The Member-at-Large of the AVAA will attend all board meetings to share ideas, guidance, and expertise with the Executive Board.

Erica Dombrowsky, Au.D.

Position Statement: My involvement with the Joint Defense Veterans Audiology Conferences has been extremely rewarding.  It has motivated me to expand my career in VA audiology further than I could have imagined. Working as a VA Audiologist is very fulfilling as it allows us to provide the highest level of care to our Veterans, while working with cutting edge technology.   My experience with Telehealth is a daily reminder that we are at the forefront of  patient care and will continue to lead the industry.

It is my goal as Member at Large to assist in promoting and facilitating the growth of our organization.

Biographical Sketch: Erica Dombrowsky  is a Clinical Audiologist at the Bruce W. Carter Medical Center in Miami, FL. She received her Au.D. from the residential Au.D. program at the University of Florida in 2002.  She first began working in the VA Healthcare system as a 3^rd year clinical trainee at the Gainesville VA and has continued to work in the VA system since that time;  she completed her fourth year externship at the San Diego VA and has worked at the Miami VA for twelve years.  Her roles at the Miami facility include Audiology and Speech Pathology Service(ASPS)  Telehealth Program Coordinator and  Aural Rehabilitation Program Coordinator.  She serves as a preceptor for the 3^rd year interns from the Nova Southeastern University Au. D. program  as well as a preceptor to the 4^th year Au.D. externs.

Erica is co-chair of the National TeleAudiology Clinical Forum and a member of the VISN 8 Virtual Care Advisory Board.  She began the Miami ASPS Telehealth program in 2007 using Telehealth services for the Aural Rehabilitation classes.  The program has grown and expanded to now include Remote Audiometry,  hearing aid fittings/follow-ups, aural rehabilitation, tinnitus management groups,  speech pathology therapy and hearing aid walk in clinic.  Erica was certified in Clinical Video Telehealth through the Telehealth Mini Residency program in 2010 and in 2013 she completed the Telehealth Master Preceptor program.  She was awarded the 2015 AVAA Innovation/Systems Redesign Award for her work with Telehealth at the Miami VA Healthcare System.

Erica has served on the JDVAC Education/Planning committee for the past two years at the Student Experience Chair.  She has also served  as the Concha Bowl chair (2010 San Diego).  In addition, Erica has presented at the conference several times

Phoenix JDVAC –  Poster presentation- Benefits of Group Aural Rehabilitation

Orlando JDVAC– Concha Bowl committee member; Panel member- Telehealth panel

Las Vegas JDVAC – Telehealth presentation- Nuts and Bolts of TeleAudiology

Orlando JDVAC (2015)-  Telehealth presentation- Using Telehealth

Pamela McCurry, Au.D.

Position Statement:  I would like to become a board member as member at large for AVAA because I am passionate about helping make a difference for VA Audiologists. As VA Audiologists, we work very hard to help so many of our Veterans with hearing impairment. It is a daunting but fulfilling task. Being an active part of AVAA board would mean working to provide assistance and education needs to our profession in the VA and in general.

Biographical Sketch: University of South Carolina- Masters, Arizona School of Health Science- Au.D. Since 2012, I have been the Chief of Audiology and Speech Pathology at Dorn VA Medical Center. I have a team of 9 Audiologists, 3 Audiology Technicians, 3 Speech Pathologists and 1 Speech Technician.   Prior to becoming Chief, I worked for VA as contract C&P Audiologist for 10 years then in 2006 joined Greenville VA Outpatient Clinic as full-time Audiologist.   I left a private practice to join the VA because I love working with the Veteran population and having assess to latest hearing aid technology.

Ryan Pratt, Au.D.

Position Statement: I am interested in serving as the member at large for the AVAA to be a voice for the concerns I have seen from my fellow audiologists in the VA health system. I have four years of experience as an audiologist in the VA health system and two years in the private sector running a hospital level audiology program. I feel I have enough experience in VA audiology services to become more involved in the policies that guide us as audiologists in the VA health system. I have worked in contract positions at a large university medical center and also as a fee basis audiologist performing compensation and pension examinations in the VA health system outside of my current position as a staff audiologist at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia. I am in the process of transferring to the Huntington WV VA Medical Center to continue serving our veterans and supervising fourth year audiology students.

I feel that the member at large position would be a great opportunity for me to learn more about the AVAA while serving as a voice for my fellow VA audiologists. The VA health system is moving more and more to a customer service driven health care system that I was used to functioning within in the private sector. With my experience in the private sector as an audiologist I was responsible for providing excellent customer service and top notch patient care. Due to this experience, I feel I would be a great audiologist to fill the member at large position and report concerns from my colleagues to the board and keep all VA audiologists informed of upcoming changes. We as audiologists have seen a lot of turbulent changes in our administrative workload and our shifting role in the care of veterans with the CHOICE program and telehealth audiology services in the VA health system. We walk a fine line in providing top notch care that rivals the private sector while also serving as good stewards of tax payer funds. I have frequently corresponded with other VA audiologists about the CHOICE program, telehealth audiology services, and issues with the compensation and pension process. I feel I can be a powerful voice to help communicate the concerns our fellow VA audiologists have with the VA health system and work together with the board to help find solutions to these issues.

