Dr. Catherine McMahon is a Professor of Audiology and the Director of the HEAR Research Centre at Macquarie University. Her research interests include understanding the barriers and facilitators of hearing care for populations not well serviced by existing models. She is an invited commissioner on the Lancet Commission for Hearing Loss, and has worked extensively with the WHO in the development of the evidence-base for the World Report on Hearing.

Daniel and Bianka Wasserman, parents to Oliver Wasserman

Oliver Wasserman was born full term in November 2019. At three weeks of age, his parents started to suspect a hearing loss and decided to take him for a hearing evaluation when he did not respond to the loud slam of a door. At three months of age, he was diagnosed with a bilateral severe to profound hearing loss. He wore hearing aids for a further 3 months before receiving his bilateral simultaneous cochlear implants on 16 May 2020. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic and local lockdown challenges, with the perseverance of his parents and other professionals, Oliver welcomed the world of sound a month later when his cochlear implants were activated on 17 June 2020.

Hannah Cooper (UK)

I am a Lecturer in Audiology at the UCL Ear Institute and Clinical Scientist in Audiology at the Royal Berkshire Hospital. My research interests include the neurodevelopment of children at risk of hearing problems, and the use of technology to improve outcomes for children with hearing loss.

Carolina Leal (UK)

I am a Senior Teaching Fellow in Audiology at the UCL Ear Institute with a special interest in the audiological assessment and rehabilitation of infants and children. My current clinical experience is within the field of paediatric Auditory Implants.

Christine Yoshinaga-Itano (US)

Dr. Christine Yoshinaga-Itano is a Professor Emerita of the Department of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences and is currently a Research Professor, in the Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado, Boulder.  Her research has focused on language, social-emotional, cognitive and literacy development of infants/toddlers and children who are deaf or hard of hearing.  For almost 30 years, Dr. Yoshinaga-Itano has focused on universal newborn hearing screening/early hearing detection and intervention programs that lead to earlier identification, amplification fit, and intervention services, initiated more and more frequently within the first few months of life.

Blake Papsin (CA)

Dr. Blake Papsin (MD, MSc, FRCS, FACS, FAAP) is a Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Toronto and the Otolaryngologist-in-Chief at The Hospital for Sick Children where he has been a full-time consultant since July 1996 and led Cochlear Implant Program.  He completed a paediatric otolaryngology fellowship at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, England and was the inaugural chair of the Cochlear Americas Chair in Auditory Development at the University of Toronto.  He is the inaugural holder of the Jordan and Lisa Gnat Family and Bastable-Potts Chair in Otolaryngology-HNS at SickKids.  He has published over 270 peer-reviewed journal articles, 56 book chapters and has spoken widely on the subject of surgical rehabilitation of hearing loss.  His clinical focus is the surgical rehabilitation of hearing loss.

Kevin Franck (US)

Dr. Kevin Franck is the Director of Audiology at Mass Eye and Ear and is Faculty of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Harvard Medical School.  He is the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Hearing Loss Association of America. Before working at Mass. Eye and Ear, he directed clinical programs and provided care in the hospital environment (The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Michigan), led independent grant-funded research and educational programs as faculty in a university environment (University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine), developed products and strategy on the leadership teams for established global and start-up bionic medical and consumer hearing product companies (Cochlear, BiOM, Ear Machine, Bose), and provided management consulting professional services (Artisan Healthcare Consulting).

Lise Henderson (UK)

Lise qualified as a Speech and Language Therapist at Manchester University in 1985. After 10 years working with a mixed paediatric caseload, she moved to the Manchester Paediatric Cochlear Implant Programme where she developed her interest in Auditory Verbal Therapy. In 2003 she took on the role of Paediatric Co-ordinator at the Manchester Cochlear Implant Programme. She trains and lectures in the UK and internationally and since qualifying as a Cert AVT she has mentored a number of therapists in the UK and Dubai.