Gabrielle Merchant, Au.D., Ph.D., Receives 2025 Early Career Research Award

Friday, March 21, 2025

Gabrielle Merchant, Au.D., Ph.D., has received the 2025 Early Career Research Award from the American Auditory Society (AAS). This prestigious award recognizes early career scientists who have made significant contributions to the field of auditory research. Dr. Merchant is Director of the Translational Auditory Physiology and Perception Laboratory at Boys Town National Research Hospital.

She received the award and presented her work, "Improving the Diagnosis of Otitis Media and Associated Hearing Loss in Children," at the AAS annual conference in February. It's a meeting Dr. Merchant first attended as an undergraduate in 2009.

“That experience solidified not only that I loved this field, but also that I wanted to get both a clinical degree and a Ph.D. to experience the interaction between the clinicians and the scientists," she said. “It really inspired a lot of the work I do, so receiving this award was really special."

The work Dr. Merchant presented is relatable to any parent who's taken a child to their pediatrician for otitis media, commonly known as an ear infection. Historically, there's been uncertainty about the best course of treatment when ear infections may be associated with hearing loss: antibiotics, placement of tympanostomy tubes or a wait-and-see approach. 

“The goal of my research is to provide tools to health care providers and physicians that improve our diagnostics and give patients' families the most precise answers, so they can make decisions about their child's care," Dr. Merchant said.

One of the findings from her lab is the correlation between the amount of fluid in the middle ear and hearing loss severity. Another is the use of a tool called wideband acoustic immittance or wideband tympanometry. “It can inform you as to how much fluid is in the middle of the ear, so that's been a big finding. It's also a technique that would be very familiar to most clinicians," Dr. Merchant said.

The findings are already being implemented at Boys Town by audiology and ear, nose and throat specialists. “That translational aspect is really important to me," Dr. Merchant said. “The ability to take discoveries from the lab and see them actively shape clinical practice in such a short time is incredibly rewarding."

The path to achieving this award has been anything but conventional. A former foster youth and first-generation college student, Dr. Merchant discovered research as an undergraduate at Smith College while being mentored by a hearing scientist and engineering professor. The experience led her to pursue a Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. She later completed a clinical Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

“People generally get their degree in audiology first and then decide they want to get a Ph.D. and pursue research — almost never the other way around," said Lori Leibold, Ph.D., Senior at the Center for Hearing Research at Boys Town. “I think she realized the importance of getting that clinical training and I think it is one of the reasons why it's all coming together for her now. It's a really challenging award to win."

Dr. Merchant credited both the AAS and Boys Town for their commitment to bridging the research and clinical worlds.

“The goals of the AAS are to promote the translation of scientific discovery to clinical practice, and this award feels really special because of how important the early career individuals are to the AAS and how much they do to support them," she said. “Boys Town is a special place that supports early-stage investigators and translational research, and I wouldn't have been able to achieve this recognition without that support."

Learn more about the Translational Auditory Physiology and Perception Laboratory at Boys Town here. ​