Roles
Assistant Professor of Clinical Otolaryngology
-
Biography
Dr. Sandra Velandia is an Assistant Professor at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, Department of Otolaryngology. She is originally from Colombia where she earned her B.S. degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders and a M.S in Audiology. She later earned her doctoral degree in Audiology from Nova Southeastern University in 2004. Dr. Velandia’s professional efforts include(d) areas such as: general diagnostic audiology, occupational audiology, hearing aids, tinnitus, Baha, vestibular, and cochlear implants for children and adults. Currently, she focuses in the vestibular and cochlear implant disciplines clinically and in research. She currently practices on the University of Miami’s medical campus, and in the Kendall office.
In her role as Assistant Professor of Clinical Otolaryngology and with nearly 2 decades of experience in the field, she has had the opportunity to teach many domestic and international students. The various students and disciplines include:medical students, otology residents, neuro-otology fellows, psychology students, speech pathology students, audiology students, deaf educators, and social workers. Additionally, she has taught and mentored numerous audiology professionals over the years who have come to the University of Miami seeking to gain additional experience with vestibular and cochlear implants.
Currently, she has given over 34 oral and poster presentations, nationally and internationally, with several of them being invited talks. These presentations have led to 7 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals. Her expertise in the audiology field has also allowed her to be interviewed for multiple media productions such as Local 10 News, Caracol, La Poderosa radio stations, and CNN in Spanish.
Dr. Velandia’s professional goals are to increase her research in the vestibular, and cochlear implant areas. In addition, she would like to expand her teaching scope from the university level to national and international levels through increased research presentations at audiology and otology conventions. -
Education & Training
Education
Post Graduate Training
-
Honors & Awards
No result found
-
Teaching Interests
My flexible, friendly, and enthusiastic teaching style empowers students to learn in a positive and low stress environment, allowing them to develop skills while centering their efforts on high standards for the best patient centered care. I facilitate critical thinking, encourage evidence-based practice, and place them in guided discoveries for best practices. Additionally, I try to be quite comprehensive in my care, from notetaking, to cochlear implant programming to even the cochlear implant evaluation, for example. From this, students are provided a comprehensive picture or extra tools in their toolbelt for their future work. I do this by drawing mainly from reading the literature, consuming information from conferences, listening to patient feedback and my extensive experience in my practice areas.
Being one of the few Hispanic audiologists in the nation, I strive to become an even better mentor and role model for other underrepresented minorities in medicine. I’m proud of my achievements as an immigrant audiologist and have been blessed with the opportunity to work with amazing mentors and outstanding interdisciplinary team while taking care of patients, developing programs, and conducting clinical research in cochlear implants and vestibular. This work has ultimately improved my patient care and education, thus allowing me to share and teach what I have learned from around the world. What drives me to achieve these goals is the passion to deliver the best care to patients with hearing and vestibular disorders, looking at and treating each patient as if they were a family member, and train the next generation of audiologists, otology physicians, and other specialties that relate to hearing and balance disorders. -
Research Interests
My research involvement at the University of Miami has focused on the vestibular and cochlear implant areas which has led to having authored and coauthored 7 publications.
Some notable publications in the cochlear implant area include:
“Effect of age, electrode array and time on cochlear implant impedances” in the Journal Cochlear Implants International, first author.“Comparison of Speech Test Outcomes after Cochlear Implantation in Patients with and without Asymmetric Hearing Loss” in the Journal of Otology and Neurology,co-author.
Vestibular work includes:
“Head-shaking nystagmus predicts greater disability in unilateral peripheral vestibulopathy” in the American Journal of Otolaryngology, co-author. “Utricular paresis and semicircular canal hyperactivity: a distinct otolith syndrome in Acta-Oto-laryngologica, co-author.
My current research focus is on Spanish-speaking and Spanish-English bilingual cochlear implant recipients. I aim to improve access to hearing healthcare for the Hispanic community in the U.S., especially for those with advanced hearing losses who may be candidates for cochlear implants. Future work includes the refinement of protocols for Spanish-speaking and Spanish-English bilingual patients and cochlear implant recipients. -
Publications
Disclaimer: The information presented in this section has been consolidated using AI and machine learning technologies. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, errors may occur. If you identify any inaccuracies, please use this link to inform our data team. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and helps us improve the quality of our content.
-
Professional Activities
No result found