Emily Thompson
Ms. Thompson is currently a first-year Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) student in Vanderbilt University's Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences in Nashville, TN. She recently earned her Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) degree from Vanderbilt School of Medicine in May 2019, after pursuing a pediatric specialty concentration in management of early childhood hearing loss and completing her 2018-2019 4th-year externship training at VUMC. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and Psychology from the University of Connecticut Honors Program in May 2015. During her undergraduate career, as a 2014 ASHA Students Preparing for Academic-Research Careers (SPARC) Award recipient, she authored an Honors thesis based on perceptual language learning effects under the guidance of Dr. Rachel Theodore.
Throughout the 2015-2016 academic year, Ms. Thompson served as a Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) Program trainee, which provides interdisciplinary graduate training designed to improve the health of infants, children, and adolescents with disabilities. Furthermore, Ms. Thompson actively participates in professional advocacy efforts, humanitarian outreach, and public education through various volunteer roles and leadership positions, including local Vanderbilt SAA Chapter Philanthropy Chair and National SAA Development Committee member.
Ms. Thompson also received the opportunity to complete a 2016 NIH NIDCD-funded T35 Research Traineeship with Vanderbilt faculty mentor Dr. Anne Marie Tharpe. In addition, she was selected as a dual recipient of the 2016 ASHA Audiology/Hearing Sciences Research Travel Award (ARTA) and 2017 ASHFoundation Graduate Student Scholarship. Ms. Thompson's recent conference presentations and poster talks include the following events/locations: 2016 Phonak Pediatric Meeting, 2017 AAS Conference, 2018 Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Science Day, 2018 AAA Convention, and 2018 ASHA Convention.
Inspired by her involvement in multiple projects with Dr. Tharpe’s Auditory Development Laboratory team, Ms. Thompson’s primary research interests encompass pediatric audiology and aural rehabilitation, with a related focus on psychosocial/cognitive development among youth with auditory deficits. In particular, she aims to explore the impact of hearing loss on children’s communication skills, language acquisition, and speech perception abilities. Ultimate goals of this translational research approach include improving patients’ holistic quality of life and listening experiences, enhancing modern clinical interventions (i.e., amplification technology, counseling techniques), and expanding access to effective support resources for family/community networks on a global, cross-cultural scale.