Sharon Parmet attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where she majored in English and biology, and went on to earn her master’s degree in scientific journalism from Boston University.
Her writing has appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Popular Science, MUSE, and Outcry. Parmet is also an active artist and shows her work in many Chicago galleries.
Phillip A. Wackym, M.D., serves on the Research Committee of the American Hearing Research Foundation.
Dr. Wackym is currently Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He has received many research awards, including the William H. Call Research Award from the Pacific Coast Oto-Ophthalmological Society; the Vice President’s Research Award and the Shirley Baron Research Award from the Western Section of the American Laryngological, Rhinological, and Otological Society, Inc.; and the Nicholas Torok Vestibular Award of the American Neurotology Society.
Dr. Wackym’s clinical emphasis is on the surgical rehabilitation of congenital hearing losses, including aural atresia and microtia repair, cochlear implantation, vestibular disorders, and hearing preservation in acoustic neuroma surgery. Dr. Wackym has performed close to 40 cochlear implants.
Dr. Wackym holds an M.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville Tennessee. He has published more that 100 articles and books, primarily relating to otologic pathology and molecular biology.
George E. Shambaugh III, MD was born in the Baker Pavilion of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA in December, 1931.
Between 1948-50, he attended the Asheville School in North Carolina, then to Oberlin College.
He graduated from Oberlin in 1954 with a chemistry major, and went to Cornell University Medical College in New York City where he completed Medical school in 1958. He interned at Denver General Hospital in Denver, Colorado. In the summer of 1959, he entered the army in the doctors draft, had basic training followed by training in Preventive Medicine, at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, and was assigned to Taiwan, China, as a member of the Military Advice and Assistance Group (MAAG). He was the Preventive Medicine Advisor to the Chinese Surgeon General’s Staff.
Shambaugh returned to the United States in 1961 to expand his training with a residency in internal medicine at Walter Reed General Hospital. Following completion of my residency training in 1964, he joined the Research and Development Command at the Walter Reed facility at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland.
In 1967 Shambaugh left the army and took a fellowship in Physiologic Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and in 1969, was offered a faculty position at Northwestern University Medical School in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, in the department of Medicine where he remained for 30 years.
In 1974 Shambaugh was offered the position of chief of the Endocrine Section at the VA at Northwestern. He was elected to a professor emeritus status from Northwestern University and moved to Atlanta where he became a volunteer faculty member at Emory University and given the rank of full professor, and the amenities of an emeritus faculty member. He currently teaches the endocrinology fellows and the medical residents rotating through endocrinology.
David Shambaugh is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs (1996—), founding Director of the China Policy Program in the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University (1998—), and Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at The Brookings Institution (1998—). He previously served as Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies in the Elliott School (1996-1998).
Before joining the faculty at George Washington, he was successively Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and Reader in Chinese Politics at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (1987-1996), where he also served as Editor of The China Quarterly (1991-96). He also served as Acting Director of the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (1987-1988), and as an analyst in the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Intelligence and Research (1976-77) and the U.S. National Security Council staff (1977-78).
Professor Shambaugh is recognized internationally as an authority on contemporary Chinese affairs, with particular expertise in Chinese domestic politics, China’s military, Chinese foreign relations (esp. U.S.-China Relations, China-Europe relations, China-Asia relations), and the international politics and security of the Asia-Pacific region. He has authored six and edited fourteen books. His latest books are China’s Communist Party: Atrophy & Adaptation (2008), China-Europe Relations: Perceptions, Policies & Prospects (2007), China Watching: Perspectives from Europe, Japan, and the United States (2007); Power Shift: China & Asia’s New Dynamics (2005); The Odyssey of China’s Imperial Art Treasures (2005); Modernizing China’s Military (2003). He has also published approximately 200 articles, chapters, and editorials in edited books, scholarly and policy journals, and newspapers. He is also a frequent commentator in international media.
Professor Shambaugh received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan, and M.A. in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and B.A. cum laude in East Asian Studies from The Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. He has been a visiting scholar at numerous institutions in China, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Russia, Singapore, and Taiwan. He was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (2002-2003), and has been a recipient of research grants from numerous institutions—including the German Marshall Fund, Smith Richardson Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, W. Alton Jones Foundation, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, U.K. Economic & Social Research Council, The British Academy, Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation, and the American Consortium on European Union Studies.
