Speaker Notes

MGH Institute of Health Professions in Charlestown/Boston, Massachusetts

The venue has 2 rooms. Room 1 holds 200 attendees and room 2 100 attendees

Both rooms have laptops, projectors, microphone and a pointer.

A speaker presentation room is available; however we suggest presenters send their presentation to gd@e2.co.za by no later than Saturday October 17.

Your presentation should contain the key components – Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Recommendations.

12 minutes presentation time, 3 minutes for questions

Dr. Asitha Jayawardena – Keynote Speaker

Dr. Asitha Jayawardena is an Associate Professor of Pediatric Otolaryngology at Children’s Minnesota and the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital and the Scientific Director of Pediatric ENT and Facial Plastic Surgery at Children’s Minnesota. He specializes in pediatric ear and hearing surgery including cochlear implantation and use of minimally invasive endoscopic ear surgical techniques. He completed medical school at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, residency in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, fellowship at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He is board certified in complex pediatric otolaryngology and otolaryngology-head and neck surgery and has been named a Rising Star by Mpls St. Paul Magazine and a Top Doctor by Minnesota Monthly.

He maintains a busy clinical practice at Children’s Minnesota where he helped develop the audiometric guidelines for post-meningitis care (recently published in Pediatrics), performed the youngest published cochlear implant (10 weeks old) for a child with meningitis, and is a thought leader in maintaining equitable access to ear and hearing care in vulnerable pediatric populations (see recent publication in NEJM ‘Breaking the sacred promise’). 

His research interests include expanding access for underserved populations to tertiary otolaryngology care that these children otherwise wouldn’t have access to utilizing innovative technology and existing capital. He has utilized cell-phone based community health worker programming to increase access to care for children in the community. This work is an international effort that began with projects in Haiti and Kenya and most recently, Minnesota Public Schools. Thousands of children have been screened using this novel program (Stepwise Technology-based Audiometry with Rapid Results) which utilizes HearX technology to screen and diagnose otologic conditions remotely – vastly improving follow-up to a healthcare professional. His work has been presented in numerous national and international settings (World Congress of ENT, World Congress of Pediatric Otolaryngology, World Congress of Endoscopic Ear) and published in numerous leading medical journals (New England Journal of Medicine, Pediatrics, Laryngoscope, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, etc.)

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Kee B Park is a faculty member at the Program in Global Surgery and Social Change (PGSSC) and a Lecturer on Global Health and Social Medicine at the Harvard Medical School. The PGSSC’s mission is to achieve universal access to safe, affordable, and timely surgical, obstetric, and anesthesia care by strengthening surgical systems through research, policy development, and training leaders in academic global surgery.

His academic interests in global surgery involve translational research to inform policy, political economy of surgical care as a global health priority, global governance in surgical care, and bridging the research with policy and implementation. He has conducted seminal research in the unmet global need for neurosurgical care is the leading authority in the nascent field of global neurosurgery.

Dr. Park also worked as a consultant for the World Health Organization and currently serves on the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Surgical Care and Anesthesia. In this capacity, he advocates for and assists in the development of national surgical plans by the Member States. He also advises Member States in developing sustainable financing models for equitable surgical care.

Dr Park will talk about how to bridge research with policy and implementation to promote global health priorities in low resource communities and countries.

Akulu – Joviah

Joviah Akulu is an Otolaryngologist-Head and Neck surgeon who recently completed training from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.   She finished undergraduate training at Gulu University.  Currently she is covering the otology clinic and operating theater at Mulago National specialized Hospital in Uganda.           She is interested in managing otologic and neurotologic diseases, especially among the under-privileged/underserved.  She is currently working with an international team to start an otology fellowship at Makerere University.  She will be presenting ‘Developing an otology fellowship at Makerere University in Uganda. Building hearing healthcare capacity through local training and partnerships’

Bajan – Jessica Beaty

Jessica is an experienced deaf education/special education teacher. She is a Doctoral student pursuing her Ed. D. in Deaf Studies and Deaf Education from Lamar University. Jessica’s research area includes investigating hearing parents’ experiences with making educational placement decisions for their deaf children. She earned her M.S. in Education of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing from Missouri State University and her B.S. in Communication Disorders from Murray State University. She currently holds a Council on Education of the Deaf Professional Certification and is a Board for Evaluation of Interpreters (BEI) certified interpreter. Jessica is a board member for the Association of College Educators-DHH,  and a member of of the American Educational Research Association- Deaf and Hard of Hearing Intersectionalities and Perspectives Special Interest Group. Jessica currently works at Texas A&M University as a Research Associate. 

