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December 10 Speaker Series Talk: “How NIDCD research is preventing or reversing hearing loss”

All NIH staff and the public are invited to attend


December 14, 2015 update: Watch an archived webcast of this talk on the NIH videocast website.


On Thursday, December 10, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) will continue its new speaker series, Beyond the Lab, Understanding Communication Disorders. Designed for administrative and support staff as well as scientists, the series gives NIH staff and the public the opportunity to learn about the NIDCD’s research and about scientific advances in communication disorders—conditions that directly affect about one in six Americans during their lifetime. The goal of the series is to present the science of NIDCD mission areas in ways that everyone can understand.

  • What: Speaker Series Talk: “How NIDCD research is preventing or reversing hearing loss,” part of our Beyond the Lab, Understanding Communication Disorders speaker series
  • Who: Lisa Cunningham, Ph.D., chief, NIDCD Section on Sensory Cell Biology
  • When: Thursday, December 10, 2015, from 11:00 a.m. to noon
  • Where: Porter Neuroscience Research Center, Building 35A, Room 640, on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland

Communication disorders affect hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language. While science and technology have greatly improved our ability to communicate, life can be very challenging for those with communication disorders, affecting emotional, social, educational, and brain development. The cost of these disorders in terms of unfulfilled potential, quality of life, and economic factors is immeasurable.

The NIDCD has helped to advance our understanding of all aspects of human communication. In addition, studies conducted by NIDCD scientists and grantees have contributed to significant developments that improve the lives of millions of individuals with communication disorders.

About the Speaker

Lisa Cunningham originally trained as a clinical audiologist and then received a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Virginia. She did a post-doctoral fellowship in Auditory Neuroscience at the University of Washington before starting her own lab at the Medical University of South Carolina in 2004. In 2011, Dr. Cunningham joined the Intramural Research Program at the NIDCD, where her lab conducts studies aimed at understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of hearing loss. Her lab also conducts translational research studies aimed at developing therapies to protect the hearing of people who are at risk for hearing loss. An area of particular focus is hearing loss caused by therapeutic drugs that are used clinically to treat serious infectious diseases or cancer. Some of these drugs are toxic to the inner ear and thus cause permanent hearing loss as a side effect. A major goal of research in the Cunningham lab is to develop therapies that can protect the hearing of patients receiving these lifesaving drugs.

This program is sponsored by the NIDCD, which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. For questions or reasonable accommodation requests, contact Melissa McGowan at 301-827-8183.

We hope people can join us in person for this talk, but if not, a webcast will be available.

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