Erin coomes | va north texas health care | veterans affairs

Before her role as associate director for operations, Dr. Coomes served as the service chief for Audiology & Speech Pathology Service (ASPS) at VA North Texas.  Dr. Coomes was

responsible for all audiology and speech pathology services provided at the Dallas VA Medical Center, Sam Rayburn Memorial Veterans Center, Ft. Worth VA Clinic, and Tyler Centennial VA

Clinic. In addition, Dr. Coomes undertook several projects for process improvements during her tenure in ASPS, including implementing direct access for audiology services in alignment with

the VA Secretary’s initiatives for improved access.  She also conducted a fee survey, established local rates, and onboarded fee-basis audiologists and speech-language pathologists to

improve access to care further.  Furthermore, she served as a technical team member for the National Hearing Aid Integrated Product team. She ensured that products proposed for inclusion in

the contract met technical specifications. She led a high-performing service that grew by almost 30% under her leadership. She graduated from Leadership VA with the 2019 cohort. Before being

selected as service chief for ASPS, Dr. Coomes completed her fourth-year externship as a paid trainee at VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System (TVHS). Upon graduation, she began working as

a research audiologist at TVHS. Once she completed the research study, Dr. Coomes became a full-time, permanent staff member at TVHS.  She spearheaded a project to create a tinnitus

management program per progressive tinnitus management. She served as tinnitus program manager for the TVHS Tinnitus Management Program. She began and chaired the interdisciplinary TVHS

Tinnitus Management Team (TMT), including ENT, mental health, and primary care representatives. She collaborated with various VA departments on the falls prevention team, physical therapy,

and polytrauma departments. She also served as the ASPS ADPAC and was eventually named the lead audiologist for the Murfreesboro campus at TVHS. Dr. Coomes is an alumnus of Middle Tennessee

State University. She studied communication disorders and graduated with a B.A. in 2003. From there, she conducted her graduate studies at Vanderbilt University and was conferred the

Doctorate of Audiology (Au.D.) degree in 2008. She spends time with her husband and three children in her spare time.