Professor Shambaugh has also held a number of consultancies—including with the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. National Intelligence Council, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Rand Corporation, Library of Congress, Microsoft Corporation, Deutsche Bank, MacQuarie Securities, and American Express International. He has served on twelve editorial boards and does peer reviewing for a number of private sector and government grant-making bodies. He is a member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies, National Committee on U.S. China Relations, World Economic Forum, Council on Foreign Relations, the Berlin Group on Transatlantic Security Policies in Asia, and Pacific Council on International Policy.
Dan B. Sedgwick serves on the National Advisory Board of the American Hearing Research Foundation. He is also the AHRF representative for Washington state. Mr. Sedgwick previously served as AHRF’s Treasurer, and as its Representative for Texas.
Mr. Sedgwick retired as President of Detex Corporation of New Braunfels, Texas and continues to serve as Director. Mr. Sedgwick’s career includes positions in the office equipment and plywood industries, followed by management consulting and manufacturing company management positions.
Mr. Sedgwick holds a B.A. from the University of Washington in Seattle. He served in the United States Army during World War II and was discharged with the rank of Major.
Kenneth L. Means serves on the Honorary Board of the American Hearing Research Foundation.
Mr. Means is currently head of his own business, Executive Planning Services. He is a Chartered Life Underwriter and Chartered Financial Counselor. He has been an officer and Director of the Chicago Association of Life Underwriters, the Association of Advanced Underwriters, and the Chicago Chapter of Chartered Life Underwriters. He is also a member of the American Society of Pension Actuaries, and the Chicago Estate Planning Council.
Mr. Means holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from the University of Illinois. He has received many civic awards, including the Silver Beaver award from the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He was also recognized as a Baden-Powell Fellow for his support of World Scouting.
Barbara L. Chertok serves on the National Advisory Board of the American Hearing Research Foundation. Ms. Chertok was suddenly deafened at age 21 due to Cogan’s Syndrome, an autoimmune disease. She has been a successful cochlear implant user since 1998 and founded two cochlear implant support groups in Florida.
Ms. Chertok is a freelance writer for journals related to hearing loss. She was a lipreading teacher for ten years and is a longtime advocate for the rights of people with hearing loss through writing, consulting and lecturing. She has lectured at conferences and conventions both in the United States and abroad, taking her to Israel and Australia.
Ms. Chertok was certified in 1979 as a Reverse/Oral Interpreter (visual-to-spoken). In 1982 she was selected as the first person with a hearing loss to serve on a jury in Maryland. She was assisted in the courtroom by an Oral Interpreter who sat in the jury box with her and whose lips she read for the duration of the trial. Ms. Chertok is listed in 1995/96 Marquis’ Who’s Who of American Women.
Donna S. Whitlon, Ph.D., serves on the Research Committee of the American Hearing Research Foundation. She also serves on the Editorial Board of the journal Hearing Research.
Dr. Whitlon is currently Research Associate Professor, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and Institute of Neuroscience, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University and is a Fellow of the Hugh Knowles Center, Northwestern University.
Dr. Whitlon has served as a Permanent Member of the National Institutes of Health Integrative, Functional, and Cognitive Neuroscience 6 (IFCN-6) Study Section, as an ad hoc member of the Audiology (AUD) study section, and as Chair of the Education Committee of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology; She has published numerous scientific articles, primarily in the area of the cochlea.
Dr. Whitlon holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests lie in the area of developmental neurobiology and include cochlear development and regeneration, spiral ganglion neurite growth in vivo and in vitro, growth factors, adhesion and extracellular matrix proteins.
Suzanne Himmel-Pollack is president of the Kiwanis Club of Chicago and has been president for a total of seven years. She is the first woman president of the Chicago Kiwanis Club.
She has volunteered extensively at Northwestern Memorial Hospital at the reception desk, and greeting and directing visitors and patients, and has been volunteering in Chicago hospitals since she was 15.
Himmel-Pollack graduated from the School of Business at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and has completed graduate work at Roosevelt University in the Lawyer’s Assistant Program, and at the University of Chicago in the Interaction Management Program.
She will be serving as the attendance coordinator for the AHRF’s 50th anniversary event, to be held on November 8, 2006. She is also a member of the media relations committee.
Katherine Shim, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor, Division of Research in the Department of Otolaryngology & Communication Sciences at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
She takes a molecular and genetic approach to understanding inner ear development in the mouse, and current work is focused on understanding the role of the Sprouty family of receptor tyrosine kinase antagonists in inner ear development and function. In particular, Dr. Shim found that Sprouty2 mutant mice are born with severe hearing impairment associated with a postnatal cell fate transformation of a Deiters’ cell into a pillar cell, resulting in the formation of an ectopic space (tunnel of Corti) within the auditory sensory epithelium.