Carter – Christine:

Christine Carter ScD CCC-A is a clinical audiologist with over 20-years of experience working with all age groups and ability levels. She received her Sc.D. in audiology from Boston University and has worked at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Dell Children’s Medical Center. Dr. Carter’s major clinical and research interests are auditory evoked potentials, acoustic phonetics, hearing in the environment of abnormal neural anatomy and neurodegenerative disease, and electrically encoding speech in adult and pediatric cochlear and auditory brainstem implant recipients.

Chung  – King

Dr. King Chung is an educator, a researcher, an inventor, and a humanitarian. Her areas of expertise are in amplification, calibration, and humanitarian audiology. Dr. Chung’s research focuses on how to improve signal processing strategies of hearing aids and cochlear implants. Her research team also developed an automated hearing test app to improve the access to hearing loss identification, especially in low- to mid-income countries. She was granted 3 US patents, with a fourth pending, for innovative approaches to enhance the performance of amplification devices and to improve access to audiological services and equipment through low-cost alternatives.

Clark – Mary

M. Diane Clark earned her PhD from the University of North Carolina Greensboro in developmental psychology. She has taught at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, Gallaudet University in Washington DC, and is currently a full professor and department chair at Lamar University in Texas within the department of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. Her research focuses on how deaf individuals process language and their cognition processes with a special focus on language acquisition. She was part of the team that developed the Visual Communication and Sign Language Checklist (VCSL) and the Spoken Language Checklist (SLC).

Dela Cruz – Janine Marriah G

Dr. Janine Marriah G. Dela Cruz is a fourth year otolaryngology–head and neck surgery resident at the Philippine General Hospital. She earned her B.S. in Biochemistry and M. D. from the University of the Philippines. Her work focuses on hearing health literacy, otologic research, and equitable access to care in low-resource settings. She has led studies on hearing health awareness among hospital employees and co-authored clinical case reports.

Fragoso – Jacinto

Jacinto Fragoso, AuD is a pediatric audiologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He earned his AuD from Northern Illinois University and is a PhD student in health sciences. His research focuses on improving outcomes and experiences of culturally/linguistically diverse patients. Clinically, his interests are in auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing, traditional hearing aids, and precepting AuD students.

Heinz – Mike

Michael G. Heinz is a Professor of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences (SLHS) and Biomedical Engineering, and the Interim Department Head of SLHS at Purdue University. A Baltimore native, he earned degrees in Electrical Engineering from Brown University and Johns Hopkins University before completing his Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Sciences at MIT. His post-doctoral work was in Biomedical Engineering at

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. At Purdue, Dr. Heinz directs the Accessible Precision Audiology Research Center (APARC), with lab sites in both West Lafayette and Indianapolis, as well as the Auditory

Neurophysiology and Modelling Laboratory on the West Lafayette campus. Through these initiatives, he leads an interdisciplinary team of faculty and students bridging mechanistic laboratory science with community-based care. APARC provides free hearing-health education and standardized hearing tests for community members, providing comprehensive hearing test results and recommendations from licensed audiologists. His group’s outreach extends into rural Indiana, where partnerships with clinics and health providers are expanding access to comprehensive hearing evaluations and hearing-health information. Synergizing his long history of mechanistic NIH funding with APARC’s outreach, Dr.Heinz also collaborates with Purdue’s Computer Science faculty working to developcross-species data-science frameworks that connect human diagnostic data with underlying neural mechanisms. Dr. Heinz is deeply committed to combining cutting-edge auditory neuroscience with meaningful community engagement, ensuring that research not only advances science but also directly improves hearing health and quality of life.

Hustedt-Mai – Alexandra

Alexandra Hustedt-Mai earned her B.A. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from St. Louis University in 2016 and her Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) from Purdue University in 2020. During her training, she gained early research experience in Dr. Hari Bharadwaj’s SNAP Lab and through a T-35 traineeship at Boys Town with Dr. Sophie Ambrose, which underscored the importance of bridging research and clinical practice in hearing sciences.

Following her externship at Nemours A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children, Alex worked as a clinical audiologist in both ENT and hearing-aid clinics in Virginia before returning to Indiana. She later served as a mobile audiologist, providing care to patients in long-term care facilities—an experience that deepened her passion for expanding access to hearing healthcare in underserved populations.