Biographical Sketch: Ryan Pratt, Au.D., F-AAA, CCC-A earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Ohio University in 2005, a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences in 2005, and received his Au.D. from Ohio University in 2010. Ryan has also completed some nursing education through the associate degree RN program at the Ohio University Chillicothe campus. Dr. Pratt has worked in various clinical sites starting with a fourth year externship at the Ohio University Speech, Hearing, and Language Clinic where he was involved in multiple community outreach projects and conducted presentations to students in the speech and audiology programs about the field of audiology.

Dr. Pratt was employed for two years as a clinical audiologist for Adena Regional Medical Center (ARMC) in Chillicothe, Ohio. While working at ARMC Dr. Pratt provided basic diagnostic evaluations, ABR’s, balance evaluations, and amplification for pediatrics through geriatrics. He worked closely with physical therapy and ENT to develop a vestibular rehabilitation program and expand amplification services. He has presented to the physical therapy program at the Ohio State University on vestibular disorders and how audiologists and physical therapists can work together in a team rehabilitation approach.

Dr. Pratt has been employed as a clinical audiologist at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia since 2012 and is involved in all aspects of audiology from completing basic evaluations and compensation and pension evaluations to aural rehabilitation/amplification fittings. Dr. Pratt provides clinical mentorship to 3^rd and 4^th year audiology students in audiology and served for 3 years as a controlled substance inspector for CNVAMC. Dr. Pratt is transferring to the Huntington, WV VA Medical Center in March 2016 where he will continue his work in the VA health system as a staff audiologist.

In addition to his job at the VA, Dr. Pratt also has performed contract work with non-veterans and pediatrics as a contract Audiologist at the Georgia Regents University Hospital where he holds clinical privileges. Dr. Pratt has also performed contract compensation and pension examinations for the Dublin Georgia VA Medical Center.

He is a fellow member of the Ohio Academy of Audiology and the American Academy of Audiology, and holds a certificate of clinical competence from the American Speech Hearing Language Association. Dr. Pratt has served as an article reviewer for the Journal for Speech, Language, and Hearing Research (JSLHR) in 2013 and has previously published hearing aid research in the area of real ear measurement and in-situ threshold measurements in fitting of amplification.

Dr. Pratt’s areas of interest are amplification/aural rehabilitation, tele-health audiology services, clinical education of students, and providing top notch health care customer service. He is interested in becoming more involved in leadership in the Association of VA Audiologists (AVAA).

While not working, Ryan enjoys spending time with his wife Channing and their 20 month old son Augustus (Gus). Ryan’s hobbies include mountain biking, hiking, competition pistol shooting, and cooking.

Amber Tierney, Au.D.

Position Statement: We are fortunate to be a part of a profession that so intricately impacts the lives of our patients and their families.   Managed care is undergoing great change in how care is delivered and reimbursed, and the VA is no exception to this change. The VA has long been a leader in care delivery, records management, and education for future leaders within the medical community including audiology. As we learn to innovatively manage our increasingly large Veteran population it is incumbent upon us as a profession to also strive for a higher standard of care as well as processes that improve our efficiency and patients’ experience. It has been my honor to serve our Veterans over the past 10 years, and look forward to being an integral part of this daily and future change within our VA system.

The AVAA and the JDVAC are such a wonderful resource for VA Audiologists as well as students to take part in an organization and conference that allow us to come together nationally to address professional and VA related topics. There is no other forum that is better suited for true innovation. Since my first JDVAC conference I have been amazed at the number of talented professionals that are nationally involved within the VA system and their level of dedication to audiology as a profession and our Veterans. Through the years several of my colleagues have been a part of the AVAA board and/or planning committee, and I have wanted to be more personally involved as well. If elected as the AVAA Member at Large, it would be my honor to serve.

Biographical Sketch: Amber Tierney, Au.D. is the Section Chief of Audiology at the Orlando VA Medical Center, where she has worked since June of 2015. She previously worked at the Michael E. Debakey VA Medical Center in Houston, Texas from 2005-2015 where she trained students, newly hired employees, and contract audiologists. She also coordinated the fee basis program for more than a year, changing the process by which patients were handled resulting in a more efficient and effective program. She participated in the transition of the Houston VA Audiology program from a fully scheduled clinic to a fully open access clinic. She proactively led the documentation and tracking process in the initial phases to monitor patient flow and efficiency of the program. She has been an active participant in the planning phase of the Orlando VA Medical Center and the Lake Baldwin OPC transition to direct scheduling as well as direct same day access.

Prior to moving to Houston she was the Lead Audiologist responsible for audiologists, speech pathologists, and front office staff within a community hospital. Dr. Tierney has greatly enjoyed the opportunities that she has had to lead staff through transitions and to implement new processes to improve patient care and clinician efficiency in both the VA and private sector.

Personally she is married and has two small children, Elliot, who is 4 months and Gabriella who is 2 ½ years old. Professionally she deeply enjoys the opportunity to enhance patients’ lives through amplification and education, allowing them to reconnect with their loved ones.   She is grateful and feels honored for the opportunity to be part of such a rewarding profession.