Betty R. Vohr, MD, of Barrington, director of Women & Infants Hospital's Neonatal Follow-Up Clinic and medical director of the Rhode Island Hearing Assessment Program, has been presented with the national Antonia Brancia Maxon Award for Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Excellence. The award was presented at the National EHDI Meeting in St. Louis on March 5, 2012.
A graduate of Albany Medical College, Dr. Vohr has been the national coordinator of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network follow-up studies since 1990. Dr. Vohr is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Hearing, The Joint Committee of Infant Hearing (former Chair), and Chair of the Rhode Island Hearing Advisory Committee. Her primary clinical and research interests focus on improving the long-term outcomes of high-risk premature infants and infants with hearing loss. Dr. Vohr is participating in studies investigating the outcomes of premature infants and the outcomes of infants with hearing loss. She has published more than 200 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, as well as numerous textbook chapters.
Hearing loss is the most commonly occurring disability in US infants, affecting as many as 20,000 babies a year. The consequences of late detection are significant and can result in lifelong communication, social, psychological, behavioral, and educational problems. Research has shown that babies who are identified with hearing loss and receive intervention services within six months of age outperform (at 40 months) those babies who were identified and received services after six months of age.
In 1993, Rhode Island legislation mandating universal newborn hearing screening took effect, and the Rhode Island Hearing Assessment Program (RIHAP) based at Women & Infants, became the first public health program of its kind in the United States. Since that time, RIHAP has screened 99% of Rhode Island's newborn babies (14,000 annually) for hearing loss at its seven hospitals.
This award honors the career achievements of Dr. Antonia Brancia Maxon to promote effective Early Hearing Detection and Intervention programs for all newborns, infants, and young children. Dr. Maxon was a pioneer in EHDI programs, beginning with her leadership in the Rhode Island Hearing Assessment Project in the late 1980s. She was one of the first to recognize the feasibility and value of universal newborn hearing screening and was a tireless advocate for connecting screening programs with timely and appropriate diagnosis and early intervention.
Her extensive contributions to creating excellent EHDI programs were abruptly ended by a tragic automobile accident in May 2007. In memory of her contributions, an Award for EHDI Excellence is presented each year at the National EHDI Meeting to honor an individual or group of people who have made a noteworthy accomplishment in achieving excellence in EHDI programs nationally or in a particular state or region of the country.
Dr. Vohr said, "Our team at Women & Infants Hospital has been at the forefront of newborn hearing screening, beginning with the work of Dr. Maxon. To have this work recognized is truly humbling."
About Women & Infants Hospital
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation's leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. A U.S.News Best Hospital in Gynecology and Best Children's Hospital in Neonatology, Women & Infants was ranked number one in the Providence metro area and a top-performer in cancer, and has achieved a 5-star rating in Maternity Care for 2011 from HealthGrades. The primary teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, as well as a number of specialized programs in women's medicine, Women & Infants is the seventh largest obstetrical service in the country with 8,500 deliveries per year. In 2009, Women & Infants opened the country's largest, single-family room neonatal intensive care unit.
New England's premier hospital for women and newborns, Women & Infants and Brown offer fellowship programs in gynecologic oncology, maternal-fetal medicine, urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery, neonatal-perinatal medicine, pediatric and perinatal pathology, gynecologic pathology and cytopathology, and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. It is home to the nation's only mother-baby perinatal psychiatric partial hospital, as well as the nation's only fellowship program in obstetric medicine.
Women & Infants has been designated as a Breast Center of Excellence from the American College of Radiography; a Center for In Vitro Maturation Excellence by SAGE In Vitro Fertilization; a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence by the National Institutes of Health; and a Neonatal Resource Services Center of Excellence. It is one of the largest and most prestigious research facilities in high risk and normal obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics in the nation, and is a member of the National Cancer Institute's Gynecologic Oncology Group.