Debra Abel, AuD received her BS in Education (1975), MA in Audiology (1977) from Kent State University and her AuD from the Arizona School of Health Sciences (2002).

Dr. Abel spent 13 years in private practice in Alliance, OH after moving an existing practice from the Alliance Eye and Ear Clinic where she was employed for 14 years.

Previous to serving as a Board member-at-large of the Academy, Dr. Abel served as the chair of the Academy's Coding and Practice Management Committee (now known as the Coding and Reimbursement Committee) and is now the Senior Education Specialist, Business Practices, for the Academy and is also associated with a private practice within Arch Health Partners in Poway, CA, where she provides audiologic services on a limited schedule.

Dr. Abel is an adjunct instructor at A. T. Still University and at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry/Salus University. She is a past member of the Academy's Governmental Affairs Committee and the Ethical Practices Board, past President of the Ohio Academy of Audiology, past Chair and Vice Chair of the Ohio Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and served as a member and executive committee member of the Alliance Community Hospital Board of Directors. She is the Alliance Area's 1994 Athena Award recipient and in 2006, was awarded the first "Active Advocate of the Year" by the State Leaders' Network of the American Academy of Audiology.