Catherine Birman

Clinical Professor Catherine Birman is a Clinical Professor in Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery within Sydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. She holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, on studies informing consent, awarded 2017) from the University of Sydney, Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS), and Graduate Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD). As Medical Director of the Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre at NextSense, the largest program in Australia and one of the world's largest, she has performed nearly 2000 cochlear implant procedures on patients from three months to over 90 years old. A pioneer in cochlear implants for children with complex medical conditions, she has optimized paediatric and adult outcomes, working with multidisciplinary teams including audiologists, speech pathologists, teachers of the deaf, and biomedical engineers. Birman has over 20 years at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead as an otologist and cochlear implant specialist, involved in hearing loss, cochlear implant, atresia, and primary ciliary dyskinesia clinics. She serves as Visiting Medical Officer at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Macquarie University Hospital, Sydney Adventist Hospital, and Hornsby Hospital, and is Honorary Clinical Professor at Macquarie Medical School.

Birman’s research specializes in cochlear implant outcomes for complex paediatric cases, elderly patients, anatomical abnormalities, innovative devices, bone conduction implants, and novel therapies like gene electrotransfer. She has published extensively on cochlear implants, hearing loss, and ENT, with over 21 publications cited more than 650 times, including "Electric Field Focusing Gene Electrotransfer for Cochlear DNA Therapeutics" (2026), "Clinical Performance, Safety, and Patient-Reported Outcomes of an Investigational Hybrid Cochlear Implant" (2023), "Surgical Aspects of Paediatric Cochlear Implantation" (2022), and "CHARGE Syndrome and Cochlear Implantation" (2015). She has received grants such as the 2019 Conjoint Grant for "Progression of hearing performance following cochlear implant neurotrophin gene augmentation." Leadership roles include Past Chairman of the NSW Australian Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery (ASOHNS), Past Secretary of the Australia and New Zealand Paediatric Otolaryngology Society, service on hospital and NSW government committees, board member at NextSense, and Director of the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children. Birman is an invited national and international speaker and RACS examiner in Otolaryngology. Major awards include NSW Premier’s Woman of the Year (2017), ASOHNS Society Medal for Distinguished Contribution to Otolaryngology (2018), Cochlear Hearo Award (2016), and Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM, 2022) for services to medicine in otolaryngology.