It is her hope that these studies will uncover mechanisms by which congenital hearing and balance disorders arise, and provide clues to their treatment.
John W. Muldoon serves on the Board of the American Hearing Research Foundation. Mr. Muldoon’s background has embraced most facets of the property and casualty, and the life and health insurance industries. He has been listed in Who’s Who in Insurance, Who’s Who in the Midwest and Who’s Who in America.
At the time of his retirement in late 1996, Mr. Muldoon was a Vice President of Swett and Crawford, a wholesale property and casualty insurance broker. Subsequent to his retirement, he served as a consultant to risk managers, retail insurance agents and brokers, and wholesale brokers.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Muldoon worked in a variety of underwriting, marketing and management positions with a number of insurance companies. In the early 1980s, he began to specialize increasingly in directors’ and officers’ liability, errors and omissions, professional liability, and malpractice insurance coverage.
Mr. Muldoon is a graduate of DePaul University and Harvard University Graduate School of Business. He also attended the U.S. Army War College.
Dennis M. Moore M.D. serves on both the Board of Directors and the Research Committee of the American Hearing Research Foundation. He is affiliated with Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois.
Dr. Moore received his medical degree from Loyola University School of Medicine and continued with his residency in General Surgery there and in Head and Neck Surgery at UCLA. He was a Fellow at the UCLA Division of Head and Neck Surgery where he merited an NIH National Research Service Award in Neurotology, as a Fellow in Neurotology. He was also a Fellow in Neurotology at the University of Iowa. He is an Assistant Professor at Northwestern University Medical School.
Dr. Moore’s medical society memberships include the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, American Medical Association, North American Skull Bank Society, Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Society of Neuroscience and the American Neurotology Society. He is the author of numerous articles that have focused on Head and Neck Surgery and Laryngology.
Enrico J. Mirabelli has been serving on the Foundation’s Board since 1983. He also serves on the Foundation’s Audit Committee.
He is a founding principal of Nadler, Pritikin & Mirabelli LLC. He received is undergraduate degree from St. Mary’s College, Magna Cum Laude, and his Juris Doctor from the John Marshall Law School, Chicago, Illinois (1981).
Mr. Mirabelli is currently a member of the Illinois State Bar Association Board of Governors and has served on the ISBA General Assembly and Family Law Section Council. He is also a member of the American Bar Association.
Mr. Mirabelli, Past President of the Justinian Society of Lawyers (1997), was twice a recipient of the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Corporation Distinguished Service Award (1984 and 1993) and recipient of the John Marshall Law School Distinguished Service Award (1995) in 2000. He was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court and currently serves as a 1st District Member of the Committee on Character and Fitness.
In 1997, Mr. Mirabelli was appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley as a Member of the Personal Board of the City of Chicago and presently serves in the position until 2004.
John D. Loucks, M.D., serves on the Board of the American Hearing Research Foundation. His primary responsibility is to develop AHRF membership in the Southeastern region of the United States.
Dr. Loucks is currently Chief of Staff at Our Lady of Mercy Hospital. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Cliff Hagen Boys Club in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Dr. Loucks holds an M.D. from West Virginia University. He is a member of the American Academy of Otolaryngology, the American Council of Otolaryngology, the American Medical Association, the American Cleft Palate Association, and the Kentucky Medical Association.
Anna Lysakowski, Ph.D., serves on the Research Committee of the American Hearing Research Foundation.
Dr. Lysakowski is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at University of Illinois at Chicago.
Dr. Lysakowski is a regular member of the National Institutes of Health Integrative, Functional, and Cognitive Neuroscience 6 (IFCN-6) Study Section. She received the R.R. Bensley Award for Outstanding Cell Biology Researh from the American Association of Anatomists. She has published numerous scientific articles and book chapters, and is the recipient of several grants from the National Institutes of Health and NASA.
Dr. Lysakowski is a member of several professional organizations, including the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Society for Neuroscience, American Association of Anatomists, American Physiological Society, the Bárány Society, and the American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology. She is on the Program Committee for the Association for Research in Otolaryngology and the Educational Affairs Committee for the American Association of Anatomists.
