Dr. Kate Gfeller on Cochlear Implants, Music Perception, and Becoming Yourself

On The Girl Doc Survival Guide, Christine interviews Dr. Kate Gfeller, PhD, Professor Emerita at the University of Iowa, about her career studying music perception, enjoyment, and rehabilitation for people with hearing loss, including NIH-funded work with cochlear implant users. Gfeller shares growing up on a rural Iowa farm amid a “tall poppy” culture of fitting in, and a pivotal moment when her father told her being like everyone else is not a life goal. She describes early mentors, scholarships, sexism in academia, and how she entered cochlear implant research by quickly preparing for an interdisciplinary opportunity and learning from surgeons and engineers. She discusses patient-centered research and offers strategies for living with hearing loss: accessible information, clinician coaching to apply it, building self-efficacy and self-advocacy with community support, and recognizing the impact of fatigue. She closes with reflections on identity, mentorship, kindness, and freedom of thought.

00:00 Meet Dr Kate Gfeller

01:52 Farm Girl Big Dreams

04:12 Tall Poppy Lessons

05:22 Path to a PhD

06:41 Breaking Into Research

08:57 Imposter Syndrome to Strength

09:58 Patient Centered Hearing Loss Insights

11:16 Three Keys to Self Advocacy

13:45 Growth Mindset and Asking for Help

14:47 Identity Kindness and Closing

New Roles, Shifting Identity, and Belonging

July 1 marks a common transition time for medical trainees, faculty, and others moving into new roles. Identity can shift when ending one chapter and starting another, a theme also present in Christine's middle-grade novel-in-verse, Love Language, releasing August 4th. Da Eun Yoon, the narrator of the audiobook, was featured on last week’s podcast and touched on how being bilingual and living in or visiting other countries can affect identity.

00:00 Welcome Back

00:02 New Roles July 1

00:09 Identity Shifts Ahead

00:16 Love Language Preview

00:26 Audiobook Narrator Spotlight

00:39 Support the Podcast

00:44 Holiday Sign Off

Da Eun Yoon on Names, Voice Work, and Living Between Cultures

Christine interviews multilingual actor, voice artist, and audiobook narrator Da Eun Yoon, announcing her as the narrator of the middle grade novel in verse Love Language (out August 4). Da Eun shares the meaning of her Korean name and her changing English names, describing challenges introducing “Da Eun” at Northwestern and eventually embracing it. She recounts moving to New York after graduating from Northwestern (2023), being encouraged to try voiceover, and discovering audiobook narration as a career. The conversation explores her upbringing in Korea speaking English at home, identity crises and accent work in both languages, the “shadowing” method for learning pronunciation, and feeling different across Korea and the U.S. She discusses passion as acting despite fear, her work as storyteller/translator bridging cultures, uncertainty about where to live, and how narrating Love Language resonated with her.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

01:07 The Story Behind Her Name

01:55 English Names and Identity

04:06 Announcing Love Language

04:37 Career Path to Audiobooks

06:34 Living Between Cultures

09:27 Relearning Korean and Shadowing

11:32 Northwestern and Family Talk

12:24 Finding Passion and Fear

14:10 Where to Live Next

15:18 Final Thoughts on Love Language

16:14 Thanks and Goodbye