Kristen Olsen Campbell ’10 ScD

Kristen Olsen Campbell ’10 ScD found her passion for Audiology during her undergraduate years at Loyola University Maryland. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Campbell decided to move back to New Jersey to pursue a Doctors of Science in Audiology at Montclair State. Almost 10 years after graduating from Montclair State, Campbell is settling in her new role as an audiologist at the University of Vermont Medical Center.

Prior to relocating to Vermont, Campbell served as an audiology supervisor at Coastal Ear, Nose and Throat, LLC in Neptune, NJ. She has also had the opportunity to be the treasurer of the NJ Academy of Audiology for a couple of years.

Campbell’s achievements in the field of audiology have not gone unnoticed. For three consecutive years, from 2014-2016, she was voted one of New Jersey’s Favorite Kid’s Docs in NJ Family Magazine.

“My passions within the audiology field are my pediatric patients,” she says. “Getting recognized really solidified that I had chosen the right career path and that I am making a lasting impression on my patients and their families.”

As a doctoral student, she took on an internship at the Audiology Clinic in Montclair. Campbell believes that her experiences at Montclair State helped mold her for a career in audiology. She says that the connections that she made while at Montclair State have been a great resource at various points since graduation.

“The clinical rotations each semester to different types of settings also provided the opportunity to develop relationships with other professionals throughout the state which has been worthwhile,” she says. For Campbell, it is important that she can refer patients, friends and family members to other fellow audiologists.

Campbell credits one particular professor for having the most positive impact on her career. “Joan Besing helped me recognize the importance of pediatric Audiology as there is a high incidence of hearing loss in children,” she says. Campbell notes that Besing taught her how to appropriately counsel parents whose children have permanent hearing loss as that was a very difficult task for her at the beginning of her career.

As for her most memorable moment as a student? A volunteering trip to the Special Olympics in Rochester, NY, with Dr. Janet Koehnke and classmates as part of the Healthy Athletes program performing hearing screenings. “It was an extremely rewarding experience where we not only had the opportunity to use our knowledge to help the community but also to bond outside the classroom environment.”

Campbell, who started her undergraduate years as a Chemistry major, encourages current students to “keep an open mind, as you may fall into a completely different career path than you originally intended.”