Now serving as the research audiologist for Purdue’s Accessible Precision Audiology Research Center (APARC), Alex combines her clinical expertise with her research background to advance community-based hearing-health initiatives. At APARC, she is focused on engaging diverse populations, gathering high-quality data, and providing hearing-health education in both urban and rural communities. She is especially passionate about making hearing services more accessible to ensure that quality care reaches individuals who often face the greatest barriers.

Johansen – Elizabeth, Founder & Principal Consultant

As a product design strategist, human factors engineer, and program lead, Elizabeth has contributed to seven products launched including healthcare apps, rapid diagnostic tests, drug delivery, consumer health packaging, and newborn medical devices. Notable products include Eli Lilly’s Kwikpen insulin injector (when working at IDEO); Jana Care’s improved Aina A1c point-of-care rapid diagnostic test app and kit for diabetes; and Design that Matters’ Firefly phototherapy device currently treating newborns with jaundice in hospitals in over thirty under-resourced countries. Firefly has earned ten design awards including the Edison Gold, IDSA IDEA Silver, and Green Good Design. As adjunct faculty with Olin and Babson College’s Affordable Design and Entrepreneurship course, Elizabeth is currently advising a student team working on early detection of hearing loss for better life outcomes with Solar Ear. Elizabeth is also a sought after speaker and facilitator who has taught design for social impact to hundreds of organizations, from small social enterprises to the largest bank in the world.

Hall III: James W.

James W. Hall III, PhD is an internationally recognized audiologist with 40-years of clinical, teaching, research, and administrative experience. He received his Ph.D. in audiology from Baylor College of Medicine under the direction of James Jerger.  During his career, Dr. Hall has held clinical and academic audiology positions at major medical centers. Dr. Hall’s major clinical, research, and teaching interests are clinical electrophysiology, auditory processing disorders, tinnitus, hyperacusis, and audiology applications of tele-health. He is the author of over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, monographs, or book chapters, and 12 books, including three textbooks on auditory evoked responses.

Kirkwood – Millie

Millie is a PhD candidate at Edinburgh Napier University, originally from Inverness, Scotland. She has a BSc in Forensic Science, a MSc in Psychological Studies, and began her research career investigating the access to information for deaf individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her current research focusses on the socioeconomic and geographical barriers to hearing healthcare, with an interest in both private and public services. She combines her passion for helping others with her interest in hearing healthcare research and endeavours to help those with hearing loss have equitable access to care.

Kirjava – Shade Avery

Dr. Shade Avery Kirjava, they/them, is a clinical audiologist and PhD candidate in Public Health at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Kirjava uses their clinical experience in direct patient care and their research experience investigating health disparities to identify and propose policy interventions to address unequitable access to hearing healthcare services in the USA and internationally.”

Kfoury – Peter

Peter Kfoury, MD, is a research associate in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Utah. He earned his B.S. in Biology (2019) and M.D. (2023) from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. As part of the Park Lab, Dr. Kfoury contributes to several ongoing projects focused on congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) and its role in the development of hearing and balance disorders. These include a preclinical study supported by the ASPO Research Grant that investigates Filociclovir as a potential alternative to Ganciclovir for preventing CMV-induced hearing loss in a mouse model.

He is an active member of the Global Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS) Initiative, an international research collaborative aimed at providing universal access to high-quality, safe, and affordable otolaryngologic care. In partnership with the World Health Organization, he is contributing to the development of a standardized package that promotes the integration of essential ear and hearing services into national health systems – aiming to advance universal access to quality otolaryngologic care.

McCormack – Joan

Dr. Joan McCormack has over 40 years of experience in Audiology, with a passion for improving access to hearing care locally and around the world.  She founded North Shore Hearing Foundation in 2017, a  non-profit entity that provides hearing aids and services to income eligible children and adults. For the last six years, Dr. McCormack has volunteered with Hearing the Call, a non-profit arm of Entheos Audiology Cooperative.  Currently, she is the Development Guide for Hearing the Call’s projects in Tanzania, Africa. In this role, Dr. McCormack focuses on sustainability by developing projects and gathering resources to increase the capacity of local audiology partners on the ground.

