Department Research Program & Initiatives

Director: Liz Cash, PhD

The University of Louisville, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Communicative Disorders has a strong academic commitment to basic and clinical research. We maintain active research programs that provide important experience to all students and residents. Those who are pursuing an academic career and those who plan a community practice need to understand the principles of scientific analysis and investigation in order to optimally analyze literature and practice evidence-based medicine.

Participation in and reporting of original research is an important facet of this program, and we expect all students and residents to develop skills in experimental design, data analysis and scientific writing. It is essential to be able to critically evaluate scientific papers, to recognize quality versus junk or weak science, and to recognize therapies that are evidence-based.

Goals

All students and residents engaged in departmental research will:

  1. Develop understanding of research design, including formulating a hypothesis and designing an experimental strategy to evaluate it.
  2. Become familiar with the regulatory and ethical requirements for the proper conduction of research.
  3. Execute a clinical and/or basic science research project from conception to publication.
  4. Become competent at oral and written presentation of research findings.
  5. Develop the skills need to critically evaluate research and interpret the relevance to clinical practice. 

Research Support

Support mechanisms for research are myriad and growing. Staff support include a full-time Research Coordinator. Our department maintains a secure web portal to support students, residents and faculty in their current projects, provide new researchers with project ideas, and house a research manual designed to guide residents and students through the process of becoming an independent researcher. 

Resident Research Rotation

The research rotation consists of 3 nonconsecutive months, one month during each of the PGY-2, PGY-3 and PGY-4 year. During this rotation the resident is be excused from all clinical duties except night call. There are PGY-specific research goals and objectives for each year of residency.

Research Activities

  • An Introduction to Research mini-course is given in the early part of the academic year; it covers basic hypothesis generation, protocol writing, navigating the IRB and regulatory waters, biostatistics overview, conference presentation guidelines and manuscript writing.
  • An annual Basic Science Symposium, “Research!Louisville” is held each fall. This includes basic science courses, a nationally renowned keynote speaker, grant writing and project design seminars, and presentations of University of Louisville research projects. Students and residents of this program regularly present academic posters as part of this annual Symposium.
  • Presentation at local, regional, and national academic conferences and scientific sessions is encouraged and supported for all residents and students in our program.

Audiology Research

More information on the Division of Audiology's Research Program can be found here. 

Contact

For more information or to get involved with ENT/CD research, please contact our .