Audiologists
Payal Anand
Director of Audiology
Payal Anand is the director of the UCSF Audiology Clinic. She provides comprehensive audiological evaluations for adult and pediatric patients, specializing in vestibular and balance disorders, digital hearing aids and extended wear hearing devices (Lyric). Anand is particularly passionate about helping people adapt to hearing aids and helping her patients and their families come to a better understanding of the impact of hearing loss and compensatory strategies.
Anand is licensed by the State of California in audiology and hearing aid dispensing, holds certification in audiology from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and is a fellow of the American Academy of Audiology.
Anand was a lecturer at CSU, East Bay, and is actively involved in mentoring and training students and residents. She derives immense pride and joy from being of help to her patients and is actively involved in ensuring that the Audiology Clinic provides the highest quality of care.
Troy Cascia
Lead Senior Audiologist
Troy Cascia is a senior audiologist specializing in diagnostic hearing assessment, hearing aid fitting, aural rehabilitation and vestibular diagnostics. He is also the lead audiologist for the UCSF tinnitus program, providing diagnostic assessment, counseling and a variety of other treatment services.
Cascia is past president of the California Academy of Audiology, and continues to promote community awareness of the audiology profession and hearing health care. His years of practice in a variety of clinical settings serve to enhance the health care experience of each patient and family.
Prior to becoming an audiologist, Cascia's professional background was in education, and he brings this love of learning and teaching, along with patience, compassion and attention to detail, to every patient encounter. In his spare time he enjoys traveling, hiking the Bay Area, choral singing and volunteering both in the local community and internationally.
Molly Adler
Audiologist
Molly Adler is an audiologist who specializes in rehabilitation and amplification services for adult patients, as well as diagnostic audiology and vestibular services. Her goal is to help patients and their families better understand the impact of hearing loss and to properly use amplification and compensatory strategies to enhance communication and understanding. She is licensed by the state of California in audiology and hearing aid dispensing and is a fellow of the American Academy of Audiology
Jason Carr
Audiologist
Jason P. Carr, Au.D. is a pediatric audiologist who provides a broad range of diagnostic and rehabilitative services for children with hearing loss. He has a special interest in working with children with Microtia/Atresia as he is the Audiologist who is part of the Multidisciplinary Microtia Clinic Team with UCSF Medical Center. He is also highly skilled in working with children with other developmental delays, such as, autism, fragile-x syndrome, and down syndrome, among others. He has a strong commitment to building relationships with his patients and their families.
Dr. Carr received his doctor of audiology (Au.D.) degree from University of Colorado at Boulder and his bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University. He originally hails from Wisconsin, but has loved being in the Bay Area for over 14 years. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Audiology.
Wileen Chang
Audiologist
Wileen Chang is a clinical audiologist who has been practicing in the field since 1994. She provides specialized hearing testing in infants and children by administering auditory brainstem response (ABR) and auditory steady-state response (ASSR) testing, either during natural sleep or under general anesthesia. She is a leader in the departmental ABR program. Additionally, she provides a broad range of diagnostic and rehabilitative services for both adults and children, including hearing aid fitting and hearing testing. Her ability to connect with pediatric patients is her key to success in testing, and she strives to follow evidence-based practices diligently.
Chang prides herself in keeping abreast of the latest technologies and is extremely active in continuing education. Since teaching at Rush University in Chicago in 1996, she has been involved in training and lecturing to audiology students, as well as attending physicians, residents and the general public. She is co-author of a chapter in the well-known otolaryngology textbook, Neurotology.
She is the recipient of the American-Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation Young Minority Scholars Award and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Award for Continuing Excellence.
Karleung Cheung
Senior Audiologist
Dr. Cheung is a senior audiologist in Audiology at UCSF. He received his graduate degree in Audiology from Wichita State University in 2003 and went on to receive his Doctorate from Salus University in 2006. Following the completion of his AuD, Dr. Cheung took a position as a pediatric audiologist and program coordinator at University of Virginia Health System for five years and then joined the Children’s National Health System in Washington, DC for four years as a newborn hearing screening coordinator before joining UCSF in 2015. He aims to provide patient-centered care in the prevention, identification, diagnosis, and evidence-based treatment of hearing and other auditory disorders for pediatric patients. His goal is to minimize the negative impact of these disorders to improve outcomes and quality of life.
Dr. Cheung is board certified in Audiology. He is also a fellow of the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) and a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). He was an off-site clinical supervisor for University of Kansas and Kansas State University, and a lecturer at Galllaudet University. He is actively involved in mentoring and training students, and served at the ASHA committee on supervision training.
Dr. Cheung is proficient in Cantonese and Mandarin.
Melissa Ho
Senior Audiologist
Melissa Ho is a pediatric audiologist who provides a broad range of diagnostic and rehabilitative services for children with hearing loss. She has a special interest in multidisciplinary hearing healthcare, relationship-centered communication, student education, and community outreach. Her greatest reward comes from partnering with families to improve their child’s educational, social, developmental, and quality of life outcomes. As a San Francisco Bay Area native, she considers it a privilege to focus her efforts helping those in her home community.
Ho received her doctor of audiology (Au.D.) degree from San Diego State University and the University of California San Diego and her bachelor’s degree from the University of California Berkeley. She is a member of the American Auditory Society and a fellow of the American Academy of Audiology.
Kurt Kramer
Cochlear Implant Audiologist
Kurt Kramer is a cochlear implant audiologist in the UCSF Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, where he specializes in pediatric and adult cochlear implants. He sees patients at both the Mission Bay and the Mount Zion campuses.
Kramer earned his audiology degree from Arizona State University and received a B.S. at the University of Wisconsin. He completed his clinical externship at UCSF.
Priscilla Lopez
Senior Audiologist
Priscilla is an audiologist offering a wide range of diagnostic and rehabilitative services. Her goal is to promote quality, comprehensive, and compassionate hearing healthcare.
Her clinical specialties include single sided deafness, comprehensive vestibular/ balance assessments, hearing aid fitting and verification, hearing assistive technology, and extended-wear hearing devices (Lyric).
Priscilla is passionate about promoting and providing accessible hearing healthcare and has volunteered her time in China, Mexico, and Nicaragua to teaching hearing healthcare professionals, assessing hearing loss, and fitting hearing aids on children and adults with hearing loss.
She is a member of the California Academy of Audiology and Fellow of the American Academy of Audiology.
Priscilla is a native Spanish speaker and is proficient in American Sign Language (ASL).
Education
Gallaudet University, Washington DC, Doctor of Audiology 2010.
Colleen Polite
Cochlear Implant Audiologist
Colleen Polite is a senior audiologist at the UCSF Douglas Grant Cochlear Implant Center. She is experienced in the assessment and rehabilitation of children and adults with hearing loss and in assistive technologies for the deaf. Polite also participates in the center's clinical trials to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of new cochlear implant technologies. Polite earned a master's degree in audiology at San Francisco State University and a doctorate in audiology from Salus University.