Dr. Lysakowski holds a Ph.D. in Anatomy from the University of Illlinois at Chicago. She received additional research training at the University of Chicago and the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, MA. Her research interests include vestibular and cochlear peripheral anatomy, physiology and development, and vestibular efferent innervation.
William L. Lederer joined the Board of Directors in 2008 after spending more than 30 years as Executive Director of the American Hearing Research Foundation. Bill brings with him his decades of experience in fundraising for the American Hearing Research Foundation as well as Ada S. McKinley, Big Shoulders and other local Chicago non-profit organizations. Now in retirement, Bill devotes much of his time to writing poetry and plays and participates in a prison ministry program.
Nina Kraus, Ph.D., serves on the Research Committee of the American Hearing Research Foundation.
Dr. Kraus is currently a Professor of Speech, Communication Sciences and Disorders; Neurobiology and Physiology at Northwestern University. Her primary interest is in understanding neurobiologic processes underlying speech-sound perception and learning-associated brain plasticity. Some of her research studies include Speech Perception and Learning Problems, Perceptual Learning and Brain Plasticity, Central Auditory Speech Representation and Peripheral Hearing Impairment, Representation of Speech in the Auditory CNS, Speech-Sound Perception in Noise, and Left-Brain Specialization for Speech.
Dr. Kraus holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. She has published numerous scientific articles and has been a presenter at many conferences.
Dr. Klodd is a visiting professor of otolaryngology at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center with 30 years of experience. He sees a wide range of patients from neonate through geriatric. His areas of expertise involves audiological evaluation and management in patients with facial nerve disorders, vestibular/balance disorders, and other otoneulogic hearing disorders such as acoustic neuroma and NF2. He sees patients for hearing aid evaluation and fitting as well as auditory implants. Audiology implant intrest is in the areas of cochlear implants, BAHA implants and most recently auditory brainstem implants (ABI). He also serves on the AHRF’s Research Committee.
He teaches classes in amplification, instrumentation, vestibular evaluation/rehabilitation and professional issues. Dr. Klodd has served on the Audiology Advisory Board for the Chicago Hearing Society and curretly serves on the advisory board for the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science of Syracuse University. He has served on numerous departmental and medical school committees including being the immediate past Chairman of the Committee on Admissions.
Dr. Klodd recent ares of invesitigation have been mentored with Rush Au.D. and Rush medical students. Topics of some of some of these projects have involved: (1) The use of Interpeters, (2) Nuerofibromatosis type 2: Audiologic and rehabilitative trends, (3) An Alternative Hearing Device: The Bone Anchored Hearing Aid, (4) Audiological Manifestations of Arnold Chiari Malformation, and (5) Microorganisms and Hearing Aids: Considerations for Infection Control.
Marvin T. Keeling serves on the Board of the American Hearing Research Foundation. He also serves on the Board of St. James Hospital Association.
Mr. Keeling is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of WGN Medical. He has a successful history of building businesses in the medical industry, telecommunications, software technology, and finance. Mr. Keeling founded a finance company that provided over $4 billion in financing for medical equipment to hospitals.
Mr. Keeling has been an initiator of capital and idea development through philanthropic activities and foundations, and has been active in community development and management for 30 years.
Lawrence A. Hable serves on the Board of the American Hearing Research Foundation.
Mr. Hable is currently General Manager and Certified Hearing Aid Dispenser for Sonus. He is also an Adjunct Instructor in the Marketing Department, Triton College, River Grove, Illinois; and Co-Supervisor for graduate students in Audiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
Mr. Hable is a Certified Hearing Aid Dispenser, and is a member of the National Hearing Aid Society and the Illinois Hearing Aid Society. He is also a lecturer and consultant on hearing-related topics.
Daniel J. Knight serves on the Board of the American Hearing Research Foundation. He is also the treasurer of the American Hearing Research Foundation.
Throughout his career Mr. Knight has held a variety of senior level finance positions. Currently Mr. Knight is Treasurer of The Chicago Sun-Times.
Mr. Knight holds a B.S. from Loyola University in Chicago and a Masters of Business Administration from DePaul University in Chicago.
Timothy C. Hain, M.D. serves as Vice President of the American Hearing Research Foundation, and serves on the Foundation’s Research Committee as well. Dr. Hain also serves on Medical Advisory Board of the Vestibular Diseases Association, and on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Vestibular Research and Contemporary Medicine International.
Dr. Hain is currently Associate Professor of Neurology and Laryngology at Northwestern University. His clinical practice focuses on evaluation and treatment of conditions that produce dizziness. He has also received several National Institutes of Health grants to investigate causes and treatments of dizziness and imbalance.
