For Grad, Callier Center Has Always Been at Her Side, in Her Heart

At the Callier Center for Communication Disorders, Megan Cantwell is part of the past, present and future.

As a 1-year-old, she was among the youngest patients to receive a cochlear implant from the team at Callier Center and UT Southwestern Medical Center. She received regular audiological follow-up and speech-language therapy at Callier after the implantation, and she attended Callier camps for children who use hearing aids or cochlear implants throughout her childhood.

This spring, she is expected to graduate from the UT Dallas School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) with a bachelor's degree in speech, language, and hearing sciences - and she's staying at UTD, having been accepted to the highly competitive doctorate of audiology program, which ranks third in the nation in the latest Best Graduate Schools rankings, released April 9 by U.S. News & World Report.

"I love this place, and I love the people," said Cantwell, who received this year's Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award from UTD. "I love the environment and the breadth of clinical opportunities and research. The level of care I've had over the last 22 years - it's just unreal."

The Cantwell family's relationship with UT Dallas began before Megan was born. Her mother, Janette Cantwell, worked for UTD for 5½ years, serving as new student programs coordinator and then as director of undergraduate advising. She guided Comet Camp for new students through its early years.

"I loved my time at UT Dallas. The students were bright, highly motivated and eager to learn," she said. "Working with them has been one of my greatest joys."

At birth, Megan was diagnosed with congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV), a potentially fatal infection contracted in the womb. When she was diagnosed with profound, bilateral hearing loss at 6 months of age, her parents set out to find the best place for cochlear implants and schools for deaf and hard of hearing children.

"We were considering a move to St. Louis in order to receive the services she would need," Janette said. "Fortunately, we quickly learned that the Callier Center and Dallas Cochlear Implant Program [now the UT Pediatric Cochlear Implant Program] were tops in the country for cochlear implant research and rehabilitation."

With help from the program, 1-year-old Megan received the implant. She got her second implant at age 2. Melissa Sweeney, now Callier's director of speech-language pathology clinical operations, was Cantwell's speech therapist for five years.

"I love this place, and I love the people. I love the environment and the breadth of clinical opportunities and research. The level of care I've had over the last 22 years - it's just unreal."

Megan Cantwell

"From the beginning, Megan was a fighter and a hard worker," Sweeney said. "She quickly learned to recognize and identify sounds with her cochlear implants and then develop speech and excellent verbal communication skills. Due to her dedicated family and her hard work, she became an extremely successful cochlear implant user."

The Cantwells moved to Austin when Megan was 11. Still, they made sure to spend some time each spring or summer at the Callier camps, including Camp CHAT, which stands for Communication Habilitation via Audition for Teens.

"It was empowering for my brother and father to see that there were other kids just like me who were going to be just fine," Megan said. "As I got older, it was important for me to have that sense of community with Camp CHAT participants. We know what it's like to be misunderstood, to feel like we don't belong in either the deaf world or in the hearing world."

Megan said that by middle school, she had decided to pursue a career in audiology.

"From an early age I saw how passionate the Callier staff were about making sure that kids like me could do whatever we wanted to do," she said. "I decided that that's who I want to be."

As a senior in high school, Megan was recruited by UT Dallas and another university. After she sat in on classes at each, her decision was made.

"There was no comparison to UTD: the level of questions, the excitement about the material and the depth in which the material was being covered. I just didn't get that elsewhere," she said.

During her studies at UTD, Megan has been involved in researching how wireless remote microphone technology might be used by audiologists with hearing challenges. She also is working with the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health, after spending two summers as an undergraduate research fellow.

"I conducted research on cisplatin-induced hearing loss, caused by a form of chemotherapy, and on age-related hearing loss," Megan said. "The NIDCD is trying to find effective therapeutics to treat these forms of hearing loss. I had the privilege of exploring the effectiveness of some therapeutic options through retrospective cross-sectional studies."

Dr. Linda Thibodeau, who arrived at UT Dallas in 1996 and has been a full professor since 2005, supervises the Hearing Health Lab where Megan works. Thibodeau first met Megan as her educational audiologist during her early elementary school years. She said Megan approaches life with confidence and eager curiosity.

"Megan is dedicated to seeking research opportunities that expand her horizons as well as to going beyond required academic assignments, and she still makes time to volunteer and make life better for others," she said. "Her humble spirit leaves an impression that reminds us to be grateful for every day whether filled with challenges or rewards. I'm honored to follow her amazing life journey."

Recently, Megan settled on staying at UT Dallas to continue her education. Her interest in cochlear implantation was part of that. But what truly set UTD apart in her mind is its focus on the whole lifespan.

"In the long term, my interests revolve around understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of social skill development in individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing," she said. "To do that well, I'll have to understand the factors that affect any child's development. The children you see in clinic become adults in clinic - they don't exist in a vacuum. UT Dallas does a really good job of incorporating that into their training."

Megan has immense gratitude for Callier, which she said has helped to unlock many doors for her.

"I would not be doing this without them," she said. "It has been such an incredible privilege to have been lifted up and cared for by those individuals, then later to be trained academically by those very same people."