Janna Smith Lang

Janna Smith Lang, PhD’69, P’91, practiced audiology with a special emphasis in pediatric audiology. Her work with deaf and hard of hearing children began with a parent/infant program and continued later in a medical setting and a private practice. While at Stanford, Janna saw the first electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve in a deaf ear which led to the development of the cochlear implant.  Over her career, Janna was able to watch the cochlear implant develop to become a routine clinical tool for bringing “hearing” to deaf ears.  In the late ‘90s, when universal newborn hearing screening (NHS) became a standard, Janna served on the panel for the development of the NHS program for California.  She then developed the NHS program for Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and became a consultant for NHS programs across California.  Janna has made numerous professional presentations and has several publications.   In addition to her professional work, Janna was an appointee to and later chair of the Speech Pathology and Audiology Examining of the California Board of Medical Quality Assurance and Editorial Board Member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology.  She also serviced on numerous committees and was president of  California Speech-Language-Hearing Association, served on committees and was president of the California Association of Speech Pathologists and Audiologists in Private Practice, member of the Board of Directors of Project IDEA (Infant Deafness Educational Assistance), member of the Advisory Board for Jean Weingarten Peninsula Oral School for the Deaf, member of Advisory Board for Phoenix Education Center, Board of Trustees and Board president for Hillbrook School,  Board of Trustees for Council of State Speech-Language-Hearing Association Presidents, various committees and Legislative Councilor for American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, member of Audiology Technical Advisory Committee and Advisory Panel for Newborn Hearing Screening for California Children’s Services, and member of Utilization Review Committee for Santa Clara Family Health Plan.