NCHAM Staff
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Karl White
Director
Tel: 435-797-3013
Email
- Dr. Karl White is the founding Director of NCHAM, a Professor of Psychology, and the Emma Eccles Jones Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Education at Utah State University. Originally trained as a statistician and research methodologist, he was the Principle Investigator for the first large scale research project investigating the efficacy and efficiency of universal newborn hearing screening (the Rhode Island Hearing Assessment Project from 1988-1993) and since that time has devoted most of his professional activities to developing more efficient EHDI programs through research, improving public health information systems, training and technical assistance, and information dissemination. Dr. White has served a various committees focused on deaf or hard of hearing issues throughout the world and has been recognized with awards from such diverse organizations as the Deafness Research Foundation, the American Association for Speech Language and Hearing, the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped in Mumbai, India, the Swedish Society of Medicine, and the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Karl and his wife Amy have 8 children and 29 grandchildren. During their spare time they enjoy spending time with their family, horseback riding, and being in the mountains.
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Patricia Ellsworth
Staff Assistant
Email
- Patricia provides administrative support to NCHAM as part of Business Services. As a Business Assistant, Patricia reviews, coordinates and processes all financial aspects of NCHAM and serves as the office manager. She also provides desktop publishing and graphic design for the Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (JEHDI) publications. Patricia believes in the value of enjoying everyday moments before they become a memory and when she isn't working you'll find her pursuing her passions of Disney, camping, cruising, and scrapbooking with her 18 grandchildren.
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William Eiserman
Associate Director
Email
- Dr. William Eiserman is the Associate Director of the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management and Co-Principal Investigator on the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention National Technical Resource Center. From 2001-2020, Dr. Eiserman led a national effort called the ECHO Initiative assisting Early, Migrant, and American Indian/Alaska Native Head Start programs in developing evidence-based hearing screening and follow-up practices. Working in close collaboration with a team of pediatric audiologists and other EHDI experts, Dr. Eiserman was responsible for the design of training systems, mechanism for tracking and follow-up, and evaluation strategies associated with early and continuous hearing screening activities. Dr. Eiserman has had extensive international and cross-cultural experience including work in Ecuador, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Russia and Indonesia. In 1989-90 Dr. Eiserman was a Fulbright Scholar to Indonesia where he taught qualitative research and evaluation methods and assisted in the development of an organization providing medical care to children with craniofacial disfigurement- an area to which he remains committed outside of his current professional activities. In his leisure time, Dr. Eiserman enjoys hiking, music, photography and performing improvisational comedy.
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James Fritzler
HiTrack Programmer & Help Desk Support
Tel: 435-797-8307
Email
- James Fritzler, MMIS is a project manager, analyst and software developer with 20 years of EHDI Data Management experience directing and managing iterative software development for complex and specialized medical systems. In doing this work he has collaborated with more than eight State Departments of Health in implementing data surveillance systems and leveraged SQL Server and the Microsoft .Net Framework to build Web-based and Windows-based data management software. Additionally, his consultation with world-wide screening equipment manufacturers has established and improved hearing screening data integration. He, his wife and three children live in a shady valley at the foot of the mountains where they enjoy reading, papercraft, lego and hobby gardening.
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Mandy Jay
Program Coordinator
Email
- Mandy is the parent of three children, two of whom are “hearing deaf.” Her personal experience drove her to get more involved in the EHDI system and to improve services and outcomes for children who are DHH. One of Mandy’s primary role at NCHAM is to provide planning and coordination for the National EHDI Meeting and serves as co-director for the CMV (cytomegalovirus) Public Health and Policy Conference. She also spearheads NCHAM’s social media and organizes NCHAM’s webinars. In addition to her work at NCHAM, Ms. Jay is a founding member and on the board of the Arkansas Hands & Voices chapter. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading and traveling.
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Daniel Ladner
Programmer & Help Desk Supervisor - HiTrack
IT Supervisor - NCHAM
Tel: (435) 797-3906
Email
- Daniel Ladner has been with NCHAM for over 15 years and is responsible for managing IT services, supervising the NCHAM & HiTrack Help Desk and software development. He has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a master’s degree in Management Information Systems, both from Utah State University. A lifelong computer and electronics enthusiast, Mr. Ladner enjoys assisting people discover the capabilities that modern technology offers for enabling improved communication and understanding. Outside the office, Daniel also enjoys camping, volleyball, snowboarding and riding off-road vehicles.
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Karen Muñoz
Co-PI
Tel: 435-797-3701
Email
- Dr. Karen Muñoz is department head and a professor of audiology in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education at Utah State University. Her research focuses on understanding parent and professional factors that facilitate and/or interfere with spoken language outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. She has received multiple research awards and published over 30 peer-reviewed journal articles.
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Gunnar Thurman
Technical Coordinator
Email
- Gunnar has been with NCHAM for over 6 years working in numerous roles, primarily providing IT services for NCHAM employees and quality assurance testing for the HiTrack software development team. He currently serves as Technical Coordinator for all online webinars, which provide educational opportunities for hundreds of individuals at a time. Gunnar loves being able to use his IT-related skills to directly benefit the lives of others. He has a bachelor’s degree with a dual major in Management Information Systems and Philosophy from Utah State University. Outside of work, Gunnar enjoys spending time with his wife, getting lost in computer projects, collecting books, listening to 90s music, and reading philosophy and science fiction.
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Alyson Ward
Senior Researcher and QI Advisor
Tel: 435-797-9746
Email
- Alyson received her master’s degree in health education and improvement advisor (IA) endorsement from the Institute of Healthcare Improvement. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Psychology with an emphasis in Sociobehavioral Epidemiology. For the past 18 years, her career efforts have demonstrated commitment to improving public health through health promotion, education, research, policy development, evaluation, and grant development from the community to national levels. Ms. Ward’s positions and interests provide her with broad and valuable experiences in public health. Early on, she worked in tobacco cessation, injury prevention, and employee wellness. Currently, Ms. Ward is engaged in learning systems development and improvement (e.g., coalitions, learning communities, and collaboratives) and children’s health research (e.g., environmental, viral, and genetic factors). At NCHAM, Ms. Ward directs quality improvement initiatives, coordinates with federal and non-federal partners, and plans workforce development for EHDI program staff. She also serves as the co-director of the CMV (cytomegalovirus) Public Health and Policy Conference and chairs the awareness grant committee of the National CMV Foundation. Alyson loves spending time with her family, mountain biking, and backcountry skiing.
