Rotary Melbourne Weekly Club Meeting - 2 August 2023

Guest Speaker Prof. Elaine Saunders, Biomedical Engineer, Audiological Scientist, Managing Director Bingarra Scale-up Solutions

Title 'Hearing Loss: More of a Problem Than We Thought'

Time/Place 12.30 for 12.50 - 2.00pm, No35 Sofitel Melbourne & by ZOOM

Elaine has worked in hearing, since she became a classroom assistant in a school for profoundly deaf children, when she was 17. She started her formal career as an Audiological Scientist in the British NHS. She has since worked in many areas of audiology and hearing science, from paediatric to complex adult diagnostics, asa researcher, as an engineer, as a lecturer and as a founder of two successful Australian companies, including Blamey Saunders Hears, which designed and manufactured Australia's own unique and self-fit hearing aid, pioneering tele-audiology in Australia, and reducing the price to the consumer. Elaine is a Biomedical Engineer, Audiological Scientist, business-woman, author, speaker and a professional director.

Elaine’s personal awards include the American Academy of Audiology's award for research within industry, the AFR/Westpac’s 100 Women of Influence (2015), and the ATSE Clunies Ross Medal for Entrepreneur of the Year (2016). In 2004 she was the National Telstra Businesswoman of the Year in the Govt, Private & Corporate Sector. Elaine is a Churchill Fellow; a Fellow of the Academy of Technology, Science and Engineering; an Adjunct Professor at Swinburne University; an Honorary Clinical Research Fellow at the Bionics Institute; Deputy Chair of the Victorian Pearcey Foundation; an active mentor to people aspiring to STEM careers, commercialising research. and to several early companies. She leads a consulting company (Bingarra Scale-Up Solutions) that specialises in helping businesses through growth, and is a professional. Director of several organisations, including the Australian National Fabrication Facility, and ASX listed Audeara.

Most importantly, Elaine is an active Rotarian, a Paul Harris Fellow, and very actively involved with the Rotary Action Group on Hearing.