Department of Otolaryngology News and Recent Publications

New Faculty Appointments

The Department of Otolaryngology is pleased to welcome our newest faculty members who joined the Department in 2018.

Shaum Sridharan, MD  — head and neck surgery and microvascular surgery services

Candace Hobson, MD  — otology

Reema Padia, MD  — pediatric otolaryngology

Grants and Research Funding

The Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh continues to benefit from nearly $9 million in extramural support. The chief sources of this support include the NIH and the NCI. These support dollars are supplemented by grants from the Department of Defense, as well as philanthropy. In FY18, The Department of Otolaryngology was awarded a total of $7.1 million in research funding. The Department of Otolaryngology is currently ranked 7^th in the Unites States for NIH funds awarded to otolaryngology departments.

Selection of Current Grants

NIH P50 Head and Neck Cancer SPORE

Principal Investigator: Robert L. Ferris, MD

NIH P50 Middle Ear Pressure Regulation in Health and Disease

Principal Investigator: Cuneyt Metin Alper, MD

NIH R01 Inhibition of Lysosomal Flux in Carcinogen-Induced Head and Neck Cancer

Principal Investigator: Umamaheswar Duvvuri, MD, PhD

NIH R01 Cell-Specific Synaptic Plasticity in the Auditory Brainstem

Principal Investigator: Thanos Tzounopoulos, PhD

NIH T32 Research Training in Otolaryngology

Principal Investigator: Jonas Johnson, MD

NIH T32 Training in Auditory and Vestibular Neuroscience

Principal Investigators: Karl Kandler, PhD; Bill Yates, PhD

Awards and Accomplishments

Joseph Furman, MD, PhD, was named a Pittsburgh Magazine’s 2018 “Best Doctors” in Neurology.

Barry Hirsch, MD, was named as a Pittsburgh Magazine’s 2018 “Best Doctors” in Otolaryngology.

Dennis Kitsko, MD, received the Presidential Recognition Award from the American Osteopathic College of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in May 2018.

Leila Mady, MD, PhD, placed first in the Robert A. & George C. Schein Resident Research Competition.

Raymond Maguire, DO, was named the 2018 Pediatric Otolaryngology Teacher of the Year as voted on by PGY4 Residents.

Catherine Palmer, PhD, was awarded the 2018 Dr. Thomas Powers Passion of Power Award for Hearing Health.

Carl Snyderman, MD, MBA, won first prize for his presentation titled “Utilization of the Contralateral Transmaxillary Approach for Chordoma and Chondrosarcoma of the Petrous Apex,” in Award Session 1 of the 13th Congress of the European Skull Base Society in Warsaw, Poland, April 19-21, 2018.

Guiseppe Staltari, MD, was the recipient of the Pennsylvania Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery Conchal Bowl.

Recent Publications

Soose RJ, Padhya TA, Gillespie MB, Froymovich O, Lin HS, Woodson BT; STAR Trial Investigators. OSA Treatment History in an Upper Airway Stimulation Trial Cohort. World J Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2017 Jun 23; 3(2): 79-84.

Huyett P, Soose RJ, Schell AE, Fernandez-Miranda JC, Gardner PA, Snyderman CH, Wang EW. Risk of Postoperative Complications in Patients With Obstructive Sleep Apnea Following Skull Base Surgery. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2018 Jun; 158(6): 1140-1147.

Rosen CA, Wang H, Cates DJ, Smith LJ. The Glottis Is Not Round: Teardrop-Shaped Glottic Dilation for Early Posterior Glottic Stenosis. Laryngoscope. 2018 Dec 27. doi: 10.1002/lary.27594. Epub ahead of print.

Huyett P, Jankowitz BT, Wang EW, Snyderman CH. Endovascular Embolization in the Treatment of Epistaxis. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2019 Feb 12:194599819829743.

Lavigne P, Faden DL, Wang EW, Snyderman CH. Complications of Nasoseptal Flap Reconstruction: A Systematic Review. J Neurol Surg B Skull Base. 2018 Oct; 79(Suppl 4): S291-S299.

Cramer JD, Sridharan S, Ferris RL, Duvvuri U, Samant S. Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy Versus Elective Neck Dissection for Stage I to II Oral Cavity Cancer. Laryngoscope. 2019 Jan; 129(1): 162-169.

Cramer JD, Ferris RL, Kim S, Duvvuri U. Primary Surgery for Human Papillomavirus-Associated Oropharyngeal Cancer: Survival Outcomes With or Without Adjuvant Treatment. Oral Oncol. 2018 Dec; 87: 170-176.

Bauman JE, Duvvuri U, Thomas S, Gooding WE, Clump DA, Karlovits B, Wehbe A, Miller FR, Kim S, Sen M, Heron DE, Grandis JR, Argiris A. Phase 1 Study of EGFR-Antisense DNA, Cetuximab, and Radiotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer With Preclinical Correlatives. Cancer. 2018 Oct 1; 124(19): 3881-3889.

Lin CC, Whitney SL, Loughlin PJ, Furman JM, Redfern MS, Sienko KH, Sparto PJ. The Use of Vibrotactile Feedback During Dual-Task Standing Balance Conditions in People With Unilateral Vestibular Hypofunction. Otol Neurotol. 2018 Jun; 39(5): e349-e356.

Freiser ME, Ghodadra A, Hirsch BE, McCall AA. Evaluation of 3D Printed Temporal Bone Models in Preparation for Middle Cranial Fossa Surgery. Otol Neurotol. 2019 Feb; 40(2): 246-253.

Lavigne P, Lee SE. Immunomodulators in Chronic Rhinosinusitis. World J Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2018 Nov 10; 4(3): 186-192. Review.

Corredera E, Phong BL, Moore JA, Kane LP, Lee SE. TIM-3-Expressing Mast Cells Are Present in Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2018 Sep; 159(3): 581-586.

Kumar M, Xiong S, Tzounopoulos T, Anderson CT. Fine Control of Sound Frequency Tuning and Frequency Discrimination Acuity by Synaptic Zinc Signaling in Mouse Auditory Cortex. J Neurosci. 2019 Jan 30; 39(5):854-865.

Whelan RL, McCoy J, Mirson L, Chi DH. Opioid Prescription and Postoperative Outcomes in Pediatric Patients. Laryngoscope. 2018 Dec 26. doi: 10.1002/lary.27614. Epub ahead of print.

Nilsen ML, Mady LJ, Hodges J, Wasserman-Wincko T, Johnson JT. Burden of treatment: Reported Outcomes in a Head and Neck Cancer Survivorship Clinic. Laryngoscope. 2019 Jan 15. doi: 10.1002/lary.27801. Epub ahead of print.

Alper CM, Teixeira MS, Richert BC, Douglas Swarts J. Presentation and Eustachian Tube Function Test Results in Children Evaluated at a Specialty Clinic. Laryngoscope. 2018 Nov 25. doi: 10.1002/lary.27545. Epub ahead of print.

Alper CM, Rath TJ, Teixeira MS, Swarts JD. A Novel Imaging Method for the Cartilaginous Eustachian Tube Lumen: Computerized Tomography During the Forced Response Test. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 2018 Jan; 127(1): 13-20.