Rhinology and Skull Base Surgery Fellowship

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery

The Rhinology and Skull Base Surgery Fellowship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is a one-year, high-volume clinical and research fellowship that trains future leaders in the field of rhinology. Based in Nashville within one of the nation's leading academic otolaryngology departments, the program pairs comprehensive operative training in cutting-edge techniques with a research-intensive environment built around integrating data science, artificial intelligence, and multi-omics approaches to understanding sinus and skull base disease.

Welcome from the Fellowship Director

Thank you for your interest in our fellowship. Our goal is to train the next generation of leaders in rhinology: surgeons who are technically excellent, scientifically literate, and prepared for whatever direction their careers take. Fellows here operate widely and often, manage complex medical and surgical disease alongside a collaborative multidisciplinary team, and have the resources of one of the country's most active sinonasal research programs at their disposal. Unique to our program is the emphasis on data proficiency; in a world where transformative changes are happening daily in the digital space, we seek to equip our graduates with the tools to become expert surgeon-data scientists equally comfortable at the bench, the bedside, or the boardroom. Together with our unparalleled clinical training, we believe Vanderbilt is a top destination for academic rhinology education, and we would love to show you first-hand what we are about here in Music City.

Naweed I. Chowdhury, MD, MPH
Fellowship Director; Associate Professor and Division Chief, Rhinology and Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery; Director of Data Science

Why Train Here

• High operative volume across the full rhinology and skull base surgery spectrum, from complex inflammatory sinus disease to expanded endoscopic skull base surgery, in collaboration with three high-volume skull base neurosurgeons.
• A research-intensive environment anchored by the Vanderbilt Sinonasal Tissue Repository and an active multi-omics program in inflammatory endotyping and environmental health, providing a robust translational research experience inside a clinical fellowship.
• A unique focus on digital data proficiency. Fellows train in study design, applied biostatistics, statistical programming, and machine learning under the department's Director of Data Science, and complete a capstone project that turns those skills into published work. Graduates leave with an in-demand skillset that positions them as innovators and leaders in the emerging data-first world.
• Longitudinal alumni networking and mentorship beyond the fellowship year, with events at major national meetings and our flagship annual gathering at the Vanderbilt Sisson-Ossoff Workshop in Vail, Colorado.
• A collaborative, family-friendly culture in one of the most fun and livable cities in the country.

Clinical Training

The fellowship provides comprehensive, high-volume surgical training across the full spectrum of medical and surgical rhinology and endoscopic skull base surgery, including:

• Endoscopic sinus surgery for inflammatory disease, from primary cases through complex revision and extended approaches
• Endoscopic skull base surgery, including pituitary and parasellar tumors, CSF leak repair and encephalocele management, and expanded endonasal approaches to the anterior and central skull base
• Management of benign and malignant sinonasal and skull base tumors
• Orbital and lacrimal surgery, including endoscopic orbital decompression and dacryocystorhinostomy
• Office-based rhinologic procedures
• Complex skull base reconstruction

Fellows complete over 400 operative cases over the training year, with 40 percent representing complex revision surgery, on par with the busiest training programs in the nation. Approximately one-third of this operative volume consists of skull base surgery.

The division manages complex inflammatory airway disease in close collaboration with Vanderbilt's allergy and immunology faculty, caring for patients with AERD, allergic fungal rhinosinusitis, and severe type 2 disease requiring biologic therapy. Fellows gain substantial experience in patient selection, initiation, and longitudinal management of biologics for chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, an area increasingly central to rhinologic practice.

Fellows also work collaboratively with the facial plastic and reconstructive surgery fellow, the oculoplastic surgery fellow, and the neurosurgical team for preoperative planning, surgery, and postoperative care. Opportunities exist to collaborate with the sleep surgery section for exposure to advanced aspects of that discipline, as well as to learn functional rhinoplasty from our colleagues in facial plastics.

Call responsibilities are light, approximately one weekend in six shared amongst all the subspecialty fellows at Vanderbilt, preserving time and focus for the operating room, clinic, and research.

