Research Projects
Robson Capasso, MD
Associate Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS)
Associate Dean, Digital Health
Chief of Sleep Surgery
Clinical Instructorship Director of Sleep Surgery
- Influenza responses and repertoire in vaccination, infection and tonsil organoids (co-I; Dr. Mark Davis' project, Institute for Immunity, Transplantation, and Infection)
Alan G. Cheng, MD
Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS) and, by courtesy, of Pediatrics
Chief of Pediatric Otolaryngology
Director of the Clinician-Scientist Training Program
- Decibel Therapeutics
- Modulation of the Wnt pathway to restore inner ear function
- Randomized Controlled Trial of Valganciclovir for Asymptomatic Cytomegaloirus Infected Hearing Impaired Infants
- Mouse vestibular regeneration and function
- Clinician-scientist training program in otolaryngology
- Designing new aminoglycosides to alleviate inner ear toxicity (co-PI with Dr. Ricci)
- Pathways towards regenerating the mammalian cochlea
- Mechanisms of radial patterning during cochlear development (R01 with University of Nebraska; pending NIH review)
Edward Damrose, MD
Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS) and, by courtesy, of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
Chief of Laryngology
Stanford Hospital Chief of Staff (2017–2020)
Immediate Past Chief of Staff
Clinical Instructorship Director of Laryngology/Bronchoesophagology
- Biological and clinical evaluation of the laryngeal mucus layer
Elizabeth DiRenzo, PhD, CCC-SLP
Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS) and, by courtesy, of Music
- Biological and clinical evaluation of the laryngeal mucus layer
- Development of Model Systems to Investigate the Laryngeal Health Effects of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS)
Vasu Divi, MD
Associate Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS)
Director of the Head & Neck Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery Program
Associate Medical Director of Cancer Quality
(Stanford Cancer Center)
Fellowship Director of Head & Neck Surgery
- TOGETHER: Track Outcomes & Guidance, Enabled Techonology for Health & Effective Resources
- Prototype optical device for image guided surgery with panitumumab-IRDye800 (co-I; Dr. Rosenthal's project)
Matthew Fitzgerald, PhD
Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS)
Chief of Audiology
- Expanded Indications in the Adult Cochlear Implant Population
Nicolas Grillet, PhD
Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS)
- Function of LOXHD1 in mechanosensory hair cells
- Pathways towards regenerating the mammalian cochlea (co-I; Dr. Cheng's project)
- Molecules and Mechanisms of Mammalian Hair Cell Mechanotransduction (co-I; Dr. Ricci's project)
- High-resolution localization of the hair cell mechanotransduction channel components by immunogold-scanning electronic microscopy (R21 pending NIH review)
Stefan Heller, PhD
Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS)
Associate Chair for Research
- Detection of transcriptome changes in single cells after aminoglycoside-induced hair cell loss in the chicken basilar papilla
- Mouse vestibular regeneration and function (co-I; Dr. Cheng's project)
- Genetic Regulation of Cochlear Development
- Response of cochlear hair cells to pathological changes in the auditory system
- Synaptic Specializations in Auditory Hair Cells (co-I; Dr. Ricci's project)
Chris Holsinger, MD, FACS
Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS)
Chief of Head & Neck Surgery
Director of the Head & Neck Oncology Program
(Stanford Cancer Center)
- Validation of Cancer Prevention and Control Using Smartphones, Cognitive Computing & Family Social Support
- A Prospective, Multicenter Investigation of the da Vinci® SP™ Surgical System in TORS Procedures for Resection of Malignant Tumors
Peter H. Hwang, MD
Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS) and, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery
Vice Chair
Chief of Rhinology and Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery
- A Phase 2 Multicenter, Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial to Evaluate Oral Ifetroban in Subjects with Symptomatic Aspirin Exacerbated Respiratory Disease (AERD)
Robert K. Jackler, MD
Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS) and, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery and Surgery
Department Chair
- PROSPECTIVE, RANDOMIZED, PLACEBO-CONTROLLED PHASE II TRIAL OF ASPIRIN FOR VESTIBULAR SCHWANNOMAS
Michael J. Kaplan, MD
Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS), and, by courtesy, Neurological Surgery, Emeritus
- Phase II Study of Ad/PNP(IND14271,1/19/10)for HNSCC(OrphanDrugDes,14-4438,6/8/15) (co-I; Dr. Rosenthal's project)
- Phase II Study of Ad/PNP(IND14271,1/19/10)for HNSCC(OrphanDrugDes,14-4438,6/8/15) (co-I; Dr. Rosenthal's project)
- A Randomized Phase 2 Trial of Neoadjuvant and Adjuvant Therapy with the IRX-2 Regimen in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Stage III or IVA Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Oral Cavity
Jayakar V. Nayak, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS) and, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery
Co-Director of Clinical Instructorship in Rhinology & Advanced Sinus Surgery
- Development of a Rapidly-acting Preventive Therapy for Influenza (co-I; Dr. David Lewis' project, Pediatrics)
- Influenza responses and repertoire in vaccination, infection and tonsil organoids (co-I; Dr. Mark Davis' project, Institute for Immunity, Transplantation, and Infection)
Teresa Nicolson, PhD
Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS)
- Characterization of the Mechanotransduction complex in hair cells
- Molecular analysis of Tmie in sensory hair cells
Zara M. Patel, MD
Associate Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS) and, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery
Director of Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery
Co-Director of Clinical Instructorship in Rhinology & Advanced Sinus Surgery
