2025 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 9-11, 2025 • Pittsburgh, PA

DAVID L. LAWRENCE CONVENTION CENTER

Award Winners 2025

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Miranda Nerland and Natasha Rich

Miranda Nerland and Natasha Rich are parent leaders and congenital Cytomegalovirus (cCMV) follow-up specialists with the Florida EHDI program.

• Miranda Nerland has a daughter with CHARGE Syndrome. Miranda is passionate about ensuring all parents have strong parent-to-parent support, particularly parents of children with complex medical needs.
• Natasha Rich is the mother of a son with microtia atresia with unilateral hearing loss. Natasha is passionate about ensuring all parents understand the impact of hearing loss on early child development and are enrolled in early intervention.

Miranda and Natasha have been a vital part of strengthening the Florida EHDI system through:

• Developing and implementing a system for hearing loss follow-up shortly after identification for children diagnosed with permanent hearing loss. Miranda and Natash provide empathic support to facilitate connections to national, statewide, and local resources.
• Collaborating with Florida’s IDEA, Part C Program, and parent support provider to establish and refine the EHDI referral system and tracking as well as piloting a Part C state-level web-based referral system.
• Serving as subject matter experts for the development and implementation of Florida’s Children’s Hearing Aid Program.
• Serving on the planning and implementation team for targeted cCMV screening and follow-up, including providing support to hospitals, healthcare providers, and families.

Their commitment to excellence and intensive effort is unparalleled and can be seen in on-going continuous quality improvement efforts – they strive to do more better. Over the past five years, Miranda and Natasha have made meaningful and significant contributions that have been foundational for expanding Florida EHDI’s reach to provide timely parent-to-parent support, increase access to hearing devices and services, and support cCMV screening and follow-up.