Today in ENT Allergy: AAOA's Podcast

Today in ENT Allergy: AAOA's Podcast


CRS with/without Nasal Polyps Podcast Series: Common Co-morbidities

February 03, 2022

In the second episode of CRS with/without Nasal Polyps Podcast Series: Common Co-morbidities, Jennifer Villwock, MD will be speaking with Amber Luong, MD, PhD, about recognition of the respiratory and non-respiratory co-morbidities often associated with chronic rhinosinusitis with/without nasal polyps and how this might influence diagnosis and disease outcomes. Dr. Villwock is an associate professor, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Kansas University Medical Center and Chief of Otolaryngology, Kansas City Veterans Affairs Hospital.  Dr. Luong is Professor and Vice Chair for Research, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, Texas.

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Amber Luong, MD, PhDHouston, TX

Amber Luong, MD, PhD, serves as a Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at the McGovern Medical School of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston with a joint appointment within the Center of Immunology and Autoimmune Diseases at the Institute of Molecular Medicine. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the American Rhinologic Society and inaugural chair of Allergy and Immunology in Rhinology section. Dr. Luong obtained her MD/PhD at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas through the NIH sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program. She obtained her Ph.D. under the Nobel laureates Drs. Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein for the identification and biochemical characterization of a novel human enzyme, acetyl coA synthetase. She then completed her residency training at UT Southwestern and rhinology fellowship training at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Luong has co-authored over 90 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. She is a 2020 Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM), recipient of the 2017 Women in Otolaryngology Helen F. Krause, MD Memorial Trailblazer Award and the 2017 Women Faculty Forum Excellence Award. Her primary research interest focuses on understanding the role of the innate immune response in the pathophysiology of chronic rhinosinusitis, with a particular interest in the role of environmental fungi in initiating these innate immune responses. She is the recipient of the 2019 Edmund Prince Fowler Award for best basic science research thesis from the Triological Society. She has received external funding from the NIH, American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy, The Triological Society, and is actively involved in several industry-sponsored multicenter clinical trials. Dr. Luong’s clinical interest parallels her research interest in allergic fungal rhinosinusitis as well as the medical and surgical management of refractory chronic rhinosinusitis, sinonasal tumors, CSF leak repairs, and endoscopic orbital and dacryocystorhinostomy surgery.

Jennifer Villwock, MD, FAAOAKansas City, KS 

Dr. Jennifer Villwock is a board-certified otolaryngologist and fellow of the AAOA. She attended medical school at the Michigan State University – College of Human Medicine and residency at SUNY-Upstate in Syracuse, NY. Dr. Villwock is currently an associate professor and associate residency program director at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Her academic interests include olfaction and sinonasal disease. She is also passionate about medical education from the undergraduate level to continuing education. Dr. Villwock’s outside interests include “gardening” aka (according to her husband) digging up perfectly good lawn and then neglecting what she plants there instead.