Introducing the Jerger Future Leaders of Audiology Conference (JFLAC) Class of 2022

We are very excited to welcome the JFLAC 2022 class here in the Academy headquarters in Reston, Virginia, September 15-17, 2022.

The James Jerger Future Leaders of Audiology Conference (JFLAC) provides an abundance of opportunities to its selected attendees. From the development of leadership skills and gaining confidence in oneself to the creation of long-term relationships and networking opportunities, JFLAC attendees will benefit for years to come. The Academy is committed to increasing the awareness and participation of a diverse group of applicants in the 2022 Jerger Future Leaders of Audiology Conference (JFLAC) and beyond.

Katharine Fitzharris, AuD, PhD

Dr. Fitzharris is an associate professor at Nova Southeastern University. She joined the university in 2017 after completing her PhD in communication sciences and disorders and MS in applied cognition and neuroscience at the University of Texas at Dallas. She graduated from the University of Louisville with her AuD.

Her areas of clinical and research interest include adult and pediatric diagnostics and amplification, auditory processing, and auditory electrophysiology. Dr. Fitzharris is trained as a clinic director for Special Olympics and regularly participates in the Florida State Games and community clinic events. She has served on various Academy committees for the past 10 years and is excited for the opportunity to be a part of JFLAC 2022. 

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Courtney Glavin, AuD

Dr. Glavin is a clinical audiologist and scientist-in-training. She is currently a PhD candidate at Northwestern University. Her research focuses on the early detection and diagnosis of cochlear age-related hearing loss as well as on the mechanisms of auditory aging.

She completed both her bachelor’s degree and AuD at Northwestern University and an externship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She returned to pursue a PhD after working for over five years in clinical and industry settings. She has been an active member of the Academy for over a decade.  

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Andrea Green, AuD

Dr. Green is a clinical audiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and received her doctor of audiology degree from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She has clinical experience in diagnostics, amplification, and vestibular evaluation for both pediatric and adult populations. She has been active on many committees for the American Academy of Audiology and Student Academy of Audiology since 2011. Dr. Green currently serves as a Board Member for HEAR Nashville and the Vice President of Membership for the Tennessee Association of Audiologists and Speech Language Pathologists. 

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Ashley Grillis, AuD

Dr. Grillis joined the University of Mississippi Medical Center in 2017 where she serves as an associate professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. Her clinical specialty includes pediatric audiology diagnostic and treatment, with specific interest in cochlear implants and early intervention.

She serves as pediatric team lead for the Division of Audiology at UMMC. She also serves on several state and national committees including American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Committee of Ambassadors, American Cochlear Implant Alliance state champion, Mississippi Department of Health Advisory Council, Mississippi Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program Advisory Council, and Mississippi Speech Hearing Association Audiology Committee. When Dr. Grillis isn’t seeing patients, she enjoys traveling and spending time with family.

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Ashley Hughes, AuD

Dr. Hughes earned her doctorate of audiology from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2014. She works as a clinical applications specialist for diagnostic testing equipment with Interacoustics US, in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. She is the main point of contact in the United States for all audiometry, impedance, OAE, hearing aid fitting, and telehealth solutions.

Prior to joining Interacoustics, Dr. Hughes first worked clinically and then as a research audiologist for a hearing aid manufacturer. She has served as an invited speaker at state and national conferences and is an author on multiple published articles and posters on topics including real-ear measurements, subjective outcome measures, advocacy, mentorship, negotiations, and more. She is highly involved in the American Academy of Audiology, the American Academy of Audiology Foundation, and her state audiology organization, the Minnesota Academy of Audiology.

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Sara Jagger, AuD

Dr. Jagger received her AuD from A.T. Still University and is currently completing her PhD in health sciences from Nova Southeastern University. After completion of her AuD, she joined The American Institute of Balance as a clinical audiologist and then as Chief Medical Officer and Clinical Coordinator. She was involved in clinic care, supervising student and international fellows, and teaching vestibular diagnostic and management certification workshops. In 2018, Dr. Jagger began her role at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Her primary interests are vestibular and hearing diagnostics. Most of all, she enjoys the professional collaboration within Mayo Clinic as a whole. She also teaches the Advanced Vestibular Evaluation and Management course with A.T. University’s Post-Professional Doctor of Audiology Online Program. She enjoys the broad range of culture with global faculty and students. 

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Ashley Kaufman, AuD

Dr. Kaufman is a senior audiologist at Boys Town National Research Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. She works with pediatric and adult patients for their hearing, vestibular and balance assessments, evoked potential testing and amplification needs. She is the lead audiologist for the Boys Town Pediatric Hearing Clinic and for the Auditory Osseointegrated Device program.

