Academy of Rehabilitative Audiology 

Kristin Vasil-Dilaj

President

Kristin Dilaj, AuD., Ph.D, is Co-Director and Audiologist at the New England Center for Hearing Rehabilitation, LLC.  Her areas of clinical interest and research include cochlear implant programming strategies and outcomes, tools for evaluating functional listening in pediatrics, and pediatric aural (re)habilitation.   

Karen Doherty

President-Elect/Secretary

Karen A. Doherty, Ph.D. is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Syracuse University. She is also a member of the Aging Studies Institute and Faculty Affiliate of the Integrated Learning Majors in Neuroscience at Syracuse University. Dr. Doherty’s research focus is on early intervention of age-related hearing loss and investigating ways to maximize hearing aid use considering factors such as cognitive function, hearing handicap, speech perception in noise and hearing aid handling skills.

Brittney Carlson

Treasurer

Brittney Carlson, Au.D., Ph.D., is the Program Director and Assistant Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Elms College. She also consults as a clinical audiologist at the Veterans’ Administration Hospital.  Her clinical and research interests are in the area of adult aural rehabilitation

Anne D. Olsen

JARA Editor

Anne D. Olson, PhD, CCC-A is currently an Associate Professor and serving as Department Chair in Communication Sciences and Disorders and CSD program director at the University of Kentucky.  She has focused her scholarly efforts in clinical research as it relates to Aural Rehabilitation for adults with hearing loss. She also teaches audiology and aural rehabilitation for undergraduate students.

Laura Ann Wilber

Parliamentarian

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Ali Marinelli

Secretary

Ali Marinelli received her Au.D./Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut, where she was in Kathleen Cienkowski’s Aural Rehabilitation Lab. She completed her dissertation entitled “A qualitative examination of the listening effort experience of adults with hearing loss” in 2017. Ali is currently working at the New England Center for Hearing Rehabilitation as a clinical audiologist. Her research interests include counseling and the psychosocial wellbeing of individuals with hearing loss.

Torri Ann Woodruff

Student Representative

Torri Ann Woodruff is our new Student Rep! She is working on her Ph.D. with Dr. Cienkowski at Univ of Conn. To contact her concerning ARA Board meetings and other Board-related services, you can reach her by email as follows: torri.woodruff@uconn.edu

Sherri Smith

2018 President

Sherri L. Smith, Au.D., Ph.D., is Chief of the Audiology and an Associate Professor in the Division of Head and Neck Surgery and Communication Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine and is the co-Chief of the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at Duke University Hospital. Dr. Smith also has an appointment as a Research Audiologist at the Durham Veterans Affairs Health Care System.  Dr. Smith’s research involves developing clinical tools, interventions options, and service delivery processes that can facilitate optimization of patient’s individualized goals.

Sarah Hargus Ferguson

2017 President

Sarah Hargus Ferguson, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders at the University of Utah. Her research focuses on talker factors that affect everyday speech understanding in older adults with hearing loss, with a particular emphasis on “clear speech” and its effects on not only intelligibility but also the perception of indexical properties like the talker’s emotional state.

Claire Bernstein

2017 President

Claire Bernstein, Ph.D. is Principal Investigator with the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology for Deaf/Hard of Hearing at Gallaudet University.  Along with Co-PI Professor Diane Brewer, she is currently conducting a clinical trial on the effectiveness of short-term AR with adult cochlear implant users delivered via a tele-health platform. Dr. Bernstein’s research involves creating and testing clinical tools and rehabilitative interventions for adult cochlear implant users to optimize their communication and psychosocial function in their everyday lives.