Funding at Its CORE: 20-year Review of Resident Research Grants and Research Engagement in Otolaryngology

Saturday, October 17, 2026

4:18 PM - 4:24 PM PT

Location: 404B

Presenting Author(s)

KT

Kaitlyn E. Tholen, BS

Senior Program Manager, Grants
American Academy of Otolaryngology
Alexandria, VA, United States

Co-Author(s)

SA

Shriya Airen, MD

Resident Physician
St. Luke’s University Health Network
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States
Murugappan Ramanathan, MD

Professor
Johns Hopkins
Bethesda, MD, United States
David H. Jung, MD, PhD, FACS

Associate Professor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery
Massachusetts Eye and Ear / Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA, United States
Edward C. Kuan, MD, MBA

Professor
University of California, Irvine
Orange, CA, United States

Senior Author(s)

Jeffrey C. Liu, MD

Attending Physician
Specialty Physician Associates/Bethlehem ENT Associates
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States

Disclosure(s):

Kaitlyn E. Tholen, BS:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Introduction: Sustaining the surgeon-scientist workforce has become increasingly challenging amid declining National Institute of Health (NIH) purchasing power and delayed entry into independent research careers. The Centralized Otolaryngology Research Efforts (CORE) program emphasizes early-career research development through resident funding mechanisms, yet the impact of these awards on sustained research engagement has not been well characterized.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using CORE administrative records and the application database (ProposalCentral) from 2004–2024. Resident grants included mechanisms administered by AAO-HNSF and affiliated partner societies. Extracted variables included funding status, proposal average score (NIH scoring system), applicant demographics, trainee status, and prior submission history. Descriptive analyses summarized applicant characteristics, proposal outcomes, and resident participation over time. Comparative analyses examined differences between awardees and non-awardees in proposal scores.

Results: Across 1,615 resident research applications, 346 (21.9%) were funded. Resident research applications accounted for approximately half of all submissions (49.6%) and awardees (48.6%) across the program, with similar awardee success rates for resident and non-resident research grants (21.9% vs 22.4%). Women comprised 29% of funded residents, and over 40% of awardees with reported race identified as non-White. Continued research engagement was observed among resident awardees, with 50 (14.5%) recipients subsequently receiving additional CORE funding.

Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that resident research constitutes a substantial proportion of CORE activity and funding. Future analyses will explore subsequent research and practice outcomes of CORE grant awardees.