- A 24-Week Randomized, Double-Blinded, Placebo-Controlled, Parallel-Group, Multicenter Study Evaluating the Efficacy and Safety of Intranasal Administration of 186 and 372 μg of OPN-375 Twice a Day (BID) in Subjects with Chronic Sinusitis Without the Presence of Nasal Polyps
Jon-Paul Pepper, MD
Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS)
- Mechanisms of Regeneration: Facial Nerve Injury and Repair
Heather Starmer, MA, CCC-SLP, BCS-S
Clinical Associate Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS)
Director of the Head and Neck Speech and Swallowing Rehabilitation Program
(Stanford Cancer Center)
- Validation of Cancer Prevention and Control Using Smartphones, Cognitive Computing & Family Social Support (co-I; Dr. Holsinger's project)
- Adaptation and Validation of the Dynamic Imaging Grade of Swallowing Toxicity (DIGEST) for Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES)
Anthony Ricci, PhD
Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS) and, by courtesy, of Molecular and Cellular Physiology
Chief of Research
- Materials and Methods for Sustained Delivery of Drugs and Genes to the Cochlea (co-PI with Prof. Appel, Materials Science and Engineering)
- What are we stimulating with transcranial ultrasound in Mice? (co-I; Dr. Kim Pauly's project, Radiology)
- Mouse vestibular regeneration and function (co-I; Dr. Cheng's project)
- Function of LOXHD1 in mechanosensory hair cells (co-I; Dr. Grillet's project)
- Determinants of age-induced hearing loss and reversal strategies
- Designing new aminoglycosides to alleviate inner ear toxicity
- Synaptic Specializations in Auditory Hair Cells
- Molecules and Mechanisms of Mammalian Hair Cell Mechanotransduction
- The functional relevance and underlying molecular contributors to mammalian cochlear hair bundle viscoelasticity (R01 pending NIH review)
Eben Rosenthal, MD
Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS) and, by courtesy, of Radiology/Molecular Imaging Program
Ann and John Doerr Medical Director
(Stanford Cancer Center)
- Dual orthogonal fluorescent protease sensors for image guided surgery (co-I; Dr. Matthew Bogyo's project, Pathology)
- Next Generation Sentinel Node Mapping
- Optical Imaging to Improve Surgery & Targeted Therapy in Brain Tumors
- Phase II Study of Ad/PNP(IND14271,1/19/10)for HNSCC(OrphanDrugDes,14-4438,6/8/15)
- Prototype optical device for image guided surgery with panitumumab-IRDye800
- Fluorescence lifetime-based surgical specimen margin assessment for liver cancers (R01 with Massachusetts General Hospital; pending NIH review)
- Real-time identification of the Sentinel Margin in Head and Neck Cancer (R01 pending NIH review)
- Intraoperative Wide-field Fluorescent Imaging Guided Line-Scan 3D Confocal Fluorescent Microscopy for Precise Tumor Resection (R01 with Michigan State University; pending NIH review)
- Time domain fluorescence imaging for surgical specimen margin assessment in head and neck cancers (R01 with Massachusetts General Hospital; pending NIH review)
- In-human molecular imaging of therapeutic antibody delivery in PDAC (pending Pancreatic Cancer Action Network review)
- Fluorescence-lifetime based surgical specimen margin assessment device (R01 with Massachusetts General Hospital; pending NIH review)
- Magnetic Nanoparticles for Precision Surgical Oncology and Radiotherapy (pending Australian Government review)
- Window trial to assess impact of atezolizumab delivery on pathological response (R01 pending NIH review)
- Sentinel lymph node mapping for solid tumors with systemic delivery of labeled antibody (pending American Cancer Society review)
- Reduction of Tumor-Positive Margins in Oncology Surgery (R01 with University of Alabama Birmingham; pending NIH review)
Peter Luke Santa Maria, MBBS, PhD
Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS)
- The Wearable ENG: A Dizzy Attack Event Monitor
- Targeting Drug Delivery for Chronic Rhinosinusitis
- EarBuddy: A non-invasive treatment for otitis media with effusion
- Development of Antibiotic Adjuvants for the Treatment of Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media
- Biomimetic peptoid antimicrobials to treat Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media (pending NIH review)
- Investigating sensory hearing loss in Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media using a novel animal model (pending NIH review)
- Investigating Sensory Hearing Loss in Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media Using a Novel Animal Model (pending Hearing Health Foundation review)
- Nanoparticle adjuvant for Chronic Pseudomonal Infections in Cystic Fibrosis (pending Cystic Fibrosis Foundation review)
- Development of Nanoparticle Antibiotic Adjuvant for the Treatment of Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media (pending Action on Hearing Loss review)
- Nanoparticle adjuvant for Chronic Pseudomonal Infections in Cystic Fibrosis (pending NIH review)
- A Dizzy Attack Event Monitor for Meniere's Disease: The Wearable ENG (pending Cures Within Reach review)
John B. Sunwoo, MD
Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS), and, by courtesy, of Dermatology
Director of Head & Neck Cancer Research
- Characterization of Neoantigens in Virus-Related Malignancies
- Characterizing head and neck tumor neoantigensand T cells: looking beyond the usual suspects
- A Pilot study to evaluate immunological response to PD-1 inhibition in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) (Dr. Dimitrios Colevas' project, Med/Oncology)
- Modeling the Role of Lymph Node Metastases in Tumor-Mediated Immunosuppression
- The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Stanford School of Medicine (co-PI with Dr. Crystal Mackall, Pediatrics)
- Reprogramming the Tumor-Immune Interface in Oral Cancer (pending NIH review)
- Computational analysis of inflammatory oral cancer (IOC) using publicly available data: mechanisms of treatment response (co-I under Dr. Olivier Gevaert; pending NIH review)
- Radionuclide imaging of microphysiological tumor systems (pending NIH review)
- Simultaneous imaging of tumor metabolism and immune responses using PET (pending NIH review)