For over 40 years, Judith A. Marlowe has dedicated herself to excellence and service to others. She earned her Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in English with a French minor from Thomas More College in 1969, where she was president of the student government. Immediately upon completing her Master of Arts in audiology from the University of Cincinnati in 1971, Dr. Marlowe launched her mission to ensure access to hearing and speech services by establishing the first audiology/speech pathology department at the leading medical center in northern Kentucky.
Upon moving to Florida, she continued to initiate innovative programs, first with a leading otolaryngology practice, later as founding executive director of a non-profit institute awarded the first Walt Disney Spirit of Epcot Prize and in her private practice. In 1983, she created the first U.S. hospital program to routinely screen every newborn for hearing, a decade prior to universal screening recommendations, and personally directed it until 1994. Dr. Marlowe earned her Doctor of Philosophy in behavioral sciences/health professions from Walden University in 1986, where her research and subsequent publications have focused on screening all newborns as a model for social change in hearing health care outcomes that allows babies with hearing loss to develop listening and spoken language by delivering sound to the auditory centers of the brain.
Her commitment to early identification and intervention led her to Natus Medical, Inc. where, from 1993 until 2017, she conducted seminars and consulted with clinicians and public health officials worldwide, initially as director of programs, then as director of clinical research and programs, and finally as executive director of audiology and professional relations to advance newborn hearing screening as standard of care. Additionally from 2003 to 2010 she was adjunct honors professor at Thomas More College (now Thomas More University) in Kentucky and returned as adjunct professor in the master’s of ethical leadership studies program from 2017 to 2020, along with her ongoing role as president of newborn hearing programs and communications.
With a focus on governance as current chair of the Thomas More University’s board of trustees, she is committed to best practices, innovation and mission fulfillment since she believes ethical leadership and values-based organizations are more important than ever. Dr. Marlowe attributes her success to a wonderful childhood with an encouraging father, who was a professor and inventor, as well as her Catholic education that has motivated her to serve others which makes her happiest. Looking ahead five years, Dr. Marlowe will then be past chair of the Thomas More University’s board of trustees and will probably return to the teaching she enjoys. She also wants to mentor others in the U.S. and parts of the world where she has worked to help them find their highest and best use.
