Prof. Greg Leigh and Prof. Christine Yoshinaga Itano with video links to contributions by previous ANHS Keynote Speakers.
Contributing Speakers
Alys Young
Alys Young is Professor of Social Work at the University of Manchester, UK where she is also founder and co-director of the SORD research group (Social Research with Deaf people) and is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Centre for Deaf Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. In 2015, she was conferred a Fellowship of the Academy of Social Science (FAcSS), in 2016 won the Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year, in 2022 was named in the Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 list of the most influential disabled people in the UK, and in 2023 was made a Senior Investigator of the NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research). She remains a registered social worker.
Adrian Davis
Professor Adrian Davis has had a long-standing interest in data and analytics related to healthcare and has been responsible for digital innovation across NHS healthcare. Over the last ten years a major research interest and vehicle has been the Global Burden of Disease and its local application in the UK, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
Professor Davis is responsible for research and systematic review that lead to newborn hearing screening in England and many other places. His appointments include:
- Director of Newborn Screening Programmes for Hearing and Physical Examination (2000-2010) and Director MRC Hearing and Communication Group (2004–2013)
- Director responsible for ‘modernising’ hearing services for children and adults in England and supported changes in the rest of UK (DH and NHS appointments with support of MRC, Universities – Nottingham, Manchester and UCL)
- Department of Health’s Diagnostics committee member (2010–2016)
- Global Burden of Disease scientific lead for hearing and for England
- Scientific Council Advisory Board IHME University Washington (2012–2021)
- Vice President Action of Hearing Loss (2017-2022)
- Patron of the Ear Foundation (2015–2020).
Professor Davis has also held visiting professorships at Imperial College London, and London School of Economics; and an honorary professorship at UCL.
Gwen Carr
Gwen Carr is an Independent Consultant in Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) and an Hon. Senior Research Associate at the University College London Ear Institute. A qualified Teacher of the Deaf specialising in Early Years communication development and pre-school family support, she was for many years Head of Sensory Services in a Metropolitan Authority, before becoming Director of UK Services and Deputy CEO at the National Deaf Children’s Society. Passionate about the opportunities for deaf children afforded by early identification and intervention, Gwen then joined the NHS as Deputy Director of the England Newborn Hearing Screening Programme and subsequently became National Programmes Lead for antenatal and newborn screening for Public Health England.
Following retirement from PHE, Gwen now works as an EHDI research and training consultant at home and overseas. She currently serves as a member of the Wales Newborn Hearing Screening Quality and Clinical Governance board, the Executive Committee of FCEI (Family Centred Early Intervention) International, The Coalition of Global Hearing Health Care Pathways Working Group and the Global Research on Developmental Disabilities Collaborators Group.
Karl White
Karl White is a Professor of Psychology at Utah State University and the founding Director of the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management (NCHAM). For the past 40 years, he has devoted his professional career to conducting research and providing training globally about issues and evidence related to implementing and improving the efficacy of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs for children who are deaf and hard of hearing.