About the Howard P. House, MD, Memorial Lecture for Advances in Otology
Howard P. House, MD’s name stands out among those viewed as legends within our specialty. His passion for sharing knowledge through research and education is the reason we honor him through the establishment of a lectureship and to ensure that Dr. House’s desire to share knowledge on a global plane continues. This award is presented in odd-numbered years only.
2019 Lecturer: Andrea Vambutas, MD
Dr. Andrea Vambutas is the Chair of Otolaryngology at Long Island Jewish Medical Center & North Shore University Medical Center, and is an active clinician-scientist and Professor of Otolaryngology & Molecular Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra-Northwell. She is an Investigator in the Center for Autoimmune Disorders, at Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. Dr. Vambutas completed her medical school training at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine with a medical degree with distinction in research. Following her Otolaryngology training at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, and fellowship training in Otology & Neurotology in Minneapolis with Michael Paparella MD, she returned to Long Island Jewish Medical Center as a NIDCD K08 recipient. Her present research interests are in the molecular mechanisms of immune mediated hearing loss and identifying novel drug targets for hearing restoration in these patients. Timely treatment with corticosteroids results in hearing recovery in slightly more than half of clinical cases. Unfortunately, with repetitive treatment, that response is lost over time. For those patients that fail to respond to corticosteroids, there are no efficacious alternate treatments. Our research interests are in the restoration of natural hearing in these corticosteroid-resistant patients. To this end, we have identified the critical role of an inflammatory protein, interleukin-1 (IL-1), in this disease, and have observed that blocking IL-1 may ameliorate this type of hearing loss. We are also trying to better distinguish the molecular mechanisms in corticosteroid-sensitive and resistant hearing loss which would identify new biologic targets of disease. We are grateful for the support we have obtained for these studies, including from NIDCD, and the Phoebe & Merrill Goodman Otology Research foundation.
Previous Lecturers:
- 2017: Herbert Silverstein, MD, FACS
- 2015: Konstantina M. Stankovic, MD, PhD
- 2013: Derald E. Brackmann, MD
- 2011: Professor Vittorio Colletti
- 2010: Rodney C. Perkins, MD
- 2009: Michael E. Glasscock, III, MD
- 2008: John W. House, MD, on behalf of William F. House, DDS, MD
