The American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation (ASHFoundation), Rockville, Md, recently awarded $378,000 to 39 individuals in support of research investigations, research travel stipends, doctoral and master’s education, and clinical developments—a large portion of which was specifically designated to talented audiologists and hearing scientists.

These awards provide significant funding to ensure excellence in training and to support new research. Annually, these awards help to advance and advocate for the future of audiology, speech-language pathology, and speech, language, and hearing science in an effort to provide the best possible treatments for more than 49 million children and adults with communication disorders.

"Our funding programs demonstrate the strong commitment that the ASHFoundation and our generous donors have to building the profession of audiology and to providing financial resources to the many deserving and aspiring audiologists and hearing scientists," ASHFoundation President Nancy Creaghead said in a statement.

The following audiologists and hearing scientists were among those honored as part of the ASHFoundation celebration of giving in 2009. You can learn more about them and all other 2009 award recipients by visiting the ASHFoundation Web site at www.ashfoundation.org.

Clinical Research Grant:
Monika Kordus
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics

New Century Scholars Research Grants:
Kathleen McNerney
University of Buffalo

Lisa Potts
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Student Research Grant in Audiology:
Yungfang Zheng
Montclair State University

Research Travel Stipend:
Curtis J. Billings
Portland VA Medical Center

New Century Scholars Doctoral Scholarships:
Andrea Hillock
Vanderbilt University

Skyler Jennings
Purdue University

AuD and PhD Scholarships:
Garrett Cardon
University of Colorado at Boulder

Minyu (Julia) Cheng
Rush University

Kristin E. Musser
Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis

Jonathon Whitton
University of Louisville

The Foundation aims to advance knowledge about the causes and treatment of hearing, speech, and language problems, raising funds from individuals, corporations, and organizations to support research, graduate education, and special projects that foster discovery and innovation in the field of communication sciences.

It is affiliated with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 135,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists.

[Source: ASHFoundation]