Kristina Simonyan, MD, PhD, Dr med, Next Incumbent of the John W. Merriam and William W. Montgomery Professorship
This professorship was originally established in 1997 and named the John W. Merriam Professorship, with world-renowned laryngologist William W. Montgomery, MD, as the first incumbent. In 2016, Mark A. Varvares, MD, FACS, Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Harvard Medical School, was bestowed the honor of this professorship, subsequently named as the John W. Merriam and William W. Montgomery Professorship, once Dr. Montgomery was no longer the incumbent. The original endowment has officially been split into two endowments allowing two separate professorships – the John W. Merriam and William W. Montgomery Professorship and the William W. Montgomery and John W. Merriam Professorship – Dr. Varvares will now hold the latter.
In 2017, Dr. Simonyan was recruited to the Department of OHNS at Mass Eye and Ear to direct the department’s laryngology research program. She quickly became one of the most successful investigators in the department, advancing research in neurological voice and speech disorders and securing multiple lines of research funding. Her Dystonia and Speech Motor Control laboratory is currently supported by five R01 grants, a Department of Defense (DoD) grant, and several private foundation awards.
In 2022, Dr. Simonyan was promoted to Professor of OHNS at HMS. Most recently, she was named the Mass Eye and Ear Department’s Vice Chair of Clinical Research. In addition, Dr. Simonyan contributes to several departmental, institutional, and system-wide committees, works closely with the Development Office to support philanthropic efforts for expanding laryngology research at the hospital, and organizes educational and career development opportunities for trainees at different levels, from high school students to clinical fellows.
Dr. Simonyan is globally recognized for advancing dystonia care through artificial intelligence (AI). Through DystoniaNet and DystoniaBoTXNet platforms, she and her team use deep learning to automatically analyze data from individual MRIs and identify subtle differences in brain structure that can be used for diagnosis of the dystonia and the predictive assessment of treatment outcomes.
“The work spearheaded by Dr. Simonyan will positively impact countless individuals who suffer from dystonia and other neurological voice disorders,” said Dr. Varvares. “She is a remarkable leader, mentor and academic – the Department takes great pride in her holding the John W. Merriam and William W. Montgomery Professorship of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery.”