The NHCA Narrative: Gayla Poling 

Gayla L. Poling, Ph.D., is an audiology researcher at Mayo Clinic who studies and develops diagnostic approaches for the early detection and prevention of ototoxicity-related hearing loss — hearing loss caused by aging, noise and other environmental factors. 

She is a ‘home-grown’ NHCAer!  Gayla joined NHCA as a student member.  She received an NHCA Scholarship Foundation Student Conference Award in 2008.  She became NHCA's ANSI S3 Liaison during 2012-2015. 

During that time, Gayla grew in her career by obtaining her PhD and completing postdoctoral training focused on translational research at the Medical University of South Carolina and Northwestern University. She then worked as a Research Audiologist with the Defense Hearing Center of Excellence. 

By 2015, Gayla was ready for more responsibility within NHCA leadership and was elected Member Delegate.  She was elected as President-Elect in 2019-2022 and after serving an extended term as President-Elect, is now your President. 

Gayla is preventing hearing loss as a clinician, inventor, and a volunteer leader. This progression shows one path to NHCA leadership - there are many. 

 We continue to collect stories about individuals and about successes that you’ve had toward NHCA’s mission. Please share your stories as be weave the NHCA narrative into tools that can recruit and retain members to join us on our noble cause.