Ursula M. Findlen, PhD, is the director of audiology research in the Division of Clinical Therapies- Audiology Department at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and an assistant professor-clinical at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.
She earned her master’s degree and PhD in speech and hearing science from The Ohio State University. During her academic career Dr. Findlen served as the trainee in audiology at the Ohio State University’s Nisonger Center Leadership Education Excellence in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disorders (LEND) program, which propelled her passion for family-centered care of children who are Deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH).
Dr. Findlen is currently a clinician-researcher engaging in endeavors related to pediatric (re)habilitative audiology, particularly in regards to a multidisciplinary team approach to family-centered care. Her research interests include infant diagnostics and improving outcomes of children who are D/HH through systematic quality improvement and population health endeavors related to early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI).
Additionally, she has a special interest in team care for children who are medically-complex, including children with craniofacial differences. Dr. Findlen is the current Outreach Council Chair for the American Academy of Audiology and a past president of the Ohio Academy of Audiology.
She values collaborative, interdisciplinary team efforts related to clinical care, research, and outreach to promote optimal hearing health care. Her service to the field includes many years of national-level association commitment, state-level association, and EHDI program involvement, as well as local-level outreach to partner physicians to highlight audiologists as the experts of hearing and balance care.