Dr. Hain is a member of several professional organizations, including the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, the American Academy of Neurology (Fellow), the American Neurological Association, and the American Neurotology Society.
Dr. Hain holds an M.D. from the Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago.He has published many articles in scientific journals, as well as chapters of textbooks, regarding the diagnosis and treatment of dizziness.
Dr. Friedland is assistant professor at the Koss Hearing & Balance Center at Froedtert Hospital & Medical College at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He is a a board-certified otolaryngologist head and neck surgeon with fellowship training at Johns Hopkins University in adult and pediatric otology, neurotology, and cranial base surgery.
He has specialized training in surgery for hearing restoration including the placement of cochlear implants, bone-anchored aids, brainstem implants, and implantable hearing aids.
He also has an extensive training in the diagnosis and treatment of balance and vestibular disorders including Meniere’s disease, vestibular migraine, and superior canal dehiscence.
Dr. Friedland’s clinical interests include the use of intratympanic medical therapy in the treatment of hearing loss, dizziness, and tinnitus (ringing in the ears). In addition, his clinical emphasis at the Medical College of Wisconsin is on surgical rehabilitation of hearing loss in the adult population and the diagnosis and management of vestibular disorders. He also maintains a research program studying the molecular biology and neuroanatomy of the auditory brainstem.
Mark R. Muench serves as Vice President of the American Hearing Research Foundation. He has served on the board since 1996. He recently led the effort to implement a new web site for the Foundation that allows individuals to access clinical content on a variety of hearing and balance disorders.
Mr. Muench has worked actively in the healthcare industry for over 20 years. Currently, he is vice president in the professional services organization of Cerner Corporation, a leading provider of clinical and management software for healthcare providers.
Mr. Muench holds a Masters in Business Administration degree from the University of Illinois, and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Notre Dame.
Jill B. Firszt, Ph.D., serves on the Research Committee of the American Hearing Research Foundation.
Dr. Firszt is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Program in Audiology and Communication Disorders at Central Institute for the Deaf-at Washington University. She has worked in the field of cochlear implants for 21 years as a clinical audiologist and clinician-scientist.
Dr. Firszt is a member of several professional organizations, including the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, American Auditory Society, American Academy of Audiology, and the Acoustical Society of America. She is Section Editor for the Cochlear Implant Section of the Ear and Hearing Journal and serves as a reviewer for numerous hearing science and otology journals.
Dr. Firszt’s primary research interests are in the areas of speech recognition, bilateral cochlear implantation, and asymmetric hearing using behavioral and electrophysiologic methods. This externally funded work is conducted in the Cochlear Implant & Electrophysiology Laboratory in the Department of Otolaryngology at Washington University. Dr. Firszt holds a PhD from the University of Illinois and also trained at Northwestern University during her doctoral studies.
Sumit Dhar is a new member of the AHRF’s research committee.
Dhar received his bachelor’s degree in audiology and speech language therapy in 1992 from the National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, University of Mumbai, India. He also served as a clinical audiologist and clinical coordinator at the Speech and Hearing Institute Research Center in India, where he oversaw audiology clinics and schools for the deaf.
Dhar earned his master’s degree in audiology in 1995 from Utah State University in Logan, and earned his Ph.D. from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. After graduating from Purdue, Dhar joined the faculty at Indiana University, Bloomington, as an assistant professor. He is now at the Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northwestern University. His research focuses on otoacoustic emissions as they relate to cochlear mechanics.
Alan G. Micco, M.D., serves as President of the American Hearing Research Foundation, and is Chairman of the Foundation’s Research Committee. He is also a member of the Board of the Chicago Hearing Society.
Dr. Micco is currently Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery at Northwestern Medical School. He is a member of several professional organizations, including the Chicago Medical Society, the Chicago Laryngology and Otological Society, and the American College of Surgeons (Associate Fellow).
Dr. Micco holds an M.D. from Northwestern University. He has published many articles in scientific journals and has received numerous awards, including Outstanding Scientific Presentation from the International Politzer Society.
Richard G. Muench serves as Chairman of the Board of the American Hearing Research Foundation.
Mr. Muench is currently Founder and President of Campion Corporation, a venture capital provider. Previously, he was involved in investment banking, commercial bank operations, and the investment department at a major insurance group.
Mr. Muench has provided leadership and guidance to Chicago Associates, an investment club from Northwestern University Graduate School.