A global perspective to Newborn Hearing Screening: importance for children and the society

Speakers for this event

• Bola Olusanya

  Bola Olusanya

  Bola Olusanya grew up with hearing loss and is
  a scientist, paediatrician and expert in audiological medicine. The author of ground-breaking research on paediatric hearing loss in Nigeria, she also initiated a program of universal newborn hearing screening
  there. Her research and advocacy focus on community-oriented management of developmental disabilities.
  She is the executive director of the Centre for Healthy Start Initiative, a non-governmental organization and has authored over 200 peer-reviewed articles on topics
  ranging from audiology to global health policy. A graduate in medicine from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1982), Olusanya trained as a developmental Paediatrician in Nigeria and UK. She began her postgraduate training in 1991 at the Institute of Child Health, University College London (UCL) and also trained at the
  Donald Winnicott Centre, London (1992). Completing her specialist training
  in paediatrics in Nigeria (1997), she returned to UCL for a PhD in child health and audiological medicine (2003-2007). She is a member of the Hearing Loss Expert Group of the Global Burden of Disease Study and co-chair of the Lancet
  Commission on Hearing Loss. In 2018 she received the Aram Glorig Award from
  the International Society of Audiology.

• Gwen Carr

  Gwen Carr

  Gwen Carr is an Honorary Senior Research Associate at the UCL Ear Institute and an independent consultant in the field of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention. She was formerly Deputy Director of the England NHS Hearing Screening Programme and, until her retirement in 2014, a National Programmes Lead for antenatal and newborn screening for Public Health England.
  With a background in early years deaf education and pediatric audiology, Gwen’s career also includes many years as Head of Sensory Services in a metropolitan authority and four years as Director of UK Services and Deputy CEO of the National Deaf Children’s Society. Her current work focuses on service development, research, and training, which actively promotes family-centred and person-centred approaches to service provision both in the UK and overseas. She also serves as a member of the Executive Group for the International Congresses for Family-Centred Early Intervention for Children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Quality and Clinical Governance Group of the Wales Newborn Hearing Screening Programme, and the Global Research on Developmental Disabilities Collaborative group.