Candidate for Vice President for Planning
Edie R. Hapner, PhD, CCC-SLP
ASHA Leader Interview | Video Interview | Video Transcript | All Candidates
Edie R. Hapner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine and the Director of Speech Language Pathology at the Emory Voice Center, Atlanta. She has an adjunct appointment at the University of Georgia, Athens, and has recently served on the faculty recruitment committee for Georgia State University. Dr Hapner has authored or co-authored over 33 peer-reviewed manuscripts and four book chapters. She is the author of Implementation and Training of FEES, a DVD training program, and the Co-Editor of Voice Therapy Clinical Case Studies, 4th Edition.
Dr Hapner served on the Coordinating Committee of Special Interest Group 3, Voice and Voice Disorders, for 7 years. She served as both the Coordinator and Associate Coordinator of SIG 3 during her tenure. She was the Chair of the SIG 3 Reimbursement Committee between 2006 and 2009 and continues to serve as a member of the Member Advisory Group (MAG) to ASHA's Health Economics & Advocacy Team. Dr Hapner is an ASHA appointed member of the National Advisory Committee to the Educational Testing Service. She served as the ASHA appointed member of the American Academy of Otolaryngology's committee for the development of evidence-based guidelines for the treatment of dysphonia. She served as an ASHA site visitor through the Council on Academic Accreditation. She was the Florida Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists Vice President for Convention Planning and was a member of the Illinois Speech-Language-Hearing Association's Convention Committee.
Dr Hapner cherishes three very special awards: GSHA's Clinician of the Year; The University of Missouri's Education Program Alumnae of the Year; and the Clinical Scholar's designation of the AAOHNS. Her passion is her work with A Voice For Hope, a nonprofit organization whose mission is the prevention of head and neck cancer through early identification screening programs. She is the coordinator for multiple large-scale community-based free head and neck cancer screenings at sporting events, specifically NASCAR events around the county.
The ASHA Leader asked the candidates:
Given the position for which you are running, if you could change one thing about ASHA, what would it be?
ASHA is working diligently to meet the needs of over 150,000 members through the development of our strategic pathway to excellence and our annual public policy agenda (emphasis on our). Yet, when asked to respond, only two percent of our members contributed to the development of the 2013 public policy agenda and 3.97 percent voted in the 2012 election. I think that it is easy to blame lack of interest or busy schedules on the low response numbers, but perhaps it is a sense of “lack of inclusion” that is the culprit of these low numbers. I believe that inclusion breeds commitment. I would like to see our association explore methods to increase that sense of commitment to making a difference among all members.
Why are you running for a position on the ASHA Board?
What would be your top priority be if elected to your respective position?