2025 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 9-11, 2025 • Pittsburgh, PA
Award Winner/Nominee Details 2024
Mildred Luciano-Román
It is with great enthusiasm that I nominate Ms. Mildred Luciano-Román for the 2024 Antonia Brancia Maxon Award for Excellence Award. Ms. Luciano-Román dreamed of being an educator from a very young age. Through her participation as a volunteer in the summer camps of the Puerto Rico Parent Training and Information Center, better known as APNI, she confirmed her commitment to families of children with disabilities and became a special education teacher.
She began working in the Puerto Rico EHDI program in 2012 as a service coordinator. As a person with a hearing loss with firsthand knowledge and experience of the challenges faced by families, she embraced the value of universal newborn hearing screening, and immediately became an advocate for connecting screening programs with timely and appropriate diagnosis and early intervention services and serving as a mentor for families in understanding and navigating the service system. Ms. Luciano-Román makes it a point to know each child and family that participates in the program.
She started and has led the Victoria Support Group for Parents of Children with Universal Neonatal Hearing Loss for the past eleven years. Countless Spanish educational materials and resources have been developed to support Deaf/HH children and their families under her leadership. As a member of the Department of Health post-Hurricane Maria disaster response committee she was instrumental in assisting the Deaf/HH community and since has provided support to this community during other public health emergencies (earthquakes, COVID-19 pandemic). One of Ms. Luciano-Romano's greatest asset has been her ability to maintain close collaborations with the Part C Early Intervention Program, the Title V Program, hospitals, and audiologists ensuring that infants are identified and that they achieve language amplification and acquisition as early as possible. The audiologists in Puerto Rico recognize her great service and commitment to the Deaf/HH community. She is always available sharing her personal phone number not only with families but also with service providers.
In 2022, Mr. Luciano-Roman became the PR EDHI Coordinator. Aware of the need to include Deaf/HH parents in their child's services, one of her first accomplishments was a contract between the Department of Health and interpreter services for the Deaf/HH families for their non-Part C appointments. She has also maintained collaborations with Special Olympics and the Parent Training Information Center as a strategy to build capacity among community service providers to include deaf/HH children.
Ms. Luciano-Roman's co-workers can attest to her extraordinary competence, commitment to service, work ethic, and capacity to perform above and beyond expectations. Her endless dedication and achievements have been unique, always going over and beyond the typical call of duty; producing exceptional results to improve the lives of Deaf/HH infants and children and their families in Puerto Rico.