Families First Award for her outstanding service to the deaf and hard of hearing community. In addition to her work in the clinic, she is also a prominent researcher in the field of cochlear implants, an instructor for the Institute for Cochlear Implant Training (ICIT) and is on the board for the Listen Foundation.

Stephanie Bourn
AuD

Dr. Stephanie Bourn is an audiologist at Ear & Hearing at Center for Neurosciences in Tuscon, Arizona. She works closely with the Otology/Neurotology doctors to provide a full range of diagnostic hearing evaluations, vestibular evaluations, electrophysiologic testing (ABR/ASSR, VEMP, ENOG), hearing aid fittings, bone-anchored hearing devices, middle ear implants, and cochlear implant services for all ages.

Craig Buchman
MD

Craig Buchman is the Lindburg Professor and Chair, Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine. His clinical interests include ear, nose and throat conditions, hearing loss, facial nerve injury and disorder, facial paralysis, temporal bone tumors and cancer, acoustic neuroma, skull-base surgery, adult and pediatric cochlear implants, auditory brainstem implants, active middle ear implants, neurofibromatosis, otosclerosis, and cholesteatoma.

Sarah Coulthurst
MS

Sarah Coulthurst, MS is a pediatric audiologist in the Audiology Department at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland. Sarah has been a part of the Cochlear Implant Team at Children’s Hospital Oakland since 2000 and has served as their Clinical Director since 2008. She works with a diverse multi-disciplinary CI team to identify and manage newborns through 21 year olds with hearing loss. At her clinics they see varying degrees and types of hearing loss but many complex cases. She also mentors audiology extern students, pediatric residents and presents to hospital staff and residents in training.

Margaret Dillon
AuD CCC-A

Camille Dunn
PhD

Camille Dunn, PhD, joined the Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Iowa in 2003 where she is an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Cochlear Implant Program. She received her Masters of Science Degree in Audiology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1998 and her Doctor of Philosophy Degree from University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2003. Dr. Dunn holds her Audiology license from the State of Iowa. She maintains her Certificate of Clinical Competence in Audiology (CCC-A) and is a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and the American Cochlear Implant Alliance (ACIA). She is a Principal Investigator on a NIH-funded grant studying Hybrid cochlear implants and an Investigator on a Department of Defense Grant studying Hybrid cochlear Implants in veterans. 

Jourdan Holder
AuD

Jourdan Holder, AuD, CCC-A, is a cochlear implant audiologist and PhD student at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She earned her undergraduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin and her AuD degree from Vanderbilt University. She currently serves adult and pediatric cochlear implant patients in the clinic in addition to completing her PhD in Vanderbilt’s Cochlear Implant Research Lab under the direction of Dr. René Gifford.

Artur Lorens
PhD

Prof Artur Lorens Ph.D. Eng. is head of the Implants and Auditory Perception Department in the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Warsaw. His scientific interests focus in the field of application of cochlear implant systems, psychoacoustics and auditory perception modeling. Member of the Polish Scientific Association of the Hearing and Communication Disorders, the American Auditory Society, the International Society of Audiology, the European Society for Artificial Organs, the European Academy of Otology & Neurootology. Scientist in charge of the HearingTreat Marie Curie EU project (2006-2010). Main executor of five projects of the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research.

Megan Mears
AuD

Megan Mears has worked in the field of communication sciences for over 12 years, first as a hospital-based SLP and then as a clinical audiologist before joining Cochlear Americas in 2015 as a clinical project manager. She enjoys partnering with surgeons and audiologists while managing clinical trials, and is particularly passionate about cochlear implant access and awareness in the pediatric population. Megan lives in Colorado and enjoys spending time baking, traveling, and fly fishing. 

Brendan O'Connell
MD

Brendan O’Connell, MD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at University of North Carolina (UNC) and a surgeon on the Adult and Children’s Cochlear Implant Teams at UNC. He completed his Otolaryngology training at the Medical University of South Carolina and subsequently was a fellow in Otology/Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery at Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center before joining the faculty at UNC. 

Kara Schvartz-Leyzac
AuD, PhD

Kara Leyzac, AuD, PhD, CCC-A, is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Cochlear Implant Program at the Medical University of South Carolina.  She works with children and adults who have cochlear implants, and is also conducts research in adults with cochlear implants. She completed both her AuD and PhD at the University of Maryland at College Park and worked in a cochlear implant research lab during her graduate studies.

Shawn Stevens
MD

A native to the Phoenix area, Dr. Stevens received his bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University in 2006 before graduating from The Ohio State University College of Medicine in 2010. After completing medical school, Dr. Stevens attended the Medical University of South Carolina to complete his residency in Otolaryngology. In 2017, Dr. Stevens completed a fellowship in neurotology, otology, and skull base surgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and is dual boarded in Neurotology, Otology, Lateral Skull Base Surgery and Otolaryngology/ Head and Neck Surgery. 

Mario Svirsky
PhD

Mario Svirsky is the first Noel L. Cohen Professor of Hearing Science and Vice-Chairman of Research at the Department of Otolaryngology, New York University School of Medicine.  He got his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Universidad de la República in Montevideo, Uruguay.  He obtained his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Tulane University in 1988.  He was a Postdoctoral Associate at MIT’s Speech Communication Group, where he stayed as a Research Scientist until 1995.  From 1995 to 2005 he was at the Department of Otolaryngology, Indiana University School of Medicine, with a joint appointment at Purdue University’s Departments of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering.  Dr. Svirsky joined NYU in 2005.  He is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and is a member of the Collegium Otolaryngologicum Amicitiae Sacrum, as well as a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.  He has been an elected Co-Chairman of the Conference on Implantable Auditory Prostheses.  He is Editor-in-Chief, Emeritus, of the journal Ear and Hearing and he also serves on the editorial boards of other international journals. Svirsky’s research has been funded since 1992 by grants from the National Institutes of Health, private foundations, and the Uruguayan government.  It has also received support from cochlear implant and hearing aid companies as well as from Sun Microsystems. 

Patricia Trautwein
AuD

Patricia Trautwein, AuD, is Vice President of Product Management & Marketing for Cochlear Americas. Patricia’s nearly 30 years in the hearing healthcare industry includes roles in research and clinical studies, product management, education and training, sales and marketing. As Cochlear Americas’ VP of Product Management & Marketing, Patricia is responsible for the Marketing Strategy and Operations, Communications and Public Relations, Brand Ambassador Program, Digital Marketing, Product Management, and Professional Engagement and Education. Her organization is responsible for positioning Cochlear Americas’ growth strategy, cultivating opportunities in new and existing customer markets, and growing demand for Cochlear’s hearing solutions in the region.

Terry Zwolan
PhD

Teresa Zwolan, Ph.D., CCC-A is a Clinical Professor, in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery and Director of the Cochlear Implant Program at Michigan Medicine. 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 4,000 ears have been implanted at the University of Michigan. Dr. Zwolan served on the Founder’s Board of the American Cochlear Implant Alliance and currently serves as an adjunct faculty member in Wayne State University’s AuD program.