Research Summary

Aaron D. Tward M.D., Ph.D., is a board-certified, fellowship-trained surgeon who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the ear and skull base.

Dr. Tward has particular clinical interests in cochlear implantation, management of benign and malignant tumors of the skull base including acoustic neuroma (vestibular schwannoma), surgery for chronic otitis media, stapedectomy, superior semi-circular canal dehiscence repair, and endoscopic surgery of the ear and skull base.

Dr. Twardʻs research interests include tumor biology, the genetics and genomics of disorders of the head and neck, and clinical outcomes of surgery of the ear and skull base.

Education

UCLA, B.S., 06/99, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
UCLA, M.A., 06/99, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
UCSF School of Medicine, Ph.D., 06/05, Biomedical Sciences
UCSF School of Medicine, M.D., 06/07, Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital
Harvard Medical School Internship, 06/08, General Surgery

Honors & Awards

  • 1995
    National Merit Scholar
  • 1995
    UCLA Regents Scholar
  • 1996
    UCLA Stone prize for excellence in first year chemistry
  • 1997
    Departmental Scholar - UCLA Dept. of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
  • 1999
    Medical Scientist Training Program
  • 2006
    Student Delegate, Academy of Achievement
  • 2006
    Alpha Omega Alpha
  • 2007
    UCSF Medical School Homecoming speaker
  • 2012
    J. P. Harris Award for Excellence in Resident Research, Harvard Otolaryngology Residency Program

