CI2025 KeyNote Speakers

ACI Alliance is pleased to announce the selection of Dr. Nancy M. Young to deliver the annual Niparko Memorial Lecture at CI2025 Boston, on “Language Prediction to Improve Outcomes for Children with Cochlear Implants.” The Niparko lecture was established to recognize Dr. John K. Niparko’s enduring commitment to cochlear implant research and clinical care and honor his significant contributions to the field.

CI2025 John Niparko Memorial Lecture - “Language Prediction to Improve Outcomes for Children with Cochlear Implants" Thursday, May 1 | 9:20 - 9:50 AM Dr. Nancy M. Young Selected as Niparko Memorial Lecturer for CI2025 Boston Conference

Nancy M. Young, MD, FACS, FAAP is the Lillian S. Wells Professor of Pediatric Otolaryngology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Fellow of the Knowles Hearing Center of Northwestern. She is Head of the Section of Otology and Neurotology in the Division of Otolaryngology, and Medical Director of Audiology & the Cochlear Implant Programs at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. She is President-elect of the American Otological Society, a member of the Board of Directors of the Hearing Health Foundation and was a founding board member of the ACI Alliance.

Read more about the Niparko Memorial Lecture. 

Single-Sided Deafness and Frequency Allocation in Cochlear Implantation Speaker: Paul H. Van De Heyning MD, PhD Friday, May 2 | 9:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Paul Van de Heyning is emeritus professor and former dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Antwerp and consultant and former chairman of the University dept. of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery of the Antwerp University Hospital (UZA).

His clinical expertise focuses on otology, neuro-otology and cochlear implants and OSAS-hypoglossal nerve stimulation.

Basic scientific and clinical research involves hereditary deafness, single-sided deafness, electric-acoustic stimulation, robotic assisted CI surgery and tinnitus, besides obstructive sleep apnea. He published 650 peer-reviewed articles (PubMed) and was the supervisor of 74 PhD theses.

He has been honoured by the Antoine Faes prize Catholic University Leuven for fundamental otogenetic research; as Laureate  John Frasier Memorial Lecture of the Royal Society of Medicine London, UK; by the Gold Award of the International Prospère Menière Society; by the James B Snow Jr MD Tinnitus Research Award of the The Collegium Oto-Rhino-Laryngologicum Amicitiae Sacrum (CORLAS) for advancement of research in the field of otology and basic research; and by the William House Memorial Lecture of the American Neurotology Society regarding CI in single-sided deafness.

He was the past president of the 15^th International Conference on Cochlear Implants and other implantable auditory technology CI2018 Antwerp, founding member, past chair and current vice-chair of HEARRING and founding member and board member of the Hearing Health Forum EU advocating hearing health.