Emily Plowman, PhD, CCC-SLP, professor of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, directs the Aerodigestive Research Core (ARC) laboratory she established in 2013. The mission of the ARC lab is to improve assessment of, and clinical management approaches to, upper aerodigestive tract disorders to optimize function, quality of life, and ultimately survivorship in individuals suffering from breathing, swallowing and communication disorders.
The ARC’s approach is to conduct pragmatic, meaningful clinical research “so that clinicians can immediately use outcomes from our research and incorporate them into their daily practice,” says Dr. Plowman. Her research is currently funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).
“Our recent work in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit identified that dysphagia, or swallowing impairment, in patients recovering from open heart surgery represents a significant predictor for pneumonia, reintubation, length of hospital stay, and most importantly, 90-day mortality,” says Dr. Plowman.
“Given the gravity of dysphagia in this setting, our NINR R01 is examining independent dysphagia risk factors following cardiac surgery to develop and validate an evidenced-based aspiration risk prediction algorithm,” says Dr. Plowman. “Similar to our work in ALS, we will then translate our findings to create an open-access dysphagia risk calculator for real-time clinical use to guide triaged care pathways.”
Dr. Plowman is also collaborating with Katherine Hutcheson, PhD, CCC-SLP, (MD Anderson Cancer Center) and Nicole Rogus-Pulia, PhD, CCC-SLP, (University of Wisconsin-Madison) on a dissemination and implementation (D&I) clinical trial that the NCI funds.
The NIA funds a third project, which is collecting the largest dataset to date of healthy videofluoroscopic swallowing across the lifespan, in collaboration with Catriona Steele, PhD, CCC-SLP, (University Health Network, Toronto). This work will produce an open-access, comparative, healthy dataset for clinicians to facilitate evidence-based interpretation of the presence, nature and severity of swallowing impairment.
Dr. Plowman says, “The field currently does not have a robust, healthy reference dataset for swallowing. Ultimately, we seek to generate data that will shift subjective dysphagia diagnostic practices toward a quantitative and evidence-based diagnostic framework to improve resource utilization, treatment planning and patient outcomes.”
Finally, her fourth project, supported by the DOD, is evaluating the safety and potential efficacy of the drug metformin for treating bulbar dysfunction in individuals with C9orf72 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in collaboration with Laura Ranum, PhD, and James Wymer, MD, FAAN, at the University of Florida.
Moving into 2025, Dr. Plowman’s next step is to establish a Comprehensive Swallowing Center at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Eye and Ear Institute.