By Yishane Lee
The 2025 ARO (Association for Research in Otolaryngology) MidWinter Meeting met in Orlando in late February. Some 1,600 scientists from around the world attended. The conference is the largest meeting of hearing and balance researchers and clinicians globally, making it a wonderful opportunity to learn about the latest advances, some of which were supported by HHF's generous donors.
As always we are so thrilled to meet and catch up with our funded researchers, past and present, at the meeting that was held in the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld—running into folks in the main atrium area and hallways, inside and outside of the large presenter ballrooms, and in the always buzzing poster hall (above).
Even with the uncertainty in the research funding landscape, HHF remains steadfast in our commitment to support researchers in hearing and balance science, and especially those early in their careers, through our Emerging Research Grants (ERG) program.
It was heartening to hear how many researchers expressed gratitude for their early career funding, and how many others mentioned that they knew someone applying or were applying for ERG funding themselves. This year’s applications were due just days after the conclusion of the conference.
We also enjoyed seeing our researchers from HHF’s Hearing Restoration Project, who presented an important overview of the consortium's latest research at the meeting. HRP scientific director Lisa Goodrich, Ph.D., presented the work, titled “Cross-Species Meta-Analysis Identifies Shared and Unique Gene Expression Differentiating Hair Cells From Supporting Cells.”
Also, for the first time HHF cohosted a Ménière’s Disease Symposium with several key partners. This satellite event, primarily for researchers and clinicians, was held on Friday afternoon, just before the official start of the meeting the next day. We will provide a separate recap of the symposium, whose details you can find here.
Here are Emerging Research Grants and Hearing Restoration Project scientists we saw.
(Their ERG grant year and funder are listed, where applicable, and/or their HRP affiliation.)
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As always we are so thrilled to meet and catch up with our funded scientists, past and present, at this important research conference.