National External Advisory Committee

Purpose:

Members consist of nationally prominent individuals with strong experience and commitment to Deaf Health promotion
These individuals provide guidance and feedback incorporating national perspective on NCDHR's strategies and goals

Membership:

Senda Benaissa, MPH
Research Associate, Gallaudet Research Institute, Graduate School and Professional Programs, Gallaudet University. Work related expertise: measuring accessibility health care for Deaf people, functional assessment, international classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF), international disability and disability survey.
www.gri.gallaudet.edu

Nancy J. Bloch
Chief executive Officer and ex-officio Board member of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD). The NASD was established in 1880 by deaf leaders who believed in the right of the American deaf community to use sign language, to congregate on issues important to them, and to have its interests represented at the national level. These beliefs remain true to this day, with American Sign Language as a core value. As a nonprofit federation, the mission of the NAD is to preserve, protect, and promote the civil, human, and linguistic rights of deaf Americans.
www.nad.org

Marcia Dugan
Former president of International Federation of Hard of Hearing People (IFHOH). IFHOH works closely with the World Health Organization, having agreed a two-year join work program for developing countries with the Prevention of Blindness and Deafness section of that organization.

Dugan was president of the Self-Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH, now called Hearing Loss Association of America, HLAA) from 1996 to 1998 and was also president of the Rochester, NY, chapter of SHHH. She authored self-help books for people who are hard of hearing.
www.ifhoh.org and www.hearingloss.org

David Ebert. M.D.
David Ebert, MD, is medical director of the Deaf Access Program, a medical practice serving people who are Deaf in Chicago, Illinois. The program provides primary care services at multiple locations in the Chicago area within Access Community Health Network, a large, federally-qualified health center network. Accessible, comprehensive services, including mental health, specialties, laboratory and testing, and inpatient services are made available through collaborative arrangements with affiliated inpatient and specialty services of other healthcare institutions in the region, and local mental health services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. All of the services together have 6,000 to 7,000 visits by Deaf patients every year.
www.deafaccessprogram.com, or www.DavidEbertMD.medem.com/DeafAccess

T. Alan Hurwitz, Ed. D
President of RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). Hurwitz, who has headed NTID since 2003 as Vice President of RIT for NTID and CEO and Dean of NTID, will retain the title of Vice President and Dean of RIT for NTID. NTID’s responsibilities include academic affairs, student affairs, access services, enrollment management, outreach and facilities management. NTID’s annual budget is nearly $80 million dollars with 568 staff and faculty members and approximately 1,200 students who are deaf or hard of hearing. He is former president of the National Association of the Deaf and World Organization of Jewish Deaf. Hurwitz currently serves as EAC’s chair.
www.ntid.edu

Ken Levinson
Advocate for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. Levinson is a partner at Kornetsky & Associates, A CPA firm in San Francisco. He has served in a variety of leadership roles at the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell), including two terms on the board of directors (1981-1995 and 2002-2008) and as AG Bell president during the Centennial Celebration from 1988-1990. AG Bell is a lifelong resource, support network, and advocate for listening, learning, talking, and living independently with hearing loss.
www.agbell.org

Pamela Lloyd-Ogoke
Chief, Community Services of North Carolina, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. Formerly Administrator of Telecommunication Access of North Carolina (TANC). TANC has been serving Deaf, Deaf-Blind, hard of hearing, and speech-impaired people since 1991. TANC administers Telecommunication Relay Service (TRS) and Telecommunications Equipment Distribution Program (TEDP). TANC enables standard telephone users to communicate with Deaf, Deaf-Blind, hard of hearing, and speech-impaired individuals who use a text telephone or an assistive telecommunication device.
www.dsdhh.dhhs.state.nc.us

Philip Zazove, M.D.
Dr. Philip Zazove, M.D., is a Family Medicine physician from the University of Michigan and author of When The Phone Rings, My Bed Shakes, an autobiography about his life as a deaf physician. Working at the University of Michigan, he has several clinical and research interests, which include health services issues of Deaf and Hard of Hearing people, incorporating genetics into primary care settings, rising health care costs, and continuous quality improvement. Dr. Zazove's second book, heavily involving Deaf culture, entitled Four Days In Michigan, is due for release in October 2009.

Last Updated: 09/29/2009