Program Faculty

The following faculty participate in the AuD Joint Doctoral Program and are available as academic and doctoral project advisors.

San Diego State University (SDSU) :

• Kramer, Steve, PhD (Co-director): Areas of specialization include clinical issues and techniques in audiology; auditory evoked potentials (including otoacoustic emissions) to describe normal and disordered auditory function; physiological measures for improving the evaluation of certain clinical impairments; newborn hearing screening techniques and programs. Teaches courses in diagnostic audiology, supervises in clinic, and provides support for doctoral projects. Currently Co-Director of the AuD program.

• Dreisbach, Laura, PhD: (Full-time). Areas of specialization include human peripheral auditory physiology, auditory evoked potentials (with an emphasis on evoked otoacoustic emissions), psychoacoustic measures to describe peripheral physiology, and high frequency hearing. Research foci: a) evoked otoacoustic emissions for the development of objective tests using high frequency stimuli and b) objective (evoked otoacoustic emissions) and subjective (psychoacoustics) measures of frequency selectivity. Teaches courses in auditory evoked potentials, auditory physiology/hearing science, pediatric audiology and advanced seminar in audiological instrumentation. Supervises students in diagnostic and rehabilitative clinic experiences and provides doctoral project advising and research experiences.

• Georgeson, Jacque, AuD: (Full-time). description coming soon

• Mackersie, Carol, PhD: (Full-time). Areas of specialization include hearing amplification, psychoacoustics, and speech perception. Research foci: a) psychoacoustic factors underlying individual differences in speech perception & hearing aid benefit and b) development of performance outcome measures of hearing aid benefit. Teaches courses in psychoacoustics, hearing amplification; supervises student clinical experiences; provides doctoral project advising and research experiences.

• Torre III, Peter, PhD: (Full-time). Areas of specialization include epidemiology of age-related hearing loss, auditory evoked potentials, and research methods. Research foci: a) risk factors associated with age-related hearing loss, b) the relation between cardiovascular disease and otoacoustic emissions, and c) age-related hearing loss in Latino Americans. Teaches courses in hearing sciences, research topics, aging, and hearing conservation, and provides doctoral project advising and research experiences.

• Boothroyd, Arthur, PhD: (Part-time). Areas of specialization include aural rehabilitation and speech perception. Research expertise and experience in the sensory capacities of individuals with hearing loss, methods to assess those capacities, and their enhancement with hearing aids, tactile aids, and cochlear implants; developed methods for quantifying the effects of contextual factors in the perception of spoken language. Remains active in research, consulting, and teaching. Teaches courses in pediatric and adult aural rehabilitation, and will supervise research.

• Branch, Carol, MA: (Part-time). Half-time supervisor of audiology students in the SDSU Audiology Clinic. Specialty areas include hearing aid fittings in children and adults with real ear fitting, digital hearing aids, and diagnostic audiology. Has supervised at SDSU for 8 years. Had 10 years prior experience at Children's Hospital of San Diego.

• Sticka, Carren, PhD: (Part-time). description coming soon

• Wester, Derin, PhD: (Part-time) Director of the Vestibular-Balance and Neuroaudiology Laboratory at Naval Medical Center, San Diego. Research and clinical specialization include: a) vestibular assessments (dynamic computerized posturography, vertical and variable Yaw-axis rotation chair testing, VORTEQ active and passive head rotation testing with infrared eye tracking and assorted clinical test of VOR, VVOR and VSR function), b) routine and ultra-high frequency audiometry; c) full range auditory evoked potentials (ECoG, ABR, MLR, ALR, P-300); d) central auditory assessment; e) tinnitus research, f) otoacoustic emission suppression; and g) animal research in hearing. Current funded research is in the areas of vestibular assessments with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, vestibular and auditory assessments in Meniere's disease patients receiving gentamicin via the round window micro-catheter (FDA approved clinical trial) and an NIH planning grant for a true placebo controlled, double blinded multi-center clinical trial for tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT). Dr. Wester has been involved with several thesis projects for students in the SDSU audiology MA program. He will teaches courses in vestibular assessment and rehabilitation and participates as a lecturer in other courses, and provides research and clinical experiences in his laboratory.

