PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at Washington University has had continuous T32 funding for research training during the otolaryngology residency program since 1985. This application seeks to transition funding for research training during otolaryngology from the T32 to R25 program in response to RFA-DC-20-002. The Overall Goal of the Otolaryngology R25 Mentored Research Pathway Training Program is to provide outstanding research and educational opportunities to medical students and resident-investigators in otolaryngology to stimulate an interest in research as part of their future career goals. The Specific Aims of the R25 Training Program are to: 1) Provide mentored research experience with research preceptors conducting basic, clinical, translational, or behavioral research in diseases and conditions related to deafness and other communication disorders. 2) Provide core courses related to the fundamentals of clinical and translational research created by Ors. Piccirillo and Kallogjeri and delivered as short courses, tutorials, video modules and elective courses to ensure trainees acquire in-depth knowledge of relevant basic, clinical, translational, and behavioral research techniques directly related to their research experience and/or research project. 3) Provide access to curricula, seminars, workshops, and tutorials that focus on topics related to professional career development skills. 4) Evaluate all research education program components and track trainees' career development over time. 5) Actively disseminate the digital core courses to encourage adoption by other otolaryngology residency training programs. The foundation of the R25 Program is the mentored research experience with one or more of the program faculty and research preceptors. The diverse program faculty and research preceptors have a proven record of providing outstanding mentored research opportunities. Each year, two predoctoral medical students and two post-doctoral otolaryngology residents will enter the research education pathway. The medical students will spend 9 months in the mentored research activity laboratory and the resident-investigators will spend two years at 80% effort after the PGY-2 year of clinical residency training. The R25 will support two medical students and four resident-investigators per year. Robust tracking and evaluation of the TL 1 program, trainees, and alumni will be used to determine the effectiveness of the training methods and identify opportunities to improve the Program.