Aaron Tward, MD, PhD
Associate Professor
Otolaryngology
School of Medicine

Dr. Tward has particular clinical interests in cochlear implantation, management of benign and malignant tumors of the skull base including acoustic neuroma (vestibular schwannoma), surgery for chronic otitis media, stapedectomy, superior semi-circular canal dehiscence repair, and endoscopic surgery of the ear and skull base.

Dr. Tward’s research interests include tumor biology, the genetics and genomics of disorders of the head and neck, the development and physiology of the organs of hearing, and clinical outcomes of surgery of the ear and skull base.

Education and Training:

• Undergraduate: University of California, Los Angeles, B.S. - Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
• Graduate School: University of California, Los Angeles, M.A. - Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Lab of A. Jake Lusis
• Graduate School: University of California, San Francisco, Ph.D. - Biomedical Sciences, Lab of J. Michael Bishop
• Medical School: University of California, San Francisco, M.D.
• Internship: Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School - General Surgery

• Residency: Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Harvard Medical School Residency Program in Otolaryngology Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Massachusetts General Hospital Brigham and Women’s Hospital Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center Boston Children’s Hospital

• Clinical Fellowship: Otology, Neurotology, and Skull Base Surgery Harvard Medical School Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Massachusetts General Hospital (Michael J. McKenna and Daniel J. Lee Fellowship directors)

• Post Doctoral: The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Lab of Todd R. Golub

• Diplomate, American Board of Otolaryngology
• License, Medical Board of California

• Endoscopic Medial Reepithelization for Inflammatory Canal Stenosis.
  Otology & neurotology : official publication of the American Otological Society, American Neurotology Society [and] European Academy of Otology and Neurotology 2022 Scaria SM, Tward AD
• Repair of the Murine Tympanic Membrane Displays Hallmarks of Regeneration.
  The FASEB Journal 2022 Sonia Scaria, Stacey Frumm, Amar H. Sheth, Aaron Tward
• 607 Gene Editing/Gene Therapies: HIGHLY EFFICIENT GENOME ENGINEERING OF PRIMARY ADULT KERATINOCYTES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL CELL THERAPIES.
  Cytotherapy 2022 C.I. Mahieu, A. Mancini, C. beckett, A. Tward
• 608 Gene Editing/Gene Therapies: SCALABLE GENOME ENGINEERING OF ADULT KERATINOCYTES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL CELL THERAPEUTICS.
  Cytotherapy 2022 C.I. Mahieu, A. Mancini, C. Beckett, A. Tward
• A Rare Complication of Chronic Otitis Media: Central Skull Base Osteomyelitis Managed With Combined Endoscopic Transmastoid and Transsphenoidal Debridement.
  Otology & neurotology : official publication of the American Otological Society, American Neurotology Society [and] European Academy of Otology and Neurotology 2022 Suresh K, Chari DA, Bartholomew RA, Tward AD, Kozin ED, Barshak MB, Holbrook EH, Lee DJ
• Author Correction: A single-cell atlas and lineage analysis of the adult Drosophila ovary.
  Nature communications 2021 Rust K, Byrnes LE, Yu KS, Park JS, Sneddon JB, Tward AD, Nystul TG
• Human melanocyte development and melanoma dedifferentiation at single-cell resolution.
  Nature cell biology 2021 Belote RL, Le D, Maynard A, Lang UE, Sinclair A, Lohman BK, Planells-Palop V, Baskin L, Tward AD, Darmanis S, Judson-Torres RL
• Abstract 3112: Human melanocyte development and melanoma dedifferentiation at single cell resolution.
  Cancer Research 2021 Rachel L. Belote, Daniel Le, Ashley Maynard, Ursula E. Lang, Adriane Sinclair, Vincente Planells-Palop, Laurence S. Baskin, Aaron D. Tward, Spyros Darmanis, Robert L. Judson-Torres
• Scalable genome engineering of adult keratinocytes for the development of novel cell therapeutics.
  Cytotherapy 2021 C. Mahieu, A. Mancini, C. beckett, A. Tward
• A Hierarchy of Proliferative and Migratory Keratinocytes Maintains the Tympanic Membrane.
  Cell stem cell 2020 Frumm SM, Yu SK, Chang J, Artichoker JA, Scaria SM, Lee KP, Byrnes LE, Sneddon JB, Tward AD
• A single-cell atlas and lineage analysis of the adult Drosophila ovary.
  Nature communications 2020 Rust K, Byrnes LE, Yu KS, Park JS, Sneddon JB, Tward AD, Nystul TG
• Abstract 4903: Minimal mutational determinants of human squamous cell carcinoma.
  Cancer Research 2020 Vicente Planells-Palop, Angie Koo, Heydi Malave, Katharine Lee, Aaron Tward
• Abstract B40: Minimal mutational determinants of human squamous cell carcinoma.
  Cancer Research 2020 Vicente Planells-Palop, Angie Koo, Heydi Malave, Katharine Lee, Aaron Tward
• Transcriptional control of subtype switching ensures adaptation and growth of pancreatic cancer.
  eLife 2019 Adams CR, Htwe HH, Marsh T, Wang AL, Montoya ML, Subbaraj L, Tward AD, Bardeesy N, Perera RM
• Adventitial stromal cells define group 2 innate lymphoid cell tissue niches.
  The Journal of Immunology 2019 Ari B Molofsky, Madelene W Dahlgren, Stephen W Jones, Alexandra Dubinin, Sepideh Farhat, Jorge F Ortiz-Carpena, Kevin S Yu, Katharine Lee, Chaoqun Wang, Anna Victoria R Molofsky, Aaron D Tward, …
• Adventitial Stromal Cells Define Group 2 Innate Lymphoid Cell Tissue Niches.
  Immunity 2019 Dahlgren MW, Jones SW, Cautivo KM, Dubinin A, Ortiz-Carpena JF, Farhat S, Yu KS, Lee K, Wang C, Molofsky AV, Tward AD, Krummel MF, Peng T, Molofsky AB
• Cellular Dynamics in Early Healing of Mouse Tympanic Membranes.
  Otology & neurotology : official publication of the American Otological Society, American