Eben Rosenthal, MD, Barry and Amy Baker Professor and chair of the Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at Vanderbilt, announced multiple new grant awards focused on training the next generation of physician-scientists.
The department has received two separate five-year physician-scientist training awards from the National Institutes of Health. Under the leadership of Justin Turner, MD, PhD, vice chair for research, the department received its first R25 training award to support the Vanderbilt Training of Otolaryngology Physician Scientists (V-TOPS) program, which teaches physician-scientists the skills to excel in both roles.
“Dr. Turner has a vision to make Vanderbilt University Medical Center Otolaryngology a national leader in the training of the next generation of surgeon-scientists,” Rosenthal said.
Turner also received a Research Symposium for Clinician Scientist Development in Otolaryngology and the Communication Sciences (R13) grant, which provides support for a national conference and workshop to assemble otolaryngology residents, fellows and early career faculty for lectures, workshops and panels that focus on success in research. Turner and departmental program manager Yulia Gurevich are leading these programs that will attract trainees from the country.
A record number of residents also received Centralized Otolaryngology Research Efforts (CORE) research grants: Jaclyn Lee, MD, was awarded a American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Resident Research Award sponsored by the American Head and Neck Society (AHNS) for her project “Antibody-labeled PET for Head and Neck Carcinomas of Unknown Primary;” Rory Lubner, MD, was awarded a American Rhinologic Society (ARS) Resident Research CORE Grant for his project “Linking CRS Cytokines with Pollution using Geospatial Models and Metabolomics,” and Wenda Ye, MD, was awarded a AAO-HNSF Resident Research CORE Grant for his project “Characterizing Antigen-Specific T Cell Activation in GPA Airway Scar.”