Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) welcomes two new members to our Board of Directors this spring, supplementing our research and medical expertise and underscoring our commitment to prevent, research, and cure hearing loss, tinnitus, and other related hearing and balance conditions. The two new directors bring specific insights on hearing loss from excess noise and cochlear implantation.

Sharon Kujawa, Ph.D., is a professor of otolaryngology–head and neck surgery at Harvard Medical School; a principal investigator at Eaton-Peabody Laboratories, Mass Eye and Ear; Director of Audiology Research and the Sheldon and Dorothea Buckler Chair in Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at Mass Eye and Ear. She received her doctorate from the University of Arizona, where she was later named Distinguished Alumnus in Speech and Hearing. The American Academy of Audiology, where she served two terms on the executive board and received the 2010 Distinguished Achievement Award, describes her as “one of the field’s most active and accomplished audiologists and scientists.” 

Kujawa is a 1999 Emerging Research Grants (ERG) scientist for a project titled “Ménière’s Disease: Monitoring Pharmacologic Manipulations,” and since 2013 she has been a member of HHF’s Council of Scientific Trustees, the scientific advisory body that oversees the ERG program. Her research areas have focused on the effects of noise exposure and aging on auditory function. Most recently her work describing and defining “hidden hearing loss” has brought wide attention to this new type of hearing loss that is marked by difficulty hearing speech in noise and is not typically captured through traditional audiographic testing.

Nancy Young, M.D., is the Lillian S. Well Professor of Pediatric Otolaryngology and a fellow of the Knowles Hearing Center of Northwestern University, and the medical director of the Cochlear Implant Program, which she founded in 1991, at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, where she is also the head of otolaryngology and the medical director of audiology at the hospital.

A graduate of New York University Medical School, Young’s primary academic focus is pediatric cochlear implantation, currently investigating the prediction of cochlear implant outcomes based upon preoperative brain structure and function. In addition to a special interest in the implantation of children with multiple disabilities and complex surgical anatomy, Young also has a special interest in auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder and cochlear nerve deficiency.

“I am very pleased to welcome Sharon and Nancy to our board,” says Timothy Higdon, HHF’s president and CEO. “Each will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to our organization, and be incredibly valuable assets as we further our commitment to scientific research and prevention. We look forward to their perspectives and contributions to all facets of HHF.”

Sharon Kujawa, Ph.D., will be presenting “Revealing Hidden Hearing Loss” on April 25 at 5pm ET, 2pm PT, as part of HHF’s Hearing Health Hour webinar series. Register for the free hourlong webinar here.

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