Our Research Team
Lori Leibold, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Lori.Leibold@boystown.org
Lori Leibold is the Director of Hearing Research at Boys Town National Research Hospital. She completed her Master’s degree in Audiology at the University of Western Ontario. After working as a clinical audiologist, she completed her Ph.D. in Lynne Werner’s Infant Hearing Laboratory at the University of Washington. Next, she completed postdoctoral training with Dr. Walt Jesteadt and Dr. Donna Neff at Boys Town National Research Hospital. Dr. Leibold was a faculty member in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for nine years before returning to Boys Town National Research Hospital in 2015.
Heather Porter, Ph.D., Senior Audiology Research Associate
Heather.Porter@boystown.org
Heather Porter is a Senior Audiology Research Associate within the Human Auditory Development Lab. She completed clinical (Au.D.) and research (Ph.D.) doctorates at Vanderbilt University, with a dissertation examining binaural hearing in children with Down syndrome. Following graduation, she joined the auditory research group at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill examining hearing-in-noise difficulties experienced by children and adults, and the mechanisms responsible for auditory development in children. She became immersed in a clinical setting at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, testing children with complex medical histories and extensive developmental delays. Most recently, she joined the Center for Hearing Research at Boys Town National Research Hospital, where she continues to examine mechanisms of auditory development in children, including children with Down syndrome.
Margaret K. Miller, Au.D., Research Audiologist
Margaret.Miller@boystown.org
Maggie Miller is a Research Audiologist in the Human Auditory Development Lab at Boys Town National Research Hospital. Dr. Miller completed her clinical audiology training at the University of Texas in Austin in 2011. Before coming to Boys Town, Dr. Miller worked as a research audiologist at the New York University School of Medicine, with a focus on cochlear implant adaptation and bimodal listening. Currently, Dr. Miller is responsible for recruiting and testing research participants in a wide variety of auditory development studies, as well as general lab management. Dr. Miller’s main clinical and research interests include cochlear implants, and auditory development in both normal hearing and hard of hearing pediatric and adult populations and bilingual English-Spanish populations.
Cecilia Rankin, Research Assistant
Cecilia.Rankin@boystown.org
Cecilia Rankin is a Research Assistant in the Human Auditory Development Lab at Boys Town National Research Hospital. Cecilia is currently acquiring her Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and plans to pursue a career in audiology. Her main focus in the lab is recruiting, scheduling, and working on Project INCLUDE. Having prior experience working with children of varying intellectual and physical abilities, Project INCLUDE continues to fulfill and challenge her in ways that will benefit her future. Cecilia hopes to continue in research and prepare for clinical audiology training in graduate school.
Randi Knox, B.S., B.A., Bilingual Research Assistant
Randi.Knox@boystown.org
Randi Knox is a Bilingual Research Assistant in the Human Auditory Development Lab at Boys Town National Research Hospital. She earned her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees from Nebraska Wesleyan University. Randi has supported non-profits in Lincoln, Omaha, and Washington, DC, in professional and volunteer roles.
