Dr. Daniel Polley Named Director of Eaton-Peabody Laboratories, Otolaryngology Vice Chair of Basic Science Research at Mass Eye and Ear

World-renowned hearing researcher Daniel B. Polley, PhD, named third-ever Director of Eaton-Peabody Laboratories at Mass Eye and Ear.

Boston, Mass. — Daniel B. Polley, PhD, the Amelia Peabody Chair in Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS) at Mass Eye and Ear, has been named Director of the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories (EPL), the world’s largest and most productive private research enterprise focused on hearing and deafness, as well as Vice Chair for Basic Research for the hospital’s Department of OHNS.

As the EPL director, Dr. Polley will oversee a multidisciplinary group of more than 20 investigators dedicated to the study of hearing and deafness, with a primary focus on acoustics and biomechanics, inner ear biology and central auditory processing. He had served as interim director of the EPL since 2022, when M. Charles Liberman, PhD, the Harold F. Schuknecht Professor of OHNS at Harvard Medical School, stepped down from the position.

“Dr. Polley is a world-class researcher, who elegantly combines optogenetic, neurophysiological and behavioral approaches in animal models and human subjects to study mechanisms and develop treatments for key aspects of sensorineural hearing loss,” said Dr. Liberman. “He has the international respect and scientific vision needed for the Director position, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome of the search.”

Dr. Polley arrived at Mass Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School in 2011 after beginning his faculty career at Vanderbilt University. He has served as Director of the Lauer Tinnitus Research Center since 2017 and was promoted to Professor of OHNS in 2021. His research has primarily focused on the neurobiology of sound perception and the development of new biomarkers and treatment avenues for tinnitus, hyperacusis and other types of “hidden” hearing disorders. He has pursued questions to these topics using cutting-edge neurotechnology in mouse genetic models and has pioneered new approaches for hearing assessments and hearing rehabilitation in human subjects.

“I am humbled and honored to be lead the EPL and serve the broader basic science endeavor in our department as Vice Chair,” said Dr. Polley. “With first-in-human clinical trials for cochlear gene therapy just around the corner and an aging society that abuses its ears with higher and higher levels of environmental noise, the importance for maintaining EPL’s primacy as the hearing research institution the world can turn to for guidance, insight and inspiration has never been greater.”

Dr. Polley begins his tenure at a pivotal moment in the history of the lab. Last year, the EPL began major renovations to its central facilities, including additional lab space for expanded research capabilities and reconfigured space for cross-discipline research collaborations. The renovations were funded in large part by a generous gift from the Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund, champions of the EPL since it was founded in 1958 through a partnership between Miss Amelia Peabody, a philanthropist and former Mass Eye and Ear Board Member, and the late Nelson Kiang, PhD, the EPL’s Founding Director.

According to Mark A. Varvares, MD, FACS, Chief of the Departments of OHNS at Mass Eye and Ear and Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Polley’s strategic vision has been integral in the complex planning of the 10,000 square feet of renovations that will ensure the hospital continues to foster an optimal space for groundbreaking hearing advances.

"Dr. Polley’s ground-breaking research on experience-dependent brain plasticity and its therapeutic applications for hearing loss, hyperacusis and tinnitus—not to mention his outstanding leadership —made him the clear choice to direct the EPL," said Dr. Varvares. "I am confident that Dr. Polley will help propel the EPL to even greater heights at such a pivotal moment in the lab’s history.”

About Mass Eye and Ear

Massachusetts Eye and Ear, founded in 1824, is an international center for treatment and research and a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. A member of Mass General Brigham, Mass Eye and Ear specializes in ophthalmology (eye care) and otolaryngology–head and neck surgery (ear, nose and throat care). Mass Eye and Ear clinicians provide care ranging from the routine to the very complex. Also home to the world's largest community of hearing and vision researchers, Mass Eye and Ear scientists are driven by a mission to discover the basic biology underlying conditions affecting the eyes, ears, nose, throat, head and neck and to develop new treatments and cures. In the 2022–2023 “Best Hospitals Survey,” U.S. News & World Report ranked Mass Eye and Ear #4 in the nation for eye care and #4 for ear, nose and throat care. For more information about life-changing care and research at Mass Eye and Ear, visit our blog, Focus, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.