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We are proud to announce that Thursday, November 6, 2014, Dr. Craig Buchman was presented the Ling Award at the 21st CCDP/NC AG Bell Conference. The Ling Award is named after Dr. Daniel Ling, who was the foremost authority on teaching speech to deaf children. Each year the North Carolina chapter of the Alexander Graham Bell Association presents this award to someone who, like Dr. Daniel Ling, has made a lasting impact in the lives of the deaf and hard of hearing in North Carolina. Previous recipients of this award all had one thing in common; they were all women. However, Dr. Buchman is breaking the glass ceiling this year as he becomes the first male to win the Ling Award.

The presenter of the award at this year’s conference happened to be the mother of one of Dr. Buchman’s patients. Shell Keim’s son, Micah, was born deaf. Given the circumstances, Keim and her husband sought medical help at UNC where they met Dr. Buchman. From the beginning of Micah’s care, Keim says he was “calm, confident, knowledgeable, caring and humble,” and always spoke about the team approach which included all care providers and even the parents. Today Micah is just one of the many patients Dr. Buchman has helped provide a future for.

Dr. Buchman is currently the Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs at the UNC Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery; UNC’s Chief, Division of Otology, Neurotology, and Skull Base Surgery; Director of the UNC Ear and Hearing Center; Director of the UNC Skull Base Center; and the Administrative Director of the W. Paul Biggers Carolina Children’s Communicative Disorder Program; and the Harold C. Pillsbury Distinguished Professor at the UNC Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery. Despite all of the accolades and achievements, he remains a compassionate, approachable caring, and humble person. Through his character and contribution to the speech and language of deaf and hard of hearing in North Carolina, he truly embodies the values of Dr. Ling.