Two residents in WashU Medicine’s otolaryngology R25 pathway are studying different decisions in ENT care. In a September 24 profile, James Bao, MD, MSCI, described work on a large-language-model application intended to help triage patients presenting with dizziness. The department says his team is analyzing collected data; it does not report a validated or deployed clinical tool.
Chad Nieri, MD, is investigating a proposed Sleep Burden Index for obstructive sleep apnea. The project aims to combine physiologic sleep measures, symptoms, comorbidities and patient characteristics in a multidimensional staging system. WashU describes preliminary analyses and ongoing validation, not an established replacement for current clinical measures.
Both are second-year residents in the program. WashU’s official program description says selected residents spend a contiguous two-year block in mentored research, research-methods and biostatistics coursework, and career development. Jay Piccirillo, MD, directs the pathway; the September profile names Matthew Shew, MD, MSCI, as Bao’s mentor and lists Piccirillo among several mentors for Nieri.
The paired projects show what WashU’s physician-scientist training is testing across dizziness and sleep medicine. They are research questions with potential clinical relevance, not evidence that either approach improves triage, staging or patient outcomes yet.
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WashU Medicine Otolaryngology · September 24, 2026 ↗WashU Medicine · Physician-Scientist Training Program ↗This brief summarizes publicly announced information. It does not establish clinical superiority or recommend a treatment.
