Krystal L. Werfel, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is the director of the Boys Town National Research Hospital Center for Childhood Deafness, Language and Learning. Dr. Werfel also serves as the director of the Oral & Written Language Laboratory. She has a bachelor’s degree in child development from the University of Tennessee. Dr. Werfel completed her master’s in speech-language pathology and her Ph.D. in hearing and speech sciences at Vanderbilt University, where she researched the language basis of literacy in children with language disorders and children with hearing loss.

Her current research is focused on identifying early predictors of literacy for children with hearing loss and designing and optimizing early intervention that may prevent later literacy difficulties. Dr. Werfel’s research has contributed to our understanding of preschool language and emergent literacy difficulties for children with hearing loss, as well as intervention modifications that are effective for this group.