As the practice of medicine is undergoing a shift from focusing on populations, a central tenet of evidence-based medicine, there is increasing indication that even seemingly straight-forward conditions can present and respond very differently from person to person. This is a time of precision medicine where unique biological factors can be identified in an individual that may better outline treatment options.

The goal of OTO Clinomics research is to bring precision medicine to the field of otolaryngology by establishing a department-wide platform for collecting and analyzing demographic, biologic, physiologic, radiographic, and disease-related data. In partnership with the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) Genomic Sciences and Precision Medicine Center we explore unique biological predictors of disease behavior and response to treatment. This will create person-specific, as opposed to disease-specific, guidelines for the management of common ear, nose, and throat disorders.

David Friedland, MD, PhD received a grant from the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment (AHW) to fund the project, OTO Clinomics: A Precision Health and Outcomes Program in Otolaryngology. Jazzmyne Adams, MPH, was hired as the program director to oversee OTO Clinomics research activities. Her role also ensures integrated healthcare delivery between observed clinical patient presentation and clinical practice of physicians.

Jazzmyne received a master’s in public health with a concentration in Public Health Policy and Administration from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee - Zilber School of Public Health. She is a native of Milwaukee and has over five years of healthcare research experience.

To date, the OTO Clinomics platform is supporting 14 health outcome projects across the five divisions of the department. The Division of Rhinology and Sinus Surgery has one manuscript that has been submitted for publication and two other projects in progress, one exploring Graves’ Disease and orbital decompression follow-up and the other investigating chronic rhinosinusitis and surgical intervention.

Otolaryngology resident, Dr. Adam Thompson-Harvey GME ’23, will be presenting on behalf of the Division of Otology and Neuro-otologic Skull Base Surgery at The Triological Society annual meeting to share findings from a Meniere’s disease and healthcare utilization disparities project he worked on in Summer 2020 with Dr. David Friedland.

MCW medical student, Shane White, will also be presenting at The Triological Society annual meeting to share findings from the dysphonia and socioeconomic determinants of health project that he worked on in Summer 2020 with Dr. Jonathon Bock MD ’01. Both presentations will be accompanied with a manuscript submission to The Triological Society.

The OTO Clinomics platform is also supporting two projects from the Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology, one lead by Dr. Valerie Flanary MD, GME ’94, FEL ’95 and otolaryngology resident, Dr. Abigail Thomas GME ’24 (health disparities and post- tympanostomy otorrhea), and the second led by Dr. Cecille Sulman and Dr. Michael McCormick (health disparities and post-tonsillectomy complications).

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