A Research Year That Shaped a Specialty Path

“I grew up loving to sing, so I chose to shadow David Garber, M.D. ’15, assistant professor of otolaryngology at NYMC and a laryngologist at Westchester Medical Center at the end of my second year of medical school,” says Chau. “One of the first cases I witnessed was a medialization laryngoplasty, in which an implant is placed in the neck to help with vocal cord paralysis. It basically restores a patient’s voice, and that was just incredible to see in the operating room.”

Throughout her third year, Chau continued clinical research at Westchester Medical Center with Jennifer McLevy-Bazzanella, M.D. ’03, associate professor of otolaryngology, and Katrina Stidham, M.D., associate professor of otolaryngology—experiences that cemented her interest in ENT and helped her develop foundational research skills. 

Because she didn’t decide on her specialty until the beginning of her third year, Chau recognized that she wouldn’t have the opportunity to have clinical research published before applying for residency, so she opted to do a research year at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston. 

“My clinical research year at MUSC was wonderful,” says Chau. “I was able to be a part of numerous studies, including systematic reviews with meta-analyses, observational studies, and even clinical trials. I was paired with a mentor who was working on a clinical trial for one of the most amazing ENT advancements—a fully implanted cochlear implant that is not visible from the outside. I helped enroll patients in that trial and saw the first surgery performed at MUSC for that new device. It was so incredible to see how the field in general is advancing, and how surgeons, even after training, can learn new procedures and new skills.”

The year resulted in numerous publications in otolaryngology-related journals for Chau, including some as first author. One study, published in Ear and Hearing, that especially stood out to her examined whether speech recognition performance could be predicted in patients receiving cochlear implants using logistic regression models.

“We built three models, using different combinations of patient factors—age, sex, race, duration of deafness, pre-implantation speech recognition score, and speech recognition improvement status at one- or three-months post-implantation—to predict whether a patient was more likely or less likely to improve by 12-months post-implantation,” says Chau.

Given that much of the measurable improvement in speech recognition occurs within the first 12 months after implantation, the researchers sought to highlight the importance of speech recognition testing in the early postoperative period.

“We wanted to create models that were easy to use so that clinicians or audiologists could plug simple patient factors into an equation. For example, if we have a 40-year-old, White female patient with five years of hearing loss and an improved speech recognition score at one-month post-implantation, then our model gives the likelihood of improvement by 12-months post-implantation. If the likelihood is low, then they might need early intervention, such as auditory or cognitive training, and that intervention could happen sooner, rather than later.” 

With residency at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York now just a few months away, Chau finds herself excited to enter the otolaryngology field and continue to advance it through research. 

“Being able to do research in medical school, especially clinical research, is a huge plus, and I feel much more prepared to do research down the line in my career—to be able to answer these questions, and to develop important tools that are easy to use, affordable, and that create greater insight into patient care. There is so much yet to discover,” she said.

To access a full list of Isabelle’s publications, click here.