Selected Publications

  1. Mahieu CI, Mancini AG, Vikram EP, Planells-Palop V, Joseph NM, Tward AD. ORAOV1, CCND1, and MIR548K Are the Driver Oncogenes of the 11q13 Amplicon in Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Mol Cancer Res. 2024 02 01; 22(2):152-168.  View on PubMed
  2. Merrill K, Muller L, Beim JA, Hehrmann P, Swan D, Alfsmann D, Spahr T, Litvak L, Oxenham AJ, Tward AD. CompHEAR: A Customizable and Scalable Web-Enabled Auditory Performance Evaluation Platform for Cochlear Implant Sound Processing Research. bioRxiv. 2023 Dec 23.  View on PubMed
  3. Scaria SM, Frumm SM, Vikram EP, Easow SA, Sheth AH, Shamir ER, Yu SK, Tward AD. Epimorphic regeneration in the mammalian tympanic membrane. NPJ Regen Med. 2023 Oct 18; 8(1):58.  View on PubMed
  4. Radaic A, Shamir ER, Jones K, Villa A, Garud NR, Tward AD, Kamarajan P, Kapila YL. Specific Oral Microbial Differences in Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes Are Associated with Distinct Sites When Moving from Healthy Mucosa to Oral Dysplasia-A Microbiome and Gene Profiling Study and Focused Review. Microorganisms. 2023 Sep 07; 11(9).  View on PubMed
  5. Muller L, Gilbert M, Jiam NT, Limb CJ, Tward AD. Electrical Determinants of Tinnitus Extinction in a Cochlear Implant Patient. Otol Neurotol. 2023 01 01; 44(1):e8-e12.  View on PubMed
  6. Scaria SM, Tward AD. Endoscopic Medial Reepithelization for Inflammatory Canal Stenosis. Otol Neurotol. 2022 09 01; 43(8):973-977.  View on PubMed
  7. Sonia Scaria, Stacey Frumm, Amar H. Sheth, Aaron Tward. Repair of the Murine Tympanic Membrane Displays Hallmarks of Regeneration. The FASEB Journal. 2022 May 13; 36(S1).  View on PubMed
  8. C.I. Mahieu, A. Mancini, C. beckett, A. Tward. 607 Gene Editing/Gene Therapies: HIGHLY EFFICIENT GENOME ENGINEERING OF PRIMARY ADULT KERATINOCYTES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL CELL THERAPIES. Cytotherapy. 2022 May 1; 24(5):s140-s141.  View on PubMed
  9. C.I. Mahieu, A. Mancini, C. Beckett, A. Tward. 608 Gene Editing/Gene Therapies: SCALABLE GENOME ENGINEERING OF ADULT KERATINOCYTES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL CELL THERAPEUTICS. Cytotherapy. 2022 May 1; 24(5):s141.  View on PubMed
  10. Suresh K, Chari DA, Bartholomew RA, Tward AD, Kozin ED, Barshak MB, Holbrook EH, Lee DJ. A Rare Complication of Chronic Otitis Media: Central Skull Base Osteomyelitis Managed With Combined Endoscopic Transmastoid and Transsphenoidal Debridement. Otol Neurotol. 2022 03 01; 43(3):e344-e347.  View on PubMed
  11. Rust K, Byrnes LE, Yu KS, Park JS, Sneddon JB, Tward AD, Nystul TG. Author Correction: A single-cell atlas and lineage analysis of the adult Drosophila ovary. Nat Commun. 2021 Oct 06; 12(1):5951.  View on PubMed
  12. Belote RL, Le D, Maynard A, Lang UE, Sinclair A, Lohman BK, Planells-Palop V, Baskin L, Tward AD, Darmanis S, Judson-Torres RL. Human melanocyte development and melanoma dedifferentiation at single-cell resolution. Nat Cell Biol. 2021 09; 23(9):1035-1047.  View on PubMed
  13. Ramin Farhad, Vicente Planells Palop, Aaron Tward. Abstract 2504: Functional characterization of chromosomal deletions in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Cancer Research. 2021 Jul 1; 81(13_Supplement):2504-2504.  View on PubMed
  14. Rachel L. Belote, Daniel Le, Ashley Maynard, Ursula E. Lang, Adriane Sinclair, Vincente Planells-Palop, Laurence S. Baskin, Aaron D. Tward, Spyros Darmanis, Robert L. Judson-Torres. Abstract 3112: Human melanocyte development and melanoma dedifferentiation at single cell resolution. Cancer Research. 2021 Jul 1; 81(13_Supplement):3112-3112.  View on PubMed
  15. C. Mahieu, A. Mancini, C. beckett, A. Tward. Scalable genome engineering of adult keratinocytes for the development of novel cell therapeutics. Cytotherapy. 2021 May 1; 23(5):s153.  View on PubMed
  16. Frumm SM, Yu SK, Chang J, Artichoker JA, Scaria SM, Lee KP, Byrnes LE, Sneddon JB, Tward AD. A Hierarchy of Proliferative and Migratory Keratinocytes Maintains the Tympanic Membrane. Cell Stem Cell. 2021 02 04; 28(2):315-330.e5.  View on PubMed
  17. Rust K, Byrnes LE, Yu KS, Park JS, Sneddon JB, Tward AD, Nystul TG. A single-cell atlas and lineage analysis of the adult Drosophila ovary. Nat Commun. 2020 11 06; 11(1):5628.  View on PubMed
  18. Vicente Planells-Palop, Angie Koo, Heydi Malave, Katharine Lee, Aaron Tward. Abstract 4903: Minimal mutational determinants of human squamous cell carcinoma. Cancer Research. 2020 Aug 15; 80(16_Supplement):4903-4903.  View on PubMed
  19. Vicente Planells-Palop, Angie Koo, Heydi Malave, Katharine Lee, Aaron Tward. Abstract B40: Minimal mutational determinants of human squamous cell carcinoma. Cancer Research. 2020 Jun 1; 80(11_Supplement):b40-b40.  View on PubMed
  20. S.J. Liu, H. Vasudevan, J.D. Breshears, M. Pekmezci, J. Villanueva-Meyer, U. Lang, W.C. Chen, A. Choudhury, S. Magill, S.E. Braunstein, C. Gopinath, J.L. Nakamura, A. Tward, P.K. Sneed, A. Perry, M.W. McDermott, P.V. Theodosopoulos, D. Raleigh. Multiplatform Molecular Profiling of Vestibular Schwannoma Reveals Immune Enrichment after Radiosurgery and a Methylation-Based Predictor of Recurrence. International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics. 2019 Sep 1; 105(1):e67.  View on PubMed

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