Nair – Lekha S

Lekha S Nair is an experienced audiologist and speech-language pathologist with over 14 years of professional experience. She currently serves as a Faculty and Lecturer in the Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology at the National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH), Trivandrum, India and is an external Ph.D. scholar at Sri Ramachandra Faculty of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, SRIHER, Chennai, India. Lekha’s research interests include diagnostic audiology, adult aural rehabilitation, Noise, community-based hearing care, teleaudiology, and understanding parental perspectives in early intervention. She has presented and published widely, including award-winning work on an international conference. She is a life member of the Indian Speech and Hearing Association (ISHA) and ISHA Kerala State Branch, and has guided multiple postgraduate dissertations. Lekha is committed to developing inclusive, culturally responsive training tools and has created multilingual educational materials, including Tamil-language video resources for newborn hearing screening. Her work bridges clinical practice, research, and community empowerment in low-resource settings. She will be presenting Evaluating Training Outcomes of Grassroot Workers in conducting Hearing, Speech, and Language Screening for Children Under Six Using the SRESHT Screener.

Mukara – Dr. Kaitesi Batamuliza Mukara

Kaitesi, a chief consultant in ENT surgery, is the founder of Humanhood Clinics, the founding chair of Hearing Health Rwanda and serves as the consultant for the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Regional office, supporting ear and hearing care and eye care. She led the regional situation analysis that resulted in the landmark Status report on Ear and Hearing care in the WHO African region

Prior to founding Humanhood clinics, Kaitesi served as the International Development Director – Africa for Starkey Hearing Foundation heading 21 countries. Kaitesi is an honorary senior Lecturer at the University of Rwanda where she served as the Founding academic head and doubled up as clinical Head of the ENT department before joining Starkey. She is also a trained audiologist, allergologist and holds a PhD in Public health.

Kaitesi is passionate about audio-otology and related implementational research. She dreams of and strives for a time when no child will be denied equal opportunity of academic and social achievement on basis of hearing loss.

Martinez – Norberto V. M.D.

Former Chair Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, University of Santo Tomas Hospital, Former Chair Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery University of Santo Tomas, Former Professor Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery University of Santo Tomas, Treasurer Anargyroi FMS Foundation Inc, Clinical Associate Department of Linguistics and Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney Australia, Board Member Hearing International – Board Member Asia Pacific Symposium on Cochlear Implant, Committee Member WHO / CBM Worldwide Hearing Care for Developing Countries (WWHearing), Committee Member World Hearing Forum, Consultant National Prevention of Deafness and Hearing Impairment, Department of Health, Republic of the Philippines Prevention of Deafness Program, Christoffel Blinden Mission Southeast Asia and the Pacific Regional Office, President / Executive Director Better Hearing Philippines, Inc., Head Hearing and Balance Disorders Laboratory, St. Luke’s Medical Center BG Program Advisor Starkey Hearing Foundation Philippines.

Okolugbo – Nekwu Emmanuel

Prof Okolugbo, is a Professor of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery.  He trained at the University of Benin, Benin City Nigeria where he graduated with an MBBS. He commenced the residency program in Otolaryngology/ Head and Neck Surgery at the same institution in September 2000 and completed the Program in May 2006 with the Fellowship of the Medical College of Otorhinolaryngology in November 2006 and a fellowship of the West African College of Surgeons in October 2007. In 2009 he trained in Endoscopic Sinus Surgery going on to lecture at Delta State University Abraka and Teaching Hospital Oghara rising through the ranks to become Chief Medical Director/CEO 2022 till 1^st June 2025. Has attended several International conferences, is a recipient of several awards, (young travelling Scientist award of European Union of Federated Otolaryngological Societies, Nigerian Top Executives in the Medicine and Pharmaceutical industry, Award of Excellence from the Otorhinolaryngological Society of Nigeria, Award of Recognition by Faculty of Otorhinolaryngology National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, Excellence in Service Award by the Nigerian Dental Association Delta State Chapter, Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award by the Rotary club Oghara) inducted into the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery.

Pyakurel – Manita

Manita Pyakurel, PhD, MPH is a public health researcher and global NCD advocate with extensive experience in research, teaching, and policy leadership. She earned her PhD in Public Health and completed fellowship training in implementation science supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), USA. Dr. Pyakurel currently serves as Secretary of the South-East Asia Regional NCD Alliance, where she leads advocacy for integrated approaches to noncommunicable diseases, hearing loss, and vision loss. She is also leading school health projects in Nepal to promote healthy food environments and recently represented the SEAR region at the 2025 United Nations General Assembly. Her professional interests span preventive eye and hearing health, otorhinolaryngology, adolescent cardiovascular health, and health system strengthening in low-resource settings. Dr. Pyakurel has authored more than 25 peer-reviewed publications and collaborates internationally to advance equitable access to care.