Data Science Training

Fellows complete a structured longitudinal curriculum in Data Science, with the goal of preparing trainees for the future of academic medicine. Key focus areas include:

• Study design and causal inference. Framing answerable questions, selecting the appropriate design, and recognizing confounding, selection bias, and the practical limits of retrospective data.
• Applied biostatistics. Regression modeling, survival analysis, longitudinal and repeated-measures data, and the interpretation of effect size and uncertainty rather than p-values alone.
• Statistical programming. Hands-on work in R and Python, from data cleaning through reproducible analysis and publication-quality visualization.
• Machine learning and applied AI. Supervised learning, model validation and overfitting, and the practical judgment to know when these methods add value to a clinical question and when they do not.

The year culminates in a capstone data science project applying these skills to a clinical question in rhinology or skull base surgery, with the expectation of national presentation and peer-reviewed publication. Projects draw on the division's existing data assets, including the VSTR and linked clinical, imaging, and patient-reported outcome data, and are supported through our collaboration with the Vanderbilt Data Science Institute.

Research and Academic Development

The research training of the fellowship is built around one of the most comprehensive sinonasal research programs in the country. At its center is the NIH-funded Vanderbilt Sinonasal Tissue Repository (VSTR), a prospectively enrolled biobank of more than 1,000 deeply phenotyped patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and related disorders, linked to clinical, radiographic, and molecular data. This resource streamlines productivity during the fellowship year and allows fellows to explore novel questions of interest and develop their own niche, providing a competitive advantage when interviewing for academic jobs.

Fellows have the opportunity to work at the intersection of clinical rhinology and modern translational science, including:

• Inflammatory endotyping of chronic rhinosinusitis, moving beyond the phenotypes toward molecularly defined disease subtypes that guide biologic and surgical decision-making
• Multi-omic integration, with proteomics, bulk RNA sequencing, CT radiomics, and digital pathomics analyzed together to understand why patients respond differently to medical and surgical therapy
• The respiratory exposome, including the role of fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) and other environmental factors in driving chronic sinonasal inflammation
• Predictive modeling of treatment response and surgical success, developed with the Vanderbilt Data Science Institute using the division's clinical, imaging, and patient-reported outcome data

The program is led by faculty with formal biostatistics, education, and epidemiology training, and fellows are supported in developing their own projects, presenting at national meetings, and publishing in top tier peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and the International Forum of Allergy and Rhinology. Fellows leave with a portfolio of scholarly work and, more importantly, the methodologic literacy and mentorship to sustain it in their future careers.

The department also maintains active collaborations with the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering, including the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE) and the Medical Engineering and Discovery Lab, offering fellows opportunities in surgical robotics, stereotaxis, and device innovation. Statistical analysis, grant writing, and clinical research coordinator support are available in the division and department. Vanderbilt also provides robust resources for trainees looking to develop grant support during the fellowship year, including internal vouchers, grant workshop studios, and pilot funding for aspiring surgeon-scientists.

Faculty

Rhinology and Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery

Naweed I. Chowdhury, MD, MPH — Fellowship Director; Associate Professor and Division Chief; Director of Data Science. Residency at the University of Kansas; rhinology and skull base fellowship at Oregon Health & Science University. He also holds a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins with concentrations in data science, outcomes research, and health management. Research focus in chronic rhinosinusitis endotyping, the respiratory exposome, and multi-omic integration. Associate Editor, International Forum of Allergy and Rhinology.

Mason Krysinski, MD — Assistant Professor. Residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; rhinology and skull base fellowship at Vanderbilt. Research focus in ergonomics of endoscopic sinus surgery and skull base surgical techniques/outcomes.

Margaret (Megan) Mitchell, MD, MS-HPEd — Assistant Professor. Residency at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and rhinology and skull base fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Mitchell also holds a Master of Science in Health Professions Education from Harvard Medical School, bringing formal training in curriculum design and assessment to the fellowship.

Paul T. Russell III, MD — Associate Professor. Residency at Loma Linda University; rhinology and skull base fellowship at Vanderbilt. Research interests in endoscopic surgical robotics in collaboration with Dr. Robert (Bob) Webster and the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE) lab.

James A. Duncavage, MD — Professor Emeritus and founding director of the Vanderbilt Rhinology Fellowship. Dr. Duncavage continues to support our educational program with an annual endowed lectureship at Vanderbilt.

Collaborating Faculty

Neurological Surgery

Lola B. Chambless, MD, FAANS — Professor of Neurological Surgery; George S. Allen Chair in Neurological Surgery

Peter J. Morone, MD, MSCI, MBA — Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery; Director, Neurosurgical Oncology and Skull Base Surgery.

Patrick D. Kelly, MD, MSCI — Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery.

