The US Ambassador to Ireland, Kevin O’Malley, hosted the event “Wired For Sound: Treating Deafness With Cochlear Implants” at his Dublin residence on July 15, 2016.
Representatives from Ireland’s National Cochlear Implant Centre, Trinity College’s Neuroengineering team and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, attended – with guests from the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Centre for Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences, through the embassy’s Creative Minds series to build innovation between the US and Ireland.
Professor Laura Viani, with representatives from the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Centre for Otolaryngology & Communication Sciences.
Guests at Wired For Sound heard about Vanderbilt’s multidisciplinary cochlear implant team and researchers, who inspired Ireland’s Professor Laura Viani to establish the new Viani Research Centre, to open in 2017 at Beaumont Hospital. This centre will conduct world-class research in implantable hearing devices, audiology, neuroscience and other disciplines while feeding into health economics and policy.
Over 950 people in Ireland (more than 50% of whom are children) attend Beaumont Hospital’s national cochlear implant centre since 1997.
In 2015, Ambassador O’Malley and the US embassy in Dublin launched the Creative Minds monthly seminar series to establish new collaborations and economic links within the two countries in entrepreneurship, the arts and sciences – particularly among younger people.
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