Desmond Nunez: Professor at Department of Surgery, UBC Faculty of Medicine

Professor

Faculty of Medicine

Research Classification

Sensory systems, auditory

Otorhinolaryngology

Research Interests

Age Related Hearing Loss

Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Recurrent Acute Otitis Media

Relevant Thesis-Based Degree Programs

Surgery, Master of Science

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Research Options

I am available and interested in collaborations (e.g. clusters, grants).

I am interested in and conduct interdisciplinary research.

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Research Methodology

cell culture

Immunocytochemistry

Audiometry

miRNAs

Recruitment

Looking to recruit:

Master's students

Doctoral students

Postdoctoral Fellows

Desired start dates: Any time / year round

Other options:

I support public scholarship, e.g. through the Public Scholars Initiative, and am available to supervise students and Postdocs interested in collaborating with external partners as part of their research.

I am open to hosting Visiting International Research Students (non-degree, up to 12 months).

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ADVICE AND INSIGHTS FROM UBC FACULTY ON REACHING OUT TO SUPERVISORS

These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a potential thesis supervisor.

Supervision Enquiry

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Graduate Student Supervision

Master's Student Supervision

Theses completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest theses.

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (2020)

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of oral, intratympanic steroid (IT) and Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy (HBOT) based treatments on hearing outcomes in patients with Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). Methods A systematic review of primary studies published in the English language between January 2000 to June 2018 identified by searching Medline, PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase databases was performed. Inclusion criteria were Primary articles on the treatment with (oral, IT steroid and HBOT) of patients diagnosed as having SSNHL. Patients with all other types of hearing loss were excluded. A retrospective chart review of patients presenting with SSNHL at Vancouver general hospital from 2015 to 2017 was also performed. The outcomes studied include; Averaged PTA threshold change between pre/posttreatment.Results 223 articles were identified of which 24 articles meet the study inclusion criteria. The quality of evidence was good in 20 articles, and poor in the remaining 4 articles. Overall, 90% of 687 patients in the 8 studies who received oral and IT steroids (combination therapy) and 86% 0f 494 patients in the 5 studies who received triple therapy with HBOT demonstrated hearing recovery compared to a 75% recovery rate in 548 patients who received oral steroids alone. Combination therapy had statistically significant hearing improvement compared with oral steroids alone (Chi squared, p 15db) noticed in patient groups of prednisone alone and prednisone + IT and IT alone (p
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