Gerard O’Donoghue

Professor of Otology and Neurotology and Consultant Neuro-Otologist at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

Gerard O’Donoghue qualified in medicine in University College, Cork in Ireland and undertook his otolaryngology training in London and Oxford, availing of Fellowships at University Hospital in Boston and at the University of California in San Francisco. He is Professor of Otology and Neurotology and Consultant Neuro-Otologist at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. In 1989, he established the Nottingham Cochlear Implant Programme along with an educational charity, The Ear Foundation. He has been President of the Section of Otology, The Royal Society of Medicine, London and has held a Hunterian Professorship at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He co-founded the British Skull Base Society and is founder member of the European Academy of Otology and Neurotology. He has delivered the Toynbee Memorial Lecture and was awarded the Sir William Wilde Medal of the Irish ENT Society (2011), The Brinkman Medal of the University of Nimegen (2009), The Jobson Horne Award of the British Medical Association (2017) and delivered the William House Memorial Lecture of the American Neurotologic Society (2016). He co-founded the Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Centre of the National Institute of Health Research with research interests including clinical trials and regenerative inner ear therapeutics. He is a Commissioner for the current Lancet Commission on Hearing Loss and Master of the British Academic Conference in Otolaryngology in 2021.

Craig Buchman

Lindburg Professor and Head, Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis

 Craig A. Buchman, M.D., is a world-renowned cochlear implant surgeon with broad research achievements in the field of hearing loss and rehabilitation. He recently chaired the international panel of 31 cochlear implant experts that conducted the first Delphi Consensus process to establish minimum standards of care for adults with severe to profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Dr. Buchman is the lead author of the International Consensus Paper on Cochlear Implant Treatment for Adult Hearing Loss published in JAMA Otolaryngology (August 27, 2020) which recommends minimum standards for diagnosis, referral, treatment and aftercare.

Frank Lin

Director, Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health | Professor of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery

Frank R. Lin, M.D., Ph.D. is the Director of the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health and a Professor of Otolaryngology, Medicine, Mental Health, and Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health. His epidemiologic research established the impact of hearing loss on the risk of cognitive decline, dementia, and brain aging in older adults and served as the basis of the 2017 Lancet Commission on dementia conclusion that hearing loss was the single largest potentially modifiable risk factor for dementia. He now currently leads the ACHIEVE study, a NIH-funded randomized trial investigating if treating hearing loss can reduce the risk of cognitive decline in older adults. As the founder and inaugural director of the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health, Dr. Lin leads a first-in-kind research center resulting from an academic-industry collaboration that is dedicated to training a generation of clinicians and researchers to understand and address the impact of hearing loss on older adults and public health.

Dakota Bysouth-Young

Specialist Audiologist, Hearing Implants Australia

Dakota Bysouth-Young (Audiologist, B.BehavSci(Psych)., M. AudSA., AA (CCP)), is a clinical audiologist working at Hearing Implants Australia. His primary area of expertise is cochlear implants and other implantable devices. Dakota specialises in the training and supervision of other audiologists, clinical guidance for patients seeking an implantable device, intraoperative testing, as well as outcome measurement and validation of patients who have received an implantable device. His recent research has included the investigation of new speech coding strategies to improve pitch and melody perception in cochlear implant users.

Isabelle Mosnier

ENT surgeon – Deputy head of ENT department, La Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France

Isabelle Mosnier, M.D., is in charge of the referral center for cochlear implantation and adult brainstem for Ile-de-France at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital. Dr Moiser is also Head of the rare Disease Center for genetic deafness in adults at Pitié-Salpêtrière.

Robert Mandara

1st Vice President, European Association of Cochlear Implant Users (EURO-CIU)

Robert was born deaf in London and wore hearing aids from 4 years old. Following a mainstream education and apprenticeship, Robert graduated from the University of Surrey with a degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering. After working in engineering roles, he moved to Finland in 1996 and switched to technical writing for several global companies.

Robert received cochlear implants in 2014 and 2016. Implants have transformed his life and he now wants to help others to enjoy the benefits of the technology. Robert’s goals are to improve access to cochlear implants and to secure lifelong support for those who have them.

Robert is on the board of CITO in Finland and active in its lobbying group. He also volunteers at the European Friendship Week which is sponsored by EURO-CIU.