University of California at San Diego (UCSD) :

• Zettner, Erika, PhD (Co-director): (Full-time). bio coming soon

• Harris, Jeffrey P., MD, PhD: (Part-time). Professor and Chairman. Maintains a busy otologic and neurotologic medical and surgical practice at UCSD, VA hospital, and Scripps Clinic. Is the Director of the UCSD Residency Training Program in Otolaryngology; oversees the training and quality of instruction of medical students in this specialty; directs a two-year Fellowship in Otology and Neurotology; directs a large research program in otology, focusing on the response of the inner ear to inflammation and immune reactions including autoimmunity and viral labyrinthitis. Currently directs a large NIH-funded, multi-institutional clinical trial on autoimmune deafness with participating sites at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Iowa, Michigan, House Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, NYU, University of Texas Southwestern, and UCSD. Also engages in research on outcomes with the UCSD Department of Preventative and Community Medicine, particularly focused on Meniere's disease and cochlear implants. Students in the AuD program receive training in clinical otology, pre-and post-operative assessment of patients, pharmacology related to otology, design and implementation of clinical trails, and clinical assessment of patients with balance disorders at the UCSD Ear Center. He is the initial Co-Director for the AuD program.

• Keithley, Elizabeth M., PhD: (Part-time). Dr. Keithley performs research in auditory neuroscience and otology. This includes studies of age-related changes in the cochlea, focusing on the process and causes of degeneration of sensorineural elements in the inner ear. She also investigates the role of changes in mitochondrial function and mitochondrial DNA mutations on spiral ganglion cell survival. Additional area of study in her laboratory is immune mechanisms of the cochlea. This includes the generation of immune response at this site, the effects of immune response on cochlear structure and function, and the prevention of immune-mediated hearing loss. Laboratory techniques include histology, immunohistochemistry, protein chemistry, electrophysiology and molecular biology. Dr. Keithley teaches human temporal bone anatomy, cochlear pathology and research techniques. She supervises students and post-graduate trainees in research.

• Mullen, Lina M., PhD: (Part-time). Dr. Mullen performs research in auditory neuroscience and otology. This includes studies of the development of the cochlea, with an emphasis on sensory cell formation and how spiral ganglion neurons develop specific contacts with hair cells. She also performs basic research on the cochlear prosthesis. In particular, she is interested in improving contacts between damaged spiral ganglion dendrites and cochlear implant electrodes. This work involves guiding neurites to electrode surfaces, and controlling the interaction of neurites with biomaterials. Laboratory techniques include cell culture, cell signaling biology, and molecular biology. Dr. Mullen teaches auditory development and research techniques. She also supervises students and post-graduate trainees in research.

• Ryan, Allen F., PhD: (Part-time).Research in Auditory Neuroscience and Otology, including studies of the development of the auditory and vestibular systems, especially molecular control of sensory cell and neuronal maturation in the inner ear. Also investigates adult-onset hearing loss, including cellular mechanisms of hair cell damage and strategies for hair cell replacement by transplantation of sensory and stem cells, and studies involving control of cellular hyperplasia and recovery in the middle ear mucosa during otitis media. Laboratory techniques include molecular biology, cellular biology, tissue culture, and both functional and morphological evaluation of the inner ear. Teaches courses in auditory and vestibular anatomy, morphology and function, as well as the pathology of the auditory and vestibular systems. Supervises students/trainees in graduate/postgraduate research in auditory neuroscience. Serves on the Executive Committee of the Neuroscience Graduate Program. Member of the Institute for Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Molecular Medicine. Directs an NIH Training Grant in Research in Otolaryngology. Participates in the teaching of courses in auditory/vestibular physiology and auditory pathophysiology, and supervises AuD students during lab rotation and/or doctoral projects.

• Erik Viirre, MD, PhD: (Part-time). Doctoral specialization in vestibular physiology. Maintains a medical neurotological practice at UCSD Ear Center. Specializes in vestibular disorders. Participates in the AuD program by providing clinical instruction and research opportunities in the assessment and management of patients with vestibular pathology and tinnitus, and provides lectures in relevant courses. Currently engaged in research in both of these areas. Research on vestibular adaptation strategies using virtual reality, tinnitus habituation using digital signal matching, and studies involving pharmacological blinded medications.

• Luis Benitez, MD: (Part-time). Former Professor and Chief of Audiology at the University of Mexico in Mexico City. Now directs the neurodiagnostic laboratory at the UCSD Ear Center. Routinely provides ABR, otoacoustic emission evaluations, ENG, ECoG and audiology for the clinical trials research program (including Dr. Harris' NIH study). Students rotate through Dr. Benitez's clinic and he teaches the basic vestibular course, and lectures in the physiology courses.