Linda Spencer, PhD

Linda earned her PhD from the University of Iowa in December 2006, and her advisor was J. Bruce Tomblin, PhD.  Her dissertation was entitled: “The contribution of listening and speaking skills to the development of phonological processing in children who use cochlear implants.”  Research with hearing children indicates that being able to abstract and manipulate segments of spoken language predicts reading skills.  Linda found that for children who were born with profound hearing loss and who received cochlear implants, their early speech perception and production skills explained their later reading skills.    
Additionally her results revealed that early access to sound helps to build better phonological processing skills, which is a likely contributor to eventual reading success.  Her work highlights the importance of assessing the early speech production and perception skills of children who use Cochlear Implants.  Also this work reveals that it is important to work on the phonological processing skills of these children in preparation for reading success.

Marla Ross, 20 years of service

Marla Ross will be recognized by The UI Hospitals and Clinics at a luncheon in February, 2007 for 20 years of service.   Marla Ross joined the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery in 1986 as secretary to Dr. VanDemark.  In 1988 she switched roles and became the receptionist for the Hearing Aid Center.  In 1999 Marla joined the Cochlear Implant Project by taking on the role of adult patient coordinator.  As a patient coordinator she is involved in the recruitment and orientation of adult cochlear implant candidates, and schedules appointments for diagnosis, work-up evaluations, and postoperative testing.  She is the Cochlear Implant Team liaison to the Clinical Research Center, the Institutional Review Board (IRB), and the Iowa Lions.  She coordinates research subject participation in audiology, electrophysiology and music research projects in compliance with grant protocols, including FDA studies.  We salute Marla for not only her years of dedication to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, but also for her continued commitment to our department.  Thank you Marla!


Dela Elliot, 20 years of service

Dela began her work in Otolaryngology in 1986 as a clerk II in chart control. Since that time Dela has assumed other responsibilities and functions primarily as an ICD-9 coder and performs charge entry for the department. She is a team player. She fills in at the front desk checking in patients and scheduling appointments. Chart control still asks for advice on how best to approach problems concerning chart analysis or where to find a missing chart. Dela is dedicated, hard working and extraordinarily organized. Dela is loved and respected by patients and her peers.