Sherri L. Smith, AuD, PhD, CCC-A
Dr. Smith is an audiologist and Associate Professor and Chief of Audiology in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Science at Duke. She also is a Senior Fellow in the Duke Center the Study of Aging and Human Development. Her research focuses on improving the assessment and treatment of hearing loss in older adults in the most affordable and accessible ways. Specifically, her work centers on comparing the effectiveness of current hearing interventions, developing new, innovative clinical tools, and examining alternative service-delivery approaches that help patients reach their individual hearing goals and improve their quality of life. Dr. Smith is the principal investigator for the study.
Todd A. Ricketts, PhD
Dr. Ricketts is a Professor and Vice Chair at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He has long been interested in the interaction between hearing aids, listening environment, and individual patient differences as they affect the listening and communication experience. This work has resulted in more than 100 articles and book chapters to date. In addition, his current work also focuses on enhancing cost-effectiveness and efficiency in hearing health care while maintaining high quality. In addition to his editorial work for multiple professional journals and his roles within a number of professional organizations, Todd teaches and mentors students at Vanderbilt. He oversees the HEAR BeTTER project activities at Vanderbilt.
David L. Witsell, MD
I am a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences. I have been actively engaged in multi-center patient-oriented research since 1996. I was a faculty member of the Duke Clinical Research Institute since 2000-2019 where I coordinated most of my foundation, private investigator-initiated and National Institutes of Health research projects. My experience and work with my professional association, the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery (AAOHNSF), catalyzed my research through extensive networking with colleagues. During my career, I developed the Surgeon’s Outcomes Research Cooperative (SOURCE), established the Building Evidence for Successful Treatments in ENT network (BEST-ENT), and was funded federally to establish the national Creating Health Excellence through Education and Research (CHEER) network of community and academic ENT practices. As PI of the CHEER network, I was responsible for development, coordination and conduct of multi-center practice-based research studies. CHEER completed more than a dozen important studies on ear, nose, and throat diseases. The results are published in peer reviewed journals and the network remains actively engaged in a hearing healthcare study on Red Flag ear conditions. My latest research passion and collaboration is with Dr Sherri Smith where we will evaluate the effectiveness of 1 versus 2 hearing aids in the treatment of mild to moderate age-related hearing loss.
Howard W. Francis, MD
Dr. Francis is an ear nose and throat (ENT) surgeon who specializes in disorders of the ear and skull base. His research and publications have addressed the biology of hearing loss, and cochlear implant results and risk factors in young children and older adults. He has participated in building academic programs that train the next generation of ENT specialists and communication scientists and currently chairs the department of Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine.
William Dillon, AuD
Dr. Dillon is an audiologist who has held clinical and leadership roles in university-based hospital clinics. He actively fits and dispenses hearing aid amplification in high volume settings. His professional and research interests include hearing aid satisfaction in the adult population. William Dillon will serve as a member on the Stakeholder Advisory Team (SAT) and as a research audiologist on the HEAR BeTTER Study.
Frank W. Rockhold, PhD
Dr. Rockhold is a Professor of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at Duke University Medical Center, Affiliate Professor of Biostatistics at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Managing Partner of HunterRockhold, Inc. He has diverse research interests and consulting experience including trial design, data monitoring, benefit/risk, and pharmacovigilance and has been a leader in the scientific community in promoting data disclosure and transparency in clinical research. His career includes senior management positions in industry, most recently as Chief Safety Officer for GSK. Dr. Rockhold served as Chairman of CDISC and president of the Society for Clinical Trials. He also served on the initial PCORI Advisory Board and is currently on the boards of the Frontier Science Foundation and an advisor to EMA.
Frank holds a BA in Statistics from The University of Connecticut, an ScM in Biostatistics from The Johns Hopkins University, and a PhD in Biostatistics from the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is an Elected Fellow of both the American Statistical Association, the Society for Clinical Trials, and the Royal Statistical Society. He is an Accredited Professional Statistician, PStat®, and a Chartered Statistician, CStat.
Laura Thompson, AuD
Dr. Thompson completed her clinical doctorate in audiology at Washington University in St. Louis and her fourth year residency at the Cleveland Clinic in 2015. She has been a member of the Duke audiology team since March 2020. As a research audiologist, she will be responsible for fitting patients with the hearing aids being used for the study and assessing how well they are hearing with them. She will also be supporting patients through the study to ensure they know and have everything they need to be successful with their hearing aids.
Theresa Coles, PhD
Theresa Coles, PhD is a health outcomes methodologist and specializes in measuring patients’ health status with questionnaires completed by the patient. On this project, Dr. Coles is collaborating with the team on the questionnaires participants complete throughout the project and advising on the interpretation of results.
Shari Eberts, Hearing Loss Advocate
Ms. Eberts is a national hearing health advocate and writes for several outlets including LivingWithHearingLoss.com, Psychology Today, Hearing Health & Technology Matters and others. She has written about person-centered care and living with hearing loss.
Barvina Toledo
Barvina Toledo is a Clinical Research Coordinator in the Duke Department of Head & Neck Surgery and Communication Sciences. She holds a masters degree in Health Education and her background includes coordinating an array of clinical research trials in epidemiology and community health. Barvina is the lead coordinator for this study.
Kjersten Branscome is a Research Audiologist in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She received her master’s degree in audiology from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and her Doctor of Audiology degree from the University of Florida. Kjersten worked as a clinical audiologist before joining the research team at Vanderbilt in October 2018 and is currently responsible for managing the Dan Maddox Hearing Aid Research Laboratory under the guidance of Dr. Todd Ricketts, Dr. Ben Hornsby, and Dr. Erin Picou.
