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Summer 2025

It is my pleasure to share the latest news from our team and how they are innovating care here in San Diego and all over the world. We pleased to train a spectacular group of trainees who are becoming leaders in their own right, as well as offering over 20 active clinical trials, and conducting cutting edge research supported by $3,920,144 in annual external grant  funding in 2025. 

We are commited to provide the absolute best clinical care, and train the leaders who will continue our journey to serve our local communities and patients 

across the world.  We are excited to share these stories and this journey with you.

Joseph A. Califano III, MD

Interim Chair, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery

Professor and Iris and Matthew Strauss Chancellor’s Endowed Chair in Head and Neck Surgery

Director, Hanna and Mark Gleiberman Head and Neck Cancer Center, Moores Cancer Center

On May 29, 2025, Dr. Daniela Carvalho and her team at Rady Children’s/UCSD achieved a significant milestone by performing the first genetic treatment surgery using DB-OTO on the West Coast. The patient was a child with hearing loss caused by mutations in the OTOF gene. This procedure was also one of the first bilateral simultaneous treatments in the clinical trial. 

DB-OTO represents a revolutionary approach to treating congenital hearing loss in children with OTOF gene mutations. The OTOF gene encodes otoferlin, a crucial protein involved in synaptic vesicle fusion within the inner ear. When this gene is non-functional, it disrupts sound transmission from sensory hair cells to the auditory nerve, resulting in congenital deafness. 

The gene therapy works by delivering a functional copy of the otoferlin protein directly into the inner ear during a procedure performed under general anesthesia. This innovative treatment offers the potential to restore hearing function without requiring a cochlear implant. 

Robert Saddawi

Award: Best Scientific Abstract: Cancer Biology 

Awarded top recognition for the abstract on intratumoral chemokine priming that enhances immune surveillance and potentiates checkpoint inhibition in head and neck cancer. 

Ben Ostrander 

Award: Herbert Silverstein Award for Research  

Awarded the American Neurotology Society Herbert Silverstein Award for Research Excellence in Otology/Neurotology for his work entitled “Whole Genome Sequencing of Sporadic Vestibular Schwannoma Identifies Novel Molecular Pathways.”

Andrew Yousef 

Award: Steven Dean Gray Award   

The Steven Gray award is given to one resident or fellow by the American Broncho-Esophagological Association for the best original paper on topics relating to broncho-esophageal and laryngeal pathology. 

Dr. Nguyen was awarded the honor of Startup of the Year at this year's Chancellor's Innovation Awards for Alume Biosciences and Bevonescein. 

Dr. Philip Weissbrod was a finalist for Startup of the Year at this year's Chancellor's Innovation Awards, for Channel Robotics, for providing a generational leap in robotics for surgery.

Quyen Nguyen collaborated with the late Nobel Laureate Roger Tsien to develop a method of illuminating a patient’s nerves during surgery to better protect them from being inadvertently cut. The drug, Bevonescein, is now in clinical trials. An MD/PhD who is also a professor at the University of California, San Diego, Nguyen treats and operates on patients with facial nerve disorders and diseases of the ear and skull base. Alume has raised more than $30 million to support the clinical development of Bevonescein.

Dr. Joseph Califano has been awarded a five year,  $2.3 M grant from the National Cancer Institute to study ways to improve head and neck cancer therapy titled: "Enhancing Dendritic Cell Migration to Draining Sentinel Nodes to Improve Immunotherapy Response in HPV negative HNSCC" immunotherapies has led to major treatment breakthroughs for many cancers, but majority of head and neck cancer patients, particularly those with cancers caused by smoking and alcohol exposure, do not respond to immunotherapies when immunotherapy is part of the initial treatment. The team led by Dr. Califano has shown that targeting tumors with stereotactic radiation in combination with immunotherapy while sparing draining lymph nodes enhances anticancer immunity, resulting in dramatic responses. This response is dependent on specific cells (dendritic cells) that recognize tumors and then migrate to specific draining lymph nodes to coordinate immune response against head and neck cancers. The research plan will examine the role of these migrating dendritic cell in immunotherapy response to head and neck cancer and devise new treatment paradigms for treating head and neck cancer that leverage and enhance the power of migratory dendritic cells. 

Dr. Deborah Watson was selected as a 2025 recipient of the  Exemplary Professionalism in the Clinical Learning Environment Award by UC San Diego School of Medicine. This award recognizes her exceptional commitment to professionalism, integrity, and ethical leadership in the clinical learning environment. Her dedication to fostering a positive, supportive, and respectful space for learners, colleagues, and patients has made a profound impact on the culture of our institution. 