Purdy – Suzanne

Dr Suzanne Purdy is a Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland. She has a clinical background in audiology and broad research interests spanning hearing and speech science and health equity for Indigenous communities. Since completing her PhD at the University of Iowa she has held University of Auckland academic roles in audiology, speech science and psychology and has worked as a Senior Scientist at National Acoustic Laboratories in Australia. Her current roles include Centre for Brain Research Principal Investigator, Co-director of the Eisdell Moore Centre for Hearing and Balance Research, Co-lead of Te Titoki Mataora HealthTech Capability Programme Mātauranga Māori module and Council member (formerly Chair) of the International Evoked Response Audiometry Study Group.

Renyi – Audra

Audra Renyi is Executive Director of the non-profit World Wide Hearing Foundation International, and founder of earAccess. She previously worked as an investment banker on Wall Street, with Doctors Without Borders in Chad, as CFO of the One Acre Fund in Rwanda, and as a microfinance consultant in Kenya. She holds bachelor’s degrees in economics (Wharton School) and international studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and completed an executive leadership program at Harvard Business School. She received the Governor General of Canada’s Innovation Award (2017) and was named a Heroine of Health at the WHO World Health Assembly for her work in hearing care.

Ronner – Evette 

Evette is a third-year Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery resident at Boston Medical Center. She earned her B.A. in Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology from Harvard College, and her M.D. from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Her research interests include pediatric hearing loss and medical education related to the care of patients with disabilities.

Rozul – Carlos Diego

Carlos Rozul is an assistant research professor for the Philippine National Ear Institute under the University of the Philippines – National Institutes of Health, and newly graduated from the Doctor of Audiology Bridge Program of Drexel at Salus University He is also the coordinator for personnel certification in the Philippines’ Newborn Hearing Screening Center where his research has focused on. He is currently co-investigator for the I HEAR ME Project sponsored by the Philippines’ Department of Health which aims to build upon the impact of hearing loss and associated interventions with mental health and aging outcomes of Filipino older adults.

Santana – Diego

Dr Diego Santana is CBM’s* Senior Global Advisor for Ear and Hearing Care. Born in Spain. Medical Degree by “Universidad La-Laguna”, Spain. ENT Specialist and General Practitioner certification by the Specialist Training Authority of the Medical Royal Colleges, UK. Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Diploma by Liverpool University, UK. Ear and Hearing Care programme lead, Bolivia, 2000-2011. CBM Regional advisor for Latin America 2007-2011, Global advisor since 2011. WHO external technical expert for Ear and Hearing Care since 2009. Community Ear and Hearing Health Journal chairperson since 2015. Coalition for Global Hearing Health’s Advocacy Director since 2019. CBM representative for the World Hearing Forum and the World Rehabilitation Alliance.

CBM is an international development and humanitarian organisation dedicated to improving the quality of life of persons with disabilities in the world’s poorest countries. Established in 1908, Non-State Actor in official relations with the World Health Organization since 1989. See www.cbm.org

Saunders – Madison

Madison is a clinical Audiologist with over 8 years of experience in hospital, private practice, Veterans Affairs, and industry settings. In support of her husband’s career transition from operational military to foreign service, assigned to Latin America, she saw the need to expand her expertise beyond the clinic. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Public Health with concentration in Humanitarian Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and is a Trainee at the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health. Madison hopes to impact population level quality of life through hearing healthcare access, education, and conservation initiatives abroad.

Schimmel – Carly

Carly Schimmel, AuD is a PhD Candidate in the Brain and Behavior Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder (PI: Dr. Anu Sharma) studying Hearing Science and Cognitive Neuroscience. She received her audiology clinical doctorate (AuD) from the University of Colorado Boulder and her bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Boston University. Her research interests include studying how neuroplasticity and objective measures in individuals with hearing loss can inform clinical recommendations that optimize hearing interventions across the lifespan.

Soza – Karen

Karen Soza earned her Master’s in Sign Language Education from Gallaudet University and is currently a doctoral student in Deaf Studies at Lamar University. She has been teaching American Sign Language since 2007. Her research explores resilience, equity, and cognition, with a particular focus on the educational experiences of Deaf Latina mothers in higher education.

