Dr. Adrien Eshraghi is the Director and Principal Investigator of the Hearing, Cochlear Implantation and Communication Disorders Laboratory at the University of Miami
Cochlear Implant Surgery Research
Dr. Adrien Eshraghi is a surgeon-scientist with a special interest in cochlear implants and hearing disorders. One major focus of his research is to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying loss of residual hearing following cochlear implantation and to develop effective therapies to protect this residual hearing. He has conducted research into the evaluation of macroscopic damage to the inner ear following cochlear implantation, and the grading system he proposed for this is now widely used by the international scientific community. He is now exploring the molecular mechanisms involved in sensory cell death that can lead to the loss of residual hearing. Parallel to investigating these mechanisms, he is also focused on developing and testing novel otoprotective and regenerative therapies, including novel drugs, targeted drug therapies with nanoparticles, therapeutic hypothermia, and stem cell therapy that may be applied simultaneously with a cochlear implant to improve the hearing outcome.
| Grade | Trauma Post CI Insertion |
| 0 | No observable trauma |
| 1 | Elevation of the Basilar Membrane |
| 2 | Rupture of the Basilar Membrane |
| 3 | Dislocation of the electrode into the Scala vestibuli |
| 4 | Severe trauma such as fracture of the osseous spiral lamina or modiolus or tear of stria vascularis |
Dr. Eshraghi is also involved in many cochlear implant clinical trials and clinical research outcome studies. He has presented at numerous international conferences (Paris, London, Tokyo, Beijing, Frankfurt, New York, Torento, and more) and published the results of his clinical research in patients that have cochlear implant surgery in complex cases that require preimplantation of patients, cases with cochlear malformations, ossified cochlea, advanced age (over 80 years old), post meningitis, autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders.
Hearing and Tinnitus disorders research
Dr. Eshraghi is seeing patients with hearing disorders (hearing loss, tinnitus, hyperacusis) in his clinics. He is evaluating and searching the best interventions to help them including: lifestyle modifications, integrative and functional medicine, hearing aids, and implantable hearing devices (BAHA, BoneBridge, Osia, Cochlear implants).
Screening Novel Drugs for Hearing Disorders and Neural Preservation
His lab is specialized in screening novel drugs or repurposed drugs to target hearing disorders. He has a comprehensive program that, before starting the clinical trial phase 1, he screens the otoprotective agents on cell culture (in-vitro), tests them on explant of organ of Corti explant (ex-vivo) and evaluates the electrophysiology on animal models (in-vivo), before going to phase one clinical trial in humans.
Autism and Auditory Processing Disorders
Dr. Eshraghi cares for many children with multiple neurosensory disorders including hearing deficit or on the autism spectrum. Many patients are referred for the evaluation of communication disorders, such as hearing loss, speech delay, and central auditory processing disorders (CAPD), and he has performed cochlear implant surgery in these patients to improve auditory outcomes when necessary. He is actively researching the outcomes of these patients with various types of interventions.
The Eshraghi Lab utilizes various animal models of autism spectrum disorder to understand molecular mechanisms involved in this disorder and to test novel therapeutic approaches to improve behaviors. His team is actively developing experimental models of ASD and CAPD to provide insights into the pathophysiology of these neurological disorders and guide the development of novel treatment modalities. Presently he and his team are utilizing genome editing techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9 as well as neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from ASD patients to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying this neurodevelopmental disorder. At this time, the exciting ongoing research is to screen new drugs that can help autism and is tested on various animal models of autism (genetic models, GI models, and models that involve various epigenetic insults).
In addition to translational laboratory research, his efforts are also directed at clinical studies. He is conducting clinical research in collaboration with CARD at the University of Miami.
Exemplary Scholars in Medicine: Award Winning Medical Students from our Lab
David Elisha, our Research scholar for the 2024 academic year won first place at the Florida Combined Otolaryngology Meeting in 2024.
Jaimee Cooper, our Research scholar for the 2023 academic year won first place at the Florida Combined Otolaryngology Meeting in 2023. She presented her work on the use of a novel cannula delivery system for delivery of a novel drug to increase hearing preservation after cochlear implantation.
Dimitri Godur won first place at the Florida Combined Otolaryngology Meeting in 2022 for his work on Molecular Mechanisms underlying Otoprotection by Taurodeoxycholic Acid for Cochlear Implant Trauma
Jake Langlie won first place at the Florida Combined Otolaryngology Meeting in 2021 for his work on iTRAQ-based Quantitative Proteomic Analysis of Ex-Vivo Model of Cochlear Implant Trauma
Ariel Finberg won second place at the Florida Combined Otolaryngology Meeting in 2021 for her work on A Neurogenic Small Molecule Provides Otoprotection for Noise Induced Trauma in a Rat Model
Research Team
Dr. Adrien A Eshraghi
Principal Investigator
Professor of Otolaryngology, Neurosurgery, Pediatrics, and Biomedical Engineering at The University of Miami
Jeenu Mittal
Lab Manager
Dr. Rahul Mittal
Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of Miami
Dr Jorge Bohorquez
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at University of Miami
Medical Students and Residents
Jake Langlie, MD
Resident at the University of Miami
Medical School: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
(in the lab since MS1 at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine)
David Elisha, MD
Current Research Scholar at our Lab at the University of Miami (2024-2025)
Medical School: Tel Aviv University Sackler School of School of Medicine NY / American Program
Jaimee Cooper, MD
Resident at the University of Miami
Former Research Scholar at our Lab at the University of Miami (2023-2024)
Medical School: New York Medical College
David Cohen
Medical School: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Class of 2028
Bianca Arocha
Medical School: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Class of 2028
Kyle Latz
Medical School: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Class of 2028
Andrea Monterrubio
Medical School: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Class of 2029
Keelin McKenna
Medical School: Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
Max Zalta
Medical School: Texas Christian University Burnett School of Medicine, Class of 2029
Former Research Assistant in the Lab after Undergraduate studies for 1 year 1/2
Undergraduate Students
- Chirag Gowda, University of Miami
- Arian Fesharaki, Research Assistant (Graduated from Brown University 2024)
- Isabella Canelos, University of Miami
Lab Alumni (Non-Exhaustive List)
International Students/ Post-Docs/ Residents/Fellows while in our Lab:
- Idil Memis (Turkey), MD
- David Shahal (Israel), MD
- Dario Ebode (France), MD, Chief of Clinic, Marseille, France
- Florence Wang (France), MD, Chief of clinic , France
- Maria-Pia Tusset (France), MD, Assistant Professor , Paris , France
- Ali Alqasim (Bahrein), MD.Associate Professor, Manama, Bahrain
- Erdogan Bulut (Turkey), PhD, Professor, Istambul, Turkey
- Emre Ocak (Turkey), MD, Associate Professor, Ankara, Turkey
- Kadri Ila (Turkey), MD, Professor, Istambul, Turkey
- Abdul Aljohani (Saudi Arabia), MD
- Nirmal Thapa, MD, Assistant Professor University of Florida, FL
- Rasim Yilmazer (Turkey), MD, Associate Professor, Istambul, Turkey
- Amit Wolfovitz (Israel), MD, Associate Professor, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Andrea Samson (VA), MD
- Ciem Uzun (Turkey), PhD, Professor, Istambul, Turkey
- Eric Truy (France), PhD, Professor, Lyon, France
- Gia Hossein, MD, Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
Medical Students when in our Lab:
- Julian Alexander Purrinos
- Zachary Cromar
- Jessica Griff
- Viraj Shah
- Cameron Davies
- Sunny Shah
- Crystal Ying Li
- Alexa Denton
- Rameen Walters
- Steven Wallace
- Stepanie Pena
- Margarita Marquez
- Matthew Wiefels
- Jenna Bergman
- Drew Smith
- David Tran
- Peter Ashman
- Hyunseo Jung
- Elijah Horesh
- Kush Panara
- Rahul Iyengar
- Joshua Tillinger
- Angela Zhu
- Soumil Prasad
- Ariel Finberg
- Alexa Denton
- Jeremy Fontirro
- Mayank Aranke
- Dustin Lang
- Eelam Adil
Undergraduate Students when in our Lab:
- Emily Furar
- Leylane Cavalcante
- Anthony Dao
- Isaiah White
- Mario Perdomo
- Rahul Sinha
- Priyanka Sinha
- Dibyanshi Mishra
- Aditi Kumar
- Hannah Marwede
- Timothy Yassa
- Moeed Moosa
- Nia Hilton
- Brandon Ester
Adrien A. Eshraghi, MD, MSc, FACS 