Centennial
As a career, audiology offers its practitioners a myriad of choices. An audiologist might opt for private practice, teaching, research, or working in a clinical facility, a school district, a hospital, a government agency or private industry. It is not uncommon for a practitioner to choose two or perhaps three of these paths during their professional lifetime, but many would consider four to be a stretch. But then there is an alumna of the then named Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) School of Audiology, Rita Chaiken, AuD ’03, who has gone down five different audiology paths. She worked in a public school system, for a private corporation, ran her own private practice for 12 years, and currently works as both an audiology consultant in Atlanta and adjunct faculty member in the University’s Osborne College of Audiology.
In 2015, Dr. Chaiken was elected President of the Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA), becoming the third Salus graduate in a row to hold the prestigious position. Prior to serving as President, Dr. Chaiken served as Secretary of the ADA, was a Board Member of the Georgia Speech-Language Hearing Association, and a former President of the Greater Atlanta Audiology Society. She also volunteers in the community through the Hear the World Foundation and other Atlanta-based organizations.
Perhaps her philosophy of viewing her varied career paths as “chapters” in her life has given this audiologist her unique resume. It started when Dr. Chaiken, a native of Miami, Fla., earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology from Syracuse University in 1973. She received a Master of Medical Science degree in both Clinical Audiology and Education of the Hearing Impaired from Emory University two years later. She then completed her clinical fellowship with Fulton County Schools in Atlanta, Ga., where she became the first audiologist in the school district.
As the first audiologist for Fulton County Georgia’s public school system, Dr. Chaiken established two audiology clinics that educated administrators, teachers and parents about the importance of pediatric hearing screenings. After six years in educational audiology, Dr. Chaiken accepted a position as a regional manager for a major manufacturer of hearing aids, where she learned and taught others about hearing aid dispensing and the business side of audiology. Constant travel eventually drove her decision to open her own private practice. During this period, she attended an interactive cerumen management workshop at an Academy of Dispensing Audiologists (now the Academy of Doctors of Audiology - ADA) annual meeting, leading her to yet another path within the audiology profession- teaching.
Cerumen management is the cleaning of a patient’s ears, a function many audiologists do not perform, in part due to state licensure requirements, personal preference or, in some cases, a lack of clinical training. Drawn to cerumen management, Dr. Chaiken became a member of the Cerumen Management Team of the ADA in 1994, and became the program’s coordinator in 1998. Currently, Dr. Chaiken travels all over the country and the world delivering interactive cerumen management workshops to audiologists in veterans’ facilities, universities, HMOs and private practice, and was recognized by the American Foundation of Audiology (AFA) for her dedication and work.
A wedding, nine years of private practice and the birth of sons Aaron and Elliot later, the practice had become like her third child. She realized she needed more flexibility and knew private practice wasn’t right for her at the time. This professional adaptability, combined with a talent for forward thinking, led Dr. Chaiken to begin consulting for others.
While consulting, she was contacted by Dr. George Osborne, founding dean of the Osborne College of Audiology (OCA), who urged her to teach in the PCO AuDonline distance education program. Dr. Chaiken knew Dr. Osborne personally, but she was unsure about teaching a course. However, after “assistance and much encouragement from George,” she added adjunct faculty to her resume. Speaking of the “unfailing encouragement” she received when planning her syllabus, she said, “George Osborne was always your cheerleader…he had a profound influence on my life.” Dr. Chaiken had continued to stay involved with the program through her position as an adjunct faculty member, and by serving on OCA’s Advisory Board as well as now the Salus Alumni Board.
Feeling a need to “practice what I teach and show my sons you are never too old to learn,” she became a PCO Audiology Program distance learning student while teaching. She prizes the memory of having her family attend her graduation ceremony and hearing ‘Yo, Mom!’ as her name was called. She received the Alumni Association Award at commencement, but was “stunned” to also receive the Audiology Foundation of America Award for her work in cerumen management.
Dr. Chaiken currently comes to the Elkins Park campus to train residential audiology students in cerumen management, infection control and otoscopy as an adjunct. She believes interaction with other medical professionals is facilitated when audiologists understand a procedure such as cerumen management and encourages her students in externships to see the physician as a mentor. “This can foster good relationships,” she said. “My goal is to impact the way the audiologist practices the profession.”
After obtaining her clinical Doctor of Audiology degree, she found the biggest difference to be the “respect that patients give to the profession of audiology when they find out I’m a Doctor of Audiology and that it [AuD] is now the entry level degree for the profession.” She sees gaining Medicare direct patient access, reimbursement and LLP status as currently most important for the profession, along with audiologists diversifying their practices.
Now, semi-retired, Dr. Chaiken continues to teach in the U.S. and Canada, lobby Congress for the Audiology Patient Choice Act (HR2276/S2575), provide PRN services for local audiologists, dote on her 16-month-old grandson and travel with her husband of 33 years. In addition to her talent at juggling home, teaching, consulting, cerumen management, service and volunteerism, it is that ability to see beyond the challenges of today to the “great things coming up” that makes Dr. Chaiken an excellent audiologist, an exemplary teacher and an extraordinary individual.