She also is a member of the Nebraska Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Advisory Committee and the Nebraska Speech Language and Hearing Association Continuing Education Planning Committee. Dr. Kaufman received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and her doctorate in audiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Jennifer Martin, AuD, ABA Certified, CH-AP, CH-TM

Dr. Martin is a staff audiologist at the Orlando VA Healthcare System’s Viera CBOC. She has extensive government experience after working in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), being a government contractor, and being a Marine Corps combat Veteran. She currently serves on the American Board of Audiology and the Veteran’s Advisory Committee on Rehabilitation (VACOR), under the Secretary of the VA. She was previously adjunct faculty teaching undergraduates at Assumption University.

Dr. Martin’s clinical interests have been focused on working with Veterans regarding tinnitus, assistive devices, and aural rehabilitation. Within the VA system, she has also worked on committees regarding Veterans with visual impairments, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), as well as VA community outreach.

During the pandemic, she shifted her focus on how she could better serve the Veteran population, on a larger scale. She completed a graduate certification in Health Policy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She is currently enrolled in the American University Washington College of Law for a Master’s in Legal Studies focusing on U.S. Legislation and Healthcare Compliance.

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Virginia (Ginny) Milne, AuD

Dr. Milne is a senior audiologist at UPMC and adjunct faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh. She teaches graduate-level amplification and vestibular lab courses at Pitt, serves as a clinical instructor, manages UPMC’s Adult Auditory Processing Clinic, and actively participates in related research. Dr. Milne received her BA degree in communication disorders and psychology from Case Western Reserve University and her AuD from the Northeast Ohio AuD Consortium (NOAC). 

She is an active volunteer with Academy and is a member of the Membership Committee and Resume Review sub-committee. She was the Learning Modules sub-committee chair for AAA Annual Conference 2022. Dr. Milne has published and presented locally and nationally on topics including amplification, clinical education, and auditory processing.

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Maria Pomponio, AuD

Dr. Pomponio is a clinical audiologist in the Hearing and Speech Center, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York-Presbyterian Hospital. She received her bachelor of arts degree from Loyola University Maryland and her doctor of audiology (AuD) degree from Towson University. She completed her audiology externship at Stony Brook University Hospital, and went on to work at Temple University Hospital prior to joining the team at Weill Cornell. 

Dr. Pomponio is currently licensed in audiology through the New York State Department of Education and holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence in Audiology (CCC-A) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).  Her clinical interests include the diagnosis of adult and pediatric hearing loss and auditory processing disorder, audiological rehabilitation including the fitting and management of adult amplification, and vestibular/balance assessment. Her current research interests include auditory processing disorder and graduate student supervision/the role of the clinical supervisor. 

She presently maintains membership in ASHA and the American Academy of Audiology and serves on the Academy’s Ethical Practices Committee. 

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Kyle Shepard, AuD

Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Kyle H. Shepard, AuD, is an audiologist for the United States Navy. Prior to his commissioning in August 2013, he received his bachelor’s of art from The Ohio State University where he double majored in speech and hearing science and psychology. He then obtained his doctorate in audiology from the Northeast Ohio AuD Consortium.

His fourth-year externship was completed at the Cleveland Clinic from 2012-2013 where he was required to complete seven rotations, each specializing in a different area covering the scope of audiology.

He is currently stationed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River where he is the Branch Head of Helmet Systems and Auditory Performance within the Naval Air Warfare Center—Aircraft Division Command. There he manages and collaborates with engineers and other medical specialties working on research projects contributing to areas in advanced hearing protection and communication systems, active noise reduction, 3D scanning, 3D printing and in-the-ear noise dosimetry.

He was formally stationed at Naval Hospital Guam where he was the department head of audiology and hearing conservation program manager of Joint Region Marianas as well as Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune where he was the department head of operational audiology and hearing conservation program manager of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. In 2015, he was the recipient of both the Military Audiology Association’s Elizabeth Guild Award and Navy Audiologist of the Year.

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Kaitlin Thoden, AuD

Dr. Thoden received her AuD from Nova Southeastern University. She has been a clinical audiologist at the Northport Veteran Affairs Medical Center for the past 11 years. She helped open and now runs the Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Riverhead, New York, which is the only outpatient clinic on Long Island with audiology services. She is an adjunct professor at St. Joseph’s University in Patchogue, New York, where she teaches a Hearing Science course to undergraduate students.

She has been involved with the planning of the Joint Defense Veterans Audiology Conference (JDVAC) for the past four years and is currently the Education Conference chair for JDVAC 2023. She is currently serving a three-year term as the Association of VA Audiologists (AVAA) Secretary. She has assisted in implementing a Whole Health approach within the clinic, as well as served as a Whole Health facilitator for the Medical Center. She also runs an annual hearing screening program for the Calverton National Cemetery.

Dr. Thoden currently resides on Long Island, New York, with her husband, two boys and her cairn terrier, Oliver. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and riding her bike.

Thank you!