Archives for September 11, 2018

Dr. Marion Downs pioneered the first national infant hearing screening program in 1963 in Denver, CO.  Dr. Downs was an exemplary teacher who lectured extensively throughout the United States and in more than fifteen foreign countries. She has published nearly 100 articles and books on various aspects of audiology, including serving as co-author of Hearing in Children, a successful textbook updated through six editions between 1972 and 2013, and translated into several foreign languages. Hearing in Children was the cornerstone for thousands of audiologists-in-training to learn how to evaluate and manage children with hearing loss. Dr. Downs is recognized internationally for her work in pediatric audiology; her publications and lectures have brought worldwide attention to the importance of early intervention for hearing loss.  She almost single-handedly alerted the medical world to the speech and language development problems associated with childhood hearing loss. In order to ensure that pediatric hearing loss would remain a priority concern for all pediatric health care professionals, in 1969, Dr. Downs proposed that a national committee be established, composed of representatives from professional hearing healthcare organizations, to periodically review and evaluate, as well as recommend “best practices” approaches, to newborn hearing screening programs. As a direct result of her visionary thinking, a national Joint Committee on Infant Hearing was organized to provide multi-disciplinary leadership and guidance for 35 years in all areas of newborn and infant hearing issues.

Our Ear Community Organization has been collaborating with the Marion Downs Center since 2015.

Thank you.
Melissa Tumblin
Founder -Executive Director
Ear Community Organization
www.EarCommunity.org

Your group will have sequencing done by the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard.”
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– The reason for focusing on the Hispanic population is because the Hispanic population has a higher rate of occurrence with Microtia and Atresia. We also need to have a control group during research. This is just the beginning and we hope our findings will show why Microtia and Atresia happen by associating an in-common allele that may cause Microtia and Atresia. We are also hopeful for some better statistics as well. Thank you to all of the Ear Community families who signed up during our summer picnics to be a part of future research!  Grant funds will be utilized by Harvard and MIT researchers and used for testing.

We are extremely thankful for the support through the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program for selecting our grant application as one of the many grants submitted to move forward for research.  We are grateful for the support and funds that will be provided during this study for the Microtia and Atresia community.  Thank you to Drs. Seidman and Eavey for your continued dedication in researching Microtia and Atresia.  Thank you and we are so very excited about this major step toward research on Microtia and Atresia!
– Melissa Tumblin
Ear Community