Expert Panel Members

Thais Morata Ph.D.
Project Director

Thais Morata is an audiologist who has been working in the area of hearing loss prevention since 1982. A native of Brazil, she earned degrees in Speech Pathology and Audiology, and Communication Disorders from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (B.S.; M.S.) and the University of Cincinnati (Ph.D.). She got involved in occupational hearing conservation when consulting for the Union of Chemical Workers in São Paulo, Brazil. She did her post-doctoral work at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, Cincinnati, OH), funded by the National Research Council, in a project with the Pan-American Health Organization.

Dr. Morata has worked at the Swedish National Institute for Working Life as a Guest Researcher from 1997 to 1998, and is currently back at NIOSH. She collaborates with several international occupational health institutes in the area of hearing loss prevention. She is the Associate Editor for the International Journal of Audiology.

Pamela S. Graydon, M.S.
Project Manager

Pam Graydon is an Electronics Engineer who joined the Hearing Loss Prevention Team in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1999.  She has been working for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) since 1990.  She received a Bachelors of Elected Studies from Thomas More College and her Engineering Degree as well as her M.S. in Science in Technology from Northern Kentucky University. She is a CAOHC certified hearing conservationist.  Her research interests include talking with carpenters, farmers, teachers, and students about hearing loss prevention as well as anyone else who will listen.


Deanna K. Meinke, Ph.D.
Expert Committee Coordinator

Dr. Deanna Meinke has practiced hearing loss prevention as a clinician, a
consultant, an educator and a researcher. She currently is an Assistant
Professor of Audiology and Speech-Language Sciences at the University of
Northern Colorado in Greeley, CO. Dr. Meinke is board certified in audiology
by the American Board of Audiology, clinically certified by the American
Speech-Language Hearing Association and is a Fellow of the American
Academy of Audiology. Additionally, she serves as a hearing consultant for
the State of Colorado, industry, equipment manufacturers and hearing conservation service providers. She is past-president of the Colorado Academy of Audiology. Her research interests include distortion product otoacoustic emissions, early identification of noise-induced hearing loss and the prevention of noise-induced hearing loss across the lifespan. Most recently, Dr. Meinke is serving as Past President for the National Hearing Conservation Association and chairs the NHCA Task Force on Children and Noise.


John. R. Franks, Ph.D.
Member

Dr. John Franks, retired from the Hearing Loss Prevention Section of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and now consulting in all aspects of hearing loss prevention, has been involved in the field of hearing loss prevention and remediation of hearing loss for more than 30 years. He has served on committees of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, the American Society for Testing and Materials, the American National Standards Institute and the National Hearing Conservation Association. He has published or presented more than 70 articles and presentations and has authored two patents. Having first developed materials for companies to audit their programs for effectiveness in preventing occupational hearing loss in the 1970’s, Dr. Franks is particularly interested in seeing companies with excellent programs receive recognition.



Lee Hager
Member

Lee brings over 20 years of experience to his roles as Hearing Loss Prevention
Consultant for Sonomax Hearing Healthcare, Inc., a leading provider of new
technology in hearing protection devices, and E-A-Rfit® and customE-A-R®
Product Manager for Aearo Technologies, manufacturer of E-A-R® and Peltor®
brands of hearing protection devices. Previous experience provided him the
opportunity to consult with Fortune 500 companies regarding the quality and
integrity of their hearing conservation programs, including noise exposure
monitoring and hearing test data management.

He has served as President of the National Hearing Conservation Association
(NHCA) and was awarded their Threadgill Award for service to the organization in 2004. He has served
as chair of the Noise Committee of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), and has worked
as NIOSH National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) Noise Team member and manufacturing
sector Council member. He participates with ANSI Working Group S12/WG11 on hearing protector
evaluation and labeling issues. He has organized, presented and facilitated major conferences on noise
and hearing topics including the agenda-setting National Academy of Engineering Workshop on
Technology for a Quieter America in 2005, the NIOSH Control of Workplace Hazards for the 21st Century
in 1998 and the NIOSH/NIDCD Communication Planning Meeting in 1998. Most of all he cares about
your ears.


James E. Lankford, Ph.D.
Member

James Lankford is professor emeritus from Northern Illinois University where he taught audiology classes for 31 years. He holds PhD and MS degrees in
audiology from the University of Oklahoma and a BS degree in biology from
Oklahoma Christian University of Arts and Sciences. During the last 10 years of
his tenure at NIU he was dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences. His principle interest in research has been on preventing noise-induced hearing loss and has worked with the farming community for 18 years with this primary goal.

He is a former president of the National Hearing Conservation Association, a former president of the Illinois Academy of Audiology and has consulted with professional organizations, educational institutions, government as well as business and industry. He and his wife, Vera, have two children and are proud grandparents of Trevor, their 6 year old grandson and Jersey, their 3 year old granddaughter. And, James likes to turkey hunt and has published a book in 2006 entitled, “TurkeyQuest” which details some of his experiences.


Scott P. Schneider M.S., CIH
Member

Scott P. Schneider is the Director of Occupational Safety and Health for
the Laborers' Health and Safety Fund of North America (LHSFNA). The
Fund is a non-profit associated with the Laborers' International Union of North
America (LIUNA) which represents 800,000 primarily construction workers in the
US and Canada. He has been with the Fund for nine years. He has a Masters
Degree in Industrial Hygiene from the University of Pittsburgh and a Masters
Degree in Zoology from the University of Michigan. He has been a Certified
Industrial Hygienist (CIH) since 1989. For the past 26 years he has been doing
occupational safety and health work for the Labor Movement.

Rick Neitzel, Ph.D.
Member

Rick is an Assistant Professor in the Risk Science Center within the University of Michigan's Department of Environmental Health Sciences. He received a PhD in Environmental and Occupational Hygiene from the University of Washington in 2009, and has been a Certified Industrial Hygienist since 2003. He has been conducting research on noise and hearing loss since 1997. His current research interests include quantitative and subjective exposure assessment in occupational and non-occupational settings and development and evaluation of effective occupational health interventions and controls.

Noah Seixas, Ph.D.
Ad hoc Member

Noah Seixas is Professor of Exposure Sciences at the University of Washington,
School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Dr. Seixas received an MS in
Industrial Hygiene at Harvard School of Public Health in 1982. After working for
public health agencies in New Jersey for four years, Dr. Seixas returned to school at the University of Michigan, earning a PhD in Industrial Health in 1990. Dr. Seixas’ dissertation addressed obstructive lung disease among coal miners and exploited the large exposure database on coal dust exposures from the Mine Safety and Health Administration compliance activities. As such, Dr. Seixas’ activities were part of the growing recognition of exposure assessment as a crucial component of effective occupational epidemiology. Dr. Seixas was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Washington in 1993 where he developed a teaching and research program on exposure assessment techniques in relation to epidemiologic studies. Dr. Seixas also serves as Director of the Northwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety, a NIOSH ERC serving the Pacific Northwest region. His research activities have included studies on silica exposure, irritant exposures in aluminum smelting and organic dust exposures. Over the past eight years, Dr. Seixas has focused largely on noise exposure in the construction industry. In addition to ongoing studies in construction, Dr. Seixas has developed an interest in injury prevention and is currently working on risks in ‘precarious employment’ including day laborers.