Allergy and Immunology

Katherine N. Cahill, MD — Associate Professor of Medicine; Section Chief of Allergy; Medical Director of Clinical Asthma Research, Division of Allergy, Pulmonary, and Critical Care Medicine. Clinical and research focus in AERD, severe and adult-onset asthma, and chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.

Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Scott J. Stephan, MD — Associate Professor; Service Chief and Fellowship Director, Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Priyesh N. Patel, MD — Associate Professor; Program Director, Vanderbilt Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery Residency

Shiayin F. Yang, MD — Associate Professor; Director of Ambulatory Surgery in Otolaryngology

Jordan Garcia, MD — Assistant Professor

Monica K. Rossi Meyer, MD — Assistant Professor

Oculoplastic and Orbital Surgery

Louise A. Mawn, MD — Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences; Fellowship Program Director, Oculofacial Plastic Surgery

Rachel K. Sobel, MD — Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences

Behin Barahimi, MD — Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences

Sleep Surgery

David T. Kent, MD — Associate Professor; Director of Sleep Surgery; Director of Translational Research. Residency at the University of Pittsburgh; sleep surgery fellowship at the University of Southern California. The Kent Lab studies the neurophysiology of the upper airway and mechanisms of breathing control in obstructive sleep apnea, supported by more than $4 million in NIH funding to investigate ansa cervicalis stimulation, a patented novel neurostimulation therapy for OSA first discovered at Vanderbilt.

Adjunct Faculty

Rakesh K. Chandra, MD — Adjunct Professor; Chair, Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, University of Mississippi Medical Center; Editor in Chief, Ear, Nose & Throat Journal

Justin H. Turner, MD, PhD — Adjunct Professor; Chair, Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Associate Editor, International Forum of Allergy and Rhinology

Our Fellows

Incoming Fellow, 2027–2028
Nathan Wallace, MD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Fellowship Graduates

Life in Nashville

Nashville offers an exceptional quality of life for fellows and their families: a vibrant, fast-growing city with a nationally recognized food and music scene, a reasonable cost of living relative to comparable metros, no state income tax, and easy access to the outdoors. Vanderbilt sits at the center of it, and the department has a strong culture of supporting fellows and their families through the training year and beyond. The School of Medicine offers a competitive PGY-6 level salary for clinical fellows and also provides a generous moving stipend and matching retirement contributions.

Teaching and Service

Fellows attend weekly departmental Grand Rounds and give one lecture annually. A weekly rhinology and skull base case conference features resident case presentations moderated by the fellow and senior faculty. Fellows participate in the multidisciplinary Head and Neck Tumor Board and Pituitary Planning Meeting, mentor residents for rhinology case presentations at the quarterly departmental M&M Conference, and proctor multiple annual cadaver dissection labs in Nashville, St. Louis, and Jacksonville.

Fellows rotate in two-month segments with senior rhinology attendings to receive both clinic and operative experience. In the operating room, the fellow guides residents through the initial portions of the case before taking the role of primary training surgeon for more complex steps such as the skull base, frontal sinus, drilling, tumor removal, and skull base reconstruction.

The fellow rounds with the rhinology service residents and communicates with the appropriate attendings. The fellow is the primary point of contact for inpatient rhinology consultations and is the attending surgeon on the resulting operative cases with backup from senior faculty. Independent clinical time is also provided for follow-ups resulting from inpatient cases.

Fellows hold an appointment as Instructor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and are credentialed clinically as a general otolaryngologist, with admitting and surgical privileges at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, and the VA Hospital.

How to Apply

The fellowship accepts one fellow per year, beginning July 15th, and participates in the San Francisco (SF) Match. The program is accredited through the American Rhinologic Society.

Interviews are generally a small group format held in person in the spring, where you will be invited to spend time with us at our clinical and operative sites and experience a day in the life of our fellow, with an optional dinner the night before or after the interview day.

Eligibility requirements:

• Completion of, or current enrollment in, an ACGME-accredited Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery residency program, or board certification in Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery
• US board certification or board eligibility
• A valid full (not training) Tennessee medical license at the start of the fellowship
• Tennessee DEA registration
• Proof of citizenship or visa status. Please note that the program does not sponsor visas. Any visa obtained independently must permit both work and teaching, and may not be a student visa.

Questions? Please contact our program coordinator Sarah Wills at sarah.k.wills@vumc.org.