Phonak has awarded the 2012 Cheryl DeConde Johnson award for Outstanding Achievement in Educational and Pediatric Audiology to Carrie Spangler, AuD, an educational audiologist in the Starke County Educational Service Center in Ohio since 1999.

Born with a bilateral hearing loss, Spangler brings a unique perspective to her work as an empathetic counselor and successful role model to children with hearing loss and their families, as well as to her colleagues and peers.

In its press release, Phonak noted Spangler’s leadership in organizing and chairing continuing education events in Ohio, facilitating preceptor programs for graduate students from local universities, as well as her many presentations. Spangler is also credited with multiple hearing health initiatives that have positively impacted children with hearing impairment at the local, state, and national level. She graduated with a master’s degree in audiology in 1998 and a doctoral degree in 2005.

The Cheryl DeConde Johnson Award honors United States educational and pediatric audiologists for their outstanding work and commitment to advocate and improve communication as well as academic outcomes of children. The award is named for Johnson, who was the first hearing health professional to receive the award for her many years working as an educational audiologist and deaf educator, including 15 years successfully directing the audiology and deaf education programs for the state of Colorado.

Johnson, the honorary chairperson of Phonak’s award selection committee, commented in the press release, “Dr Spangler’s work and commitment to advocate and improve the communication and academic outcomes of children is outstanding by all measures. …[Her] numerous accomplishments are impressive, but they do not fully express the impact she has had and no doubt will continue to have on children with hearing impairment and the profession of educational audiology. Her vibrant personality together with her passion and vision makes her unstoppable, and she challenges her colleagues by example.”

Photo caption: (L to R): Cheryl DeConde Johnson, EdD, FAAA; Carrie Spangler, AuD; Patrick Henry, director of pediatrics, government services and wireless, Phonak US.
 

SOURCE: Phonak