Nath – Shampa

Shampa Nath with 25 years of experience in the international development sector, Shampa specialises in health and disability inclusion. Her expertise spans systems change, strategy development, project management, community engagement, and promoting disability rights. She has worked extensively across sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia, leading initiatives that drive sustainable impact and inclusive change.

Dr. Olawale Ogundiran is a dedicated scholar and researcher with over two decades of experience in teaching and research in the field of audiology. He holds a Ph.D in Audiology from the premier University in Nigeria – the University of Ibadan. He was a Clinical Audiologist for 15 years at the University of Osun Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Osun State (formerly LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Osogbo), Nigeria and taught as an Associate Lecturer for 7 years at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria. He is currently the Head of Department and a Senior Lecturer, Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Ho, Volta Region, Ghana. His academic and research niches focus on hearing conservation, behavioural, electroacoustic and electrophysiological measures, amplification and psychosocial aspects of hearing loss. Through his research and teaching, Dr. Ogundiran remains committed to improving outcomes for individuals with hearing loss and advocating for inclusive hearing care services. Beyond academia, Dr. Ogundiran is actively and consistently involved in humanitarian audiology; promoting auditory health and re/habilitating individuals with hearing loss and communication problems particularly in low resourced and underserved communities.

Professor Andrew Smith, BSc., MSc., MB. BS., MRCP, DCH, DObst RCOG

Andrew Smith is Professor of Public Health specializing in the public health approach to ear and hearing health. He has been principal investigator and provided technical advice in surveys and intervention studies on hearing impairment in low and middle-income (LMI) countries in Africa, Asia and South America. His current interest is to educate and train health workers in LMI countries in public hearing health.

He started the 5-day training workshop in Public Health Planning for Hearing Impairment (PHPHI) in 2009.

Up until April 2025 he has trained 2,274 health workers from 71 countries in PHPHI in 23 centres around the world.

Dr Smith was Honorary Professor at the International Centre for Evidence in Disability at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) from 2008 until 2025.

Dr Smith worked at the World Health Organization Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland from 1996 to 2008 as officer responsible for the Programme on Prevention of Deafness and Hearing Impairment.

Soza Karen

Karen earned her Master’s in Sign Language Education from Gallaudet University and is currently a doctoral student in Deaf Studies at Lamar University. She has been teaching American Sign Language since 2007. Her research explores resilience, equity, and cognition, with a particular focus on the educational experiences of Deaf Latina mothers in higher education.

Sorkin – Donna M.A.

Donna Sorkin MA is executive of the American Cochlear Implant Alliance, a national organization devoted to expanding access to cochlear implantation for all who may benefit. She has had a long career in advocacy for people with hearing loss at for-profit and non-profit entities.  She was previously executive director of two US organizations: Hearing Loss Association of America and Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Ms. Sorkin served for 11 years as Vice President, Consumer Affairs at Cochlear Americas where she led public policy initiatives and other activities aimed at the broad life needs of cochlear implant users including insurance coverage and reimbursement, habilitation for children and adults, and educational needs of children with cochlear implants. She has served on federal, corporate and university boards including the U.S. Access Board as a Presidential appointee and the National Institute on Deafness, NIH Advisory Board. She previously served on the Advisory Board of Gallaudet University. She holds a Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Suresh – Meera

Dr. Meera Suresh is the Honorary Vice Principal of BALAVIDYALAYA The School for Young Deaf Children and The Institute for Teachers Training. She has been working in this field for the past 31 years.

She has presented papers in International and National seminars including the AG Bell Symposium in LA – US and two Cross Learning Symposiums conducted by Gupta Family Foundation US.

She has co-authored the manuals for the Diploma in Early Childhood Special Education Hearing Impairment DECSEHI, a training programme recognized by the Rehabilitation Council of India. She has helped establish Early Intervention Centers across India and Srilanka.

Her Ph.D in Madras University resulted in naming the methodology DHVANI and the formulation of DHVANI Assessment cards. She has been involved in formulating the DHVANI Teaching Learning Material Kit, and DHVANI Methodology CDs. This year she is the President of NCED – The National Council of the Educators of the Deaf in India’ and is heading the council for a three year term. 

Alicia M. Quesnel MD

Alicia is an otologist, neurotologist, and lateral skull base surgeon at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA USA. Her clinical practice focuses on cochlear implantation, otosclerosis, chronic ear disease including cholesteatoma, and skull base surgery such as for vestibular schwannoma or spinal fluid leak repair. She has taught at multiple national and international courses/conferences on endoscopic ear surgery.