Monika Lehnhardt-Goriany was born in Vienna and received her doctorate from the Alma Mater Rudolfina University there. She received her doctorate after studying philology, psychology and philosophy. She held various positions in well-known companies such as Schering (Berlin), Monsanto (Düsseldorf and Brussels), Pharmacia (Freiburg) and she founded the company Cochlear Europe in Basel in 1987.

From 1987 to 1999 she headed the company as Chief Executive Officer. During this period the company grew from 2 to 70 employees. Additional offices were established in London and Hanover.

In 1999 she retired from the position of CEO and took on management tasks for further business and customer development. During this time she traveled extensively throughout Europe, the USA and Australia.

From 2004 to 2008 she concentrated her activities on the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, from the Baltic States to Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

To this day, she gives lectures at scientific congresses and organizes conferences for professionals and parents of children with cochlear implants. She has a number of publications in the field of cochlear implants (technical, audiological and rehabilitation aspects).

Since 2002, she has been chairwoman of the board of the Lehnhardt Foundation, which she founded in 1994 together with Prof. Ernst Lehnhardt (www.lehnhardt-stiftung.org). For several years, she was a member of the board of Auditory Verbal International, Inc.

From 2002 to 2005, she also actively participated in the QESWHIC project (Qualification of Educational Staff Working with Hearing Impaired Children), in which training material was developed and made available online. QESWHIC was financially supported by the European Commission as one of the Comenius projects.

A year later, the Lehnhardt Academy initiated a similar project – HICEN (Hearing Impaired Children – elementary needs in preschool care and education) – which provides teaching materials for professionals working with preschool children with cochlear implants, available online in four languages.

In June 2007, she established the company Monsana AG in Basel, Switzerland (www.monsana.ch).

In July 2007, she received an honorary doctorate from the International Academy of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, St. Petersburg. The ceremony took place in the Hofburg in Vienna.

In 2009, the Lehnhardt Academy established a platform for online seminars for Russian-speaking therapists and parents – PORA! For 14 years now, presentations and forum discussions have been offered live online twice a month.

Since 2000, she has been supporting deaf, needy children in raising funds and finding a suitable surgeon/CI center. To date, she has been able to pave the way out of silence for more than 200 children - mainly from Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, but also Armenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Romania, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Bangladesh, Ghana and Uganda.

Since 2020, she has played a leading role in the implementation of three clinic partnership projects of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ):

“Cochlear implantation and long-term care for deaf children” 08.2020-12.2022 (Kyrgyzstan)

“Neonatal hearing screening and early intervention” 02.2021-01.2024 (Kyrgyzstan)

“Establishment of newborn hearing screening in 4 clinics & professional parental advice via hotline” 02.2022-12.2024 (Ukraine).

She has given more than a hundred lectures at conferences worldwide, some of which are accessible on the Internet.