Jessica Messersmith, an associate professor and chair of the department of communication sciences and disorders at the University of South Dakota, has been selected to receive the Marion Downs Pediatric Audiology Award from the American Academy of Audiology. Dr. Messersmith will be honored at the association’s annual meeting in April.
Dr. Messersmith is being honored for her “exceptional contributions in pediatric audiology as an educator, clinician, advocate, and scientist.” Her research focuses on clinical practices for children with cochlear implants. The award is named in honor of Marion Downs, an audiologist who pioneered universal newborn hearing screening in the early 1960s and was a trailblazer in the field of pediatric audiology.
Dr. Messersmith is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Kearney, where she majored in communication disorders. She earned a Ph.D. in human sciences from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.