Laboratory research in the Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery focuses on discovering the anatomical correlates and physiological mechanisms underlying significant clinical problems, such as hearing loss, voice dysfunction, tissue viability following reconstructive cancer surgery, swallowing impairments, and age-related changes in critical head and neck functions. This work has led to the development of new experimental surgical devices and procedures, such as an automated device to remove blood from congested tissues.
The laryngeal physiology program is geared toward the use of novel biomaterials and medialization techniques to improve vocal fold vibratory characteristics, and to halt or reverse the detrimental effects of aging on voice and swallowing.
Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Wisconsin is recognized for its excellence in caring for patients with ear, nose, throat, head and neck afflictions. Such excellence is rooted in research. Research is the catalyst that keeps us striving for better understanding of disease; that urges us to seek better delivery of care and improved patient outcomes. It is the challenge of research-and education-that has attracted the superb clinicians and teachers that comprise our facility.
Excellence in research must be nurtured. Individual donors are a vital part of the process. Consider contributing to one of our specific research funds or a more generic gift to support research through the UW Foundation.
Our Researchers
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Scott R. Chaiet, MD, MBA: Studying patient experiences after facial surgery
Dr. Chaiet’s research interests include emotion processing and patient reported outcomes in facial nerve paralysis treatment, patient experience with facial gender surgery, and guideline adherence to Bell’s palsy treatment.
Michelle Ciucci, PhD: Improving outcomes for patients with Parkinson's disease
Dr. Ciucci’s Lab >>
Dr. Ciucci’s translational research program is directed at improving treatments for voice and swallowing disorders. Her lab aims to elucidate the relevant neurobiological processes that affect disease progression and how targeted exercise may slow or reverse the degenerative processes. Understanding these mechanisms will lead to better treatments and functional outcomes for patients with Parkinson’s disease, including drug discovery and repurposing along with behavior interventions.
Nadine Connor, PhD: Elucidating changes in voice and swallowing
Dr. Connor’s Lab >>
Dr. Connor’s lab aims to understand how physiological and structural properties of muscles and the central and peripheral nervous systems change with aging, surgery, diseases, and disorders, and how these changes may influence properties of voice production, speech, and swallowing. The lab’s ultimate interest is the manner in which behavioral, medical, or surgical treatment may affect change in function and quality of life. Lab members have developed a research program within this overall framework that involves techniques from the basic sciences and human clinical sciences, especially in patient-centered research regarding perceptions of health quality and its measurement.
David O. Francis, MD, MS: Developing novel treatments for vocal fold paralysis
Dr. Francis’s research focuses on a patient-centered approach to personalizing and improving the care of patients with ear, nose, and throat disorders. His primary areas of study involve 1) understanding the causes of geographic variations in care, 2) promoting prevention of iatrogenic vocal fold paralysis, 3) understanding the patient experience of living with unilateral vocal fold paralysis, 4) development of new measurement tools to measure disability related to unilateral vocal fold paralysis, and 5) developing novel treatments and comparing their effectiveness in improving the care of patients with unilateral vocal fold paralysis.
Jack Jiang, MD, PhD: Uncovering new methods for measuring human sound
Laryngeal Physiology Laboratory >>
Dr. Jiang’s research focuses on objective pathological laryngeal function assessments, laryngeal physiology, biomechanics of vocal fold vibration, medical instrumentation, medical software development and application.
Ruth Litovsky, PhD: Restoring binaural hearing in patients
Dr. Litovsky’s Binaural Hearing and Speech Lab>>
Dr. Ruth Litovsky’s lab focuses on binaural hearing: how the brain integrates information from the two ears so that we can listen in noisy, complex auditory environments and localize sound sources. The lab studies how cochlear implantation in childen and adults restores binaural hearing in patients with bilateral cochlear implants or patients with single-sided deafness. The investigators are interested in neural plasticity, reverse engineering electrical stimulation and use objective measures including pupillometry and functional near infrared spectroscopy.
Susan Thibeault, PhD: Advancing the treatment of vocal fold injuries
Dr. Thibeault’s Lab >>
The Thibeault lab research program focuses broadly on further understanding the biological mechanisms of the extracellular matrix of the vocal folds, specifically related to inflammation, fibrosis and scarring in the larynx. Specifically, our research has focused on translational and clinical investigations of laryngeal disorders to characterize critical aspects of dysregulated extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition since 2001.
Nathan Welham, PhD: Regenerating vocal fold tissue
Dr. Welham is a speech-language pathologist and scientist focused on vocal fold mucosal biology. He is particularly interested in tissue regeneration, matrix and matrisome, vitamin A transport and function, and physiology. Dr. Welham leads a small research group that collaborates closely with analytical chemists and biochemists, bioinformaticists, cell biologists, immunologists, and surgeons. The group has been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 2006.
Latest Research News
New Surgery Vice Chair of Education Receives Grant to Study Formats Used for Oral Board Exams
Following completion of their residency training, many surgeons may opt or may be required by their employer to obtain board certification in their area of specialty by sitting for written and oral examinations. But the …
Wisconsin Surgery Research Roundup: July 2024
Wisconsin Department of Surgery members engage in remarkable research that yields many impactful publications every month. We’re highlighting several of these publications monthly to showcase the diversity of research in the department; see selections from …
Dr. Tiffany Glazer’s Safe Pregnancy Guidelines Published in JAMA Surgery
Dr. Tiffany Glazer, Associate Professor in the Division of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, recently published an evidence-based analysis titled “Providing a Safe Pregnancy Experience for Surgeons: A Review” in JAMA Surgery. This publication examines the …
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