Laryngeal Biology Lab: News

July 2019

We currently have an opportunity for a highly motivated individual to join the Laryngeal Biology Lab as a Research Scientist! Read here for more information.

2018

• PhD student was one of 8 attendees awarded a poster scholarship at Fall Voice 2018, in Seattle, WA. Congratulations, Emily!
• Congratulations to Dr. Bernard Rousseau who has been appointed as professor and chair of the Department of Communication Science and Disorders at the University of Pittsburgh. The Laryngeal Biology Laboratory will relocate in July 2018!
• Congratulations to Dr. Bernard Rousseau, his collaborator Dr. Haoxiang Luo in engineering, and the team for securing funding for a new R01 project for development of a computer modeling tool to assist with pre-surgical planning of Type I Thyroplasty!

2017

• Congratulations to PhD student Emily Kimball, who was awarded the ASH Foundation’s New Century Doctoral Scholarship!
• Congratulations to Dr. Rousseau and his collaborator Dr. Preeti Sivasankar, who won the prize for best poster at Fall Voice 2017!
• PhD student Emily Kimball won first prize for her poster titled Structurally and functionally characterized in vitro model of rabbit vocal fold epithelium at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center Combined Poster Session!
• Three manuscripts were accepted for publication in the month of March! Congratulations to our first authors: Dr. Carolyn Novaleski, Dr. Bernard Rousseau, and Dr. Masanobu Mizuta!

1. Novaleski CK. Carter BD, Sivasankar MP, Ridner SH, Dietrich MS, Rousseau B. Apoptosis and vocal fold disease: Clinically relevant implications of epithelial cell death. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, in press.
2. Rousseau B. Kojima T, Novaleski CK, Kimball EE, Valenzuela CV, Mizuta M, Daniero JJ, Garrett CG, Sivasankar MP. Recovery of vocal fold epithelium after acute phonotrauma. Cells Tissues Organs, in press.
3. Mizuta M. Kurita T, Kimball EE, Rousseau B. Structurally and functionally characterized in vitro model of rabbit vocal fold epithelium. Tissue and Cell, in press.

• The Laryngeal Biology Laboratory was recently featured in a VUMC Reporter cover page story, "New lab spaces emblematic of otolaryngology's growth". 

2016

• Congratulations to Dr. Rousseau and the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management Master of Management in Healthcare Class of 2016. ​
• Postdoctoral fellow Maria E. Powell was awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship F32 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) titled "Vocal Fold Vibratory Function during Development of and Recovery from Phonotrauma."
• Carolyn K. Novaleski successfully defended her doctoral dissertation entitled "Effects of Time-Doses and Cycle-Doses of Acute Vibration Exposure on Apoptotic Cell Death and TNF-α Signaling in the Vocal Fold Epithelium."

2015

• The University of Central Florida Alumni Association and College of Health and Public Affairs presented their 2015 Professional Achievement Award to Dr. Rousseau during the annual homecoming Black and Gold Gala.
• Dr. Rousseau has been named a Chancellor Faculty Fellow at Vanderbilt. He joins a distinguished group of scholars with representation across the humanities, social sciences, natural and physical sciences, and the clinical sciences as well as engineering, law, and music. Dr. Rousseau was recently featured in the March issue of Brentwood Living.
• Laryngeal Biology Lab alum Carla V. Valenzuela received the 2015 David Zealear Scholar-Initiative Award and won third place prize in the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center Combined Poster Session for her poster titled "Characterizing the Vocal Fold Epithelial Response to Recovery Following Phonation-Induced Trauma at the Transcriptional Level."
• The manuscript "Randomized Controlled Trial of Supplemental Augmentative and Alternative Communication versus Voice Rest Alone after Phonomicrosurgery" was recently published in American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

 2014

• Dr. Rousseau was elected Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association(ASHA). Fellowship is one of the highest honors that ASHA bestows and provides recognition to members who have demonstrated outstanding contributions to the discipline of communication sciences and disorders. Dr. Rousseau's fellowship was featured in a story in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Reporter.
• Dr. Rousseau has been appointed to the Motor Function, Speech, and Rehabilitation Study Section at the Center for Scientific Review at the National Institutes of Health for a six-year term.
• Dr. Rousseau received the Elaine Sanders-Bush Award for Excellence in Teaching for Mentoring Graduate and/or Medical Students in the Research Setting.
• The collaborative research efforts of the Rousseau and Luo Labs to investigate simulations of three-dimensional fluid-structure interactions of vocal fold vibration were highlighted in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Reporter.
• MS-SLP student Renee E. King was awarded the Foundation Scholarship for Speech-Language Pathology from the Tennessee Association of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists (TAASLP).
• Medical student Carla V. Valenzuela was selected to serve as Chair of the 2014-2015 Association of Women Surgeons Executive Medical Student Committee.

2013

• Dr. Rousseau was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure.
• Dr. Rousseau has been selected to participate in the American Speech Language and Hearing Association's (ASHA) Clinical Practice Research Institute (CPRI).
• Drs. Rousseau and Zealear were elected Fellows of the American Laryngological Associationin recognition of distinguished contributions to the field of laryngology. Rousseau and Zealear join a distinguished list of only six non-physician scientists elected associate fellow to the ALA. The association recognizes the accomplishments of individuals who have made significant contributions to the care of patients with disorders of the larynx and upper aerodigestive tract. Drs. Rousseau and Zealear were recognized in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Reporter. Dr. Rousseau was also recognized in the Nashville Business Journal.
• The Rousseau Lab lab won 1st Place in the American Laryngological Association (ALA) Poster Competition at COSM, (Kojima, Mitchell, Garrett, & Rousseau).
• The Rousseau and Luo Labs received the 10th International Conference on Advances in Quantitative Laryngology, Voice and Speech Research (AQL) Best Paper Award, "A 3D numerical simulation of wave propogation on the vocal fold surface" (Tian, Chang, Luo, & Rousseau).
• Medical student Carla V. Valenzuela has been awarded an NIH Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research to support a year of research in the Laryngeal Biology Laboratory.
• Resident Dr. Joshua Mitchell was awarded 1st place in the Vanderbilt University Annual Resident Research Competition.
• Laryngeal Biology Lab alum Jeff Johnson (M.S. SLP, 2012) began the Ph.D. program in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at Boston University (Fall 2013).

2012

• Dr. Rousseau was invited to join the editorial board of Auris Nasus Larynx, the official journal of the Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Society of Japan.
• A team of Vanderbilt University and Duke University researchers were awarded a $40,000 administrative supplement to Dr. Rousseau’s R01 grant from the NIH to address the effectiveness of voice therapy and/or surgery in the treatment of discrete phonotraumatic vocal fold lesions.
• The Laryngeal Biology Lab was awarded an R01 subcontract from Purdue University in the amount of $187,572 in collaboration with The Laryngeal Function Laboratory under the direction of Dr. M. Preeti Sivasankar.
• Resident Dr. Mark Van Deusen received 1st place at the 2012 American Bronchoesophageal Association Annual Meeting poster competition, Dr. Van Deusen was also awarded an American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO) Core Grant for “Post-cricoid Connexins in Patients with Objective Reflux Disease."