Marc A. D'Aprile ’00C

Even though he majored in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at St. John’s, Marc A. D'Aprile believes the course that made the biggest impact on his life—and his career—was theology.

“My theology course taught me a lot about values and how to treat others,” he said. “I care a lot about my patients and I want to see them get better.  I’m fully vested in them—that’s not always the case in healthcare.”

Mr. D’Aprile started out as a linguistics major but switched to Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology early in his undergraduate career. “As part of the linguistics program at St. John’s, I had to take an introductory audiology class, and it really struck a chord with me,” he said. “I loved the investigative nature of audiology, and since it was the same track initially as linguistics, I was able to switch gears.”

Today, in his role as Director of Audiology at Weill Cornell Medicine Clinic in Manhattan, Mr. D’Aprile is mainly responsible for determining the extent of a patient’s hearing damage, identifying the cause, and recommending a course of treatment.

“Restoring a patient’s hearing involves a lot of detective work,” he said, explaining that he is often the last in line when all other treatments have been ruled out. “People come to me when they get to the point where they say ‘enough is enough.’”

While patients sometimes have complex issues causing their hearing loss, Mr. D’Aprile can often treat their symptoms by fitting them with a hearing aid. “It is amazing to see the look on a patient’s face when they haven’t been hearing right for 10 or 20 years,” he said. “My patients see that I’m excited and they get excited, too. It’s a great feeling.”

That connection to his patients harkens back to his Catholic education. “I have been going to Catholic school since kindergarten, and I have always felt that Catholic schools are more vested in the student,” said Mr. D’Aprile. “I definitely had that feeling at St. John’s. That is why I am a huge advocate of a Catholic education.”