Geraldine Dietz Fox Young Investigator Award

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This award recognizes accomplishment and promise in research related to otolaryngology in an area(s) represented at the Annual ARO MidWinter Meeting. Candidates should have a graduate degree (PhD, MD, or equivalent) and be no more than 7 years beyond residency or postdoctoral training at the time of nomination. Only 1 letter of support is required; it may have multiple signatories.

Assistant Professor

Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery

Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine

Keck School of Medicine of USC

Bio:

Dr. Ksenia Gnedeva is an Assistant Professor in the Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery and the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Her laboratory investigates the molecular mechanisms governing sensory organ development, with a focus on understanding how programs of self-renewal and differentiation can be reactivated to promote sensory tissue regeneration after damage.

Notably, her work identified the Hippo signaling cascade as a major negative regulator of mitotic hair cell regeneration in mammals. As part of this research, she developed the first of its kind inhibitor of this pathway, which is now widely used in the fields of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. More recently, her studies uncovered the epigenetic basis of competence for hair cell differentiation and demonstrated that it is rapidly established during embryogenesis but lost postnatally, likely preventing regeneration.

The high impact of her work has been consistently recognized through her publications (including five in PNAS, one in Nature Communications, two in eLife, and two in Cell Stem Cell) and through her funding record (including NIDCD R21 and R01 awards and the Department of Defense award). She is a member of the Hearing Restoration Project funded by the Hearing Health Foundation and a recipient of the Joseph Gordon-Levitt Award for Excellence in Academic Medicine. Her work has also been featured in several news and media outlets, most notably on National Public Radio’s flagship news program All Things Considered.

Past Young Investigator Award Recipients

Submit a Nomination

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: Geraldine Dietz Fox Young Investigator Award

The Association for Research in Otolaryngology will start accepting nominations for the Geraldine Dietz Fox Young Investigator Award on June 16, 2025.

ABOUT THE ARO YOUNG INVESTIGATOR AWARD

This award recognizes accomplishment and promise in research related to otolaryngology in an area(s) represented at the annual ARO meeting. Candidates should have a graduate degree (PhD, MD, or equivalent), show accomplishment and promise in research related to otolaryngology, and be no more than 7 years beyond residency or postdoctoral training at the time of nomination. The awardee will be asked to give a scientific talk during the Young Investigator Luncheon at the 2026 MidWinter Meeting.

REMINDER: ARO membership is not required for nominators or nominees.

Nomination Requirements:

(Please read carefully before submitting.)

Nominations should include the following:

A letter of nomination that includes a description of the research contributions and potential
Nominee’s CV
One additional letter of support, which can have more than one signature if desired

Nominations are meticulously selected by the ARO Award Committee and then submitted to the ARO Council for approval.  A nominee’s package will be considered for up to 3 years in sequence; the package can be updated for the second and third years.  Nominations submitted in previous years without meeting the new standards should be resubmitted, ensuring a fair and comprehensive evaluation.