After shadowing a family friend who was a speech-language pathologist, Alexandra (Ross) Harvey, AuD ‘21, thought about pursuing a career in speech-language pathology (SLP).
But then Harvey was accepted into the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology program at Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, in which she took her first audiology class. And, just like that, Harvey changed her career path.
“I found that audiology was a little bit more about the numbers, math, and science-focused, whereas speech was more language,” said Dr. Harvey. “I’m definitely more of a numbers person.”
After graduating from Bloomsburg with a degree in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, she chose to continue her graduate studies in the Osborne College of Audiology at Salus University, which is now Drexel University after a merger completion in July 2025. On the program’s Elkins Park, Pennsylvania campus, Dr. Harvey found more science and biology courses that suited her.
“Anytime I had an extra course in undergrad I needed to fill, I took a biology course because it was an area of interest for me,” said Dr. Harvey. “With those extra biology courses, I felt like I understood hearing and everything that goes into hearing as a whole.”
While at Osborne Audiology, she ended up in what she called “a safe spot” when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. She was just finishing up her third year in the on-campus Doctor of Audiology program and had only a couple of weeks left of her clinical experiences. At that time, she applied to the U.S. Army externship program at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, but was not selected. Instead, she completed her placement at a Veterans Affairs medical center in Boston. Although her fourth-year externship was delayed a little bit because of the pandemic, she completed her hours and was able to graduate on time.
“I was obviously bummed to not get into the Walter Reed program, but I had a great experience in Boston,” said Dr. Harvey. “My recruiter reached out to me and said the Army needed audiologists and that I could direct commission. I said, ‘OK, I’ll give that a try.’”
After joining the Army in 2022, Dr. Harvey was stationed in Oklahoma. After a stint there, her second duty station was located in Fort Hood, Texas, one of the largest military installations in the U.S. that houses approximately 40,000 soldiers. And, she has a big job there now. As a captain and chief of the hearing program at Fort Hood, Dr. Harvey and her staff are in charge of the readiness of all those soldiers.
“The Army requires its personnel to have certain hearing levels to enter, and it requires soldiers to maintain those hearing levels while in the military,” said Dr. Harvey. “The soldiers are exposed to loud noises like artillery and gunfire. We want to make sure they don’t lose their hearing, but it’s also a safety concern. You can’t have hearing loss as a soldier, especially when deployed and in enemy territory.”
Hearing technicians perform the annual testing of the soldiers, and then Dr. Harvey, along with another civilian audiologist, does the follow-up testing. That’s in addition to her role as department head in charge of program management, record-keeping, and administration.
When she’s not working, Dr. Harvey enjoys playing basketball and was a member of the Bloomsburg team during her undergraduate training. During her time at Osborne Audiology, she was a volunteer assistant coach for the varsity girls’ team at Jenkintown High School for two years, which included helping the team win the Pennsylvania state championship during the 2018-2019 season. She still plays basketball, now with the Fort Hood women’s team, which travels to other military bases for weekend tournaments.
And, she and her husband, Romio Harvey, recently welcomed their first child, a boy named Ross, in August 2025. She added she hopes to make the military a long-term career, but is taking that decision one duty station at a time.
“I really enjoy it. I get to do what I love, which is help preserve hearing,” said Dr. Harvey. “The military provides some really great benefits and training as well.”
