Teresa Zwolan PhD, Renowned CI Audiologist,
to Retire from University of Michigan Medicine

Dr. Teresa Zwolan (Terry to most of us) will retire from the University of Michigan on July 30 after 31 years as a cochlear implant audiologist at the university. Her contributions to the field are deep and wide. Terry contributed importantly to the improvement of clinical practice for children and adults with hearing loss through her research, training activities, and her own clinical practice. She was a leader in the CI community’s efforts to expand candidacy criteria when it became clear that children and adults with more residual hearing, including those with single-sided deafness, would benefit from cochlear implantation. She and her staff at the University of Michigan encouraged cochlear implants for children who had significant disabilities when they recognized the important quality of life improvements CI provided—even when such children did not necessarily derive the same listening outcomes as other deaf children. Dr. Zwolan has authored, and contributed to, nearly 100 peer-reviewed papers on cochlear implantation and related topics, and as many articles in other publications.

I met Terry for the first time 21 years ago while organizing an early intervention workshop in collaboration with the University of Michigan. At that time, universal newborn hearing screening was still controversial, and some people questioned the benefits. Not Terry. She was an enthusiastic supporter of what we were doing and helped overcome skepticism in Michigan and beyond. We quickly became friends and collaborators and have worked together often since then. Dr. Zwolan encouraged her staff to get involved in the support of children—beyond the CI fitting. The University of Michigan programs involving families, clinicians, early intervention professionals, and educators have been a model for how we should support children (and their families) in their hearing loss journey—including the importance of establishing self-advocacy skills at an early age.

In addition to her contributions at the University of Michigan, Dr. Zwolan was the founding co-chair of American Cochlear Implant Alliance. Her work with fellow founding co-chair Dr. John Niparko was instrumental in setting ACI Alliance up for success and in promoting advocacy, research and awareness of cochlear implants over the following decade of the organization’s first years. Her work with ACI Alliance continued through significant advocacy work, participation in the annual conferences as a presenter and thought leader, and service on the Board of Directors. She was a co-investigator of the CMS sponsored study to examine the expansion of candidacy criteria under Medicare for adults age 65 and older to explore whether that population’s outcomes are equivalent to the under 65 population. I am personally grateful to Terry (as are hundreds of others) for generously sharing her insights and supporting my own work when I began at ACI Alliance as the first executive director and in an ongoing manner. Just as she has been to hundreds of others, Terry has been a mentor, collaborator and friend over the 21 years that I have known her.

Dr. Zwolan’s patients at University of Michigan—babies and older adults and everyone in between—speak of her as a kind, empathetic, and extraordinarily skilled audiologist. She leaves behind a highly capable interdisciplinary team that will carry on the work that she began three decades ago.

ACI Alliance members look forward to continuing our work with Terry in her new appointment as Director of Audiology at Hearing First, where she will focus on helping children who are deaf or hard of hearing reach their full potential through listening and spoken language. We are pleased she will continue to be involved in ACI Alliance and with families and professionals in the field.

--Donna L. Sorkin MA, Executive Director, American Cochlear Implant Alliance

Terry with her husband and two of three children: (From left) Sam, Terry, Tom and Maddy Zwolan. (Max not pictured.)