Dr. Charley Coffey was honored to give the "Last Lecture" to the UCSD School of Medicine graduating class of 2025. The Last Lecture series is sponsored by the Gold Humanism Honor Society and allows the graduating class to select a member of the School of Medicine community to give one last lecture to the entire class as they embark upon the rest of their training and future careers. Dr. Coffey addressed the class in the week leading up to Match Day, a time filled with both excitement and anxiety for graduating students. He spoke on the topic of "Listening to Yourself," including small pearls about hearing our own voice and the messages we impart to our patients, and broader themes about navigating paths to fulfilling and sustainable careers during residency and beyond.  This opportunity was a particularly poignant "bookend," as Dr. Coffey was also the first UCSD faculty to formally address this class at the time of their White Coat ceremony in 2021 during the midst of the Covid pandemic. 

We successfully completed our 6th Annual Southwest Hands-on Boot Camp at UCSDn"Effective Responses to Otolaryngology Emergencies." Organized by Dr. David Hom, all 11 Southwest programs joined us (UCLA, USC, Cedars Sinai, UCI, Loma Linda, Mayo-Arizona, Univ of Arizona, UNLV, Univ of New Mexico, US Naval Medical Center and UCSD) plus the Lehigh VHN program from Allentown, Penn with their residents, visiting faculty and our UC San Diego faculty.

The American Medical Association President, Dr. Bruce Scott, visited UC San Diego Health hosted by Dr. David Hom. Dr. Scott's valuable insights into the current national healthcare landscape have been incredibly beneficial to our UC San Diego leadership, faculty, residents, and medical students. 

Collegium Oto-Rhino-Laryngologicum Amicitiae Sacrum 2025 Annual Meeting was held in Stockholm, Sweden. Attended by Dr. Allen Ryan, Dr. Cherie-Ann Nathan, Dr. Jeffrey Harris, and Dr. Quyen Nguyen.

Benjamin Ostrander, MD

Fellowship - Neurotology & Skull Base Surgery  at U. of Minnesota

Robert Saddawi Konefka, MD, PhD

Fellowship - Head & Neck  at MD Anderson

Morgan Davis Mills, MD 

Fellowship - Facial Plastics & Reconstructive Surgery  at Johns Hopkins

Samuel Early, MD

Fellowship - Otology  at Pittsburg Ear Associates

CBD promotes antitumor activity by modulating tumor immune microenvironment in HPV associated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Sen P, Sadat S, Ebisumoto K, Al-Msari R, Miyauchi S, Roy S, Mohammadzadeh P, Lips K, Nakagawa T, Saddawi-Konefka R, Sharabi AB, Califano JA.Front Immunol. 2025 May 22;16:1528520. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1528520. eCollection 2025.PMID: 40475776

Retrograde Parotidectomy Allowing Diagnosis of Parotid Lymphoma and Concomitant Facial Reanimation. Modi RN, Davis Mills M, Zeng DZ, Wang HY, Coffey CS, Greene JJ.Laryngoscope. 2025 Aug 13. doi: 10.1002/lary.32462. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40799135

So Close, and Yet… Plasma HPV DNA Detection of Recurrent HPV Oropharynx Cancer.Califano JA. Clin Cancer Res. 2025 May 1;31(9):1561-1562. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-25-0012.PMID: 40009129

Steroid-eluting Stent Placement for Refractory Stenosis of Parotid Megaduct After Sialodochoplasty. Bernstein JD, DeConde AS, Coffey CS.Ear Nose Throat J. 2025 Jun;104(6):336-338. doi: 10.1177/01455613221109751. Epub 2022 Jun 23.PMID: 35734889 

The tumor-sentinel lymph node immuno-migratome reveals CCR7⁺ dendritic cells drive response to sequenced immunoradiotherapy. Saddawi-Konefka R, Msari RA, Tang S, Philips C, Sadat S, Clubb LM, Luna S, Fassardi S, Jones R, Pietryga IF, Faraji F, Schokrpur S, Yung BS, Allevato MM, Decker KE, Nasamran CA, Chilin-Fuentes D, Rosenthal SB, Jensen SM, Fox BA, Bell RB, Gutkind JS, Sharabi A, Califano JA.Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 17;16(1):6578. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-61780-4.PMID: 40675962