am a pediatric otolaryngology – head and neck surgeon with specific interest in clinical, translational, and surgical outcomes research. Since medical school, I have had an emphasis on studying and researching head and neck cancer, in which I have several publications. I am the lead surgeon for pediatric head and neck/thyroid masses for our Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital within the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. I collaborate with a laboratory on campus focused on the pathogenesis of pediatric thyroid cancer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which also researches the molecular and cellular mechanism of invasion and metastasis. We are excited to further advance this research and evaluate the tumor microenvironment of pediatric thyroid cancer to identify biomarkers that drive progression as well as have a better understanding of the gene expression changes between tumors and overall advance the care of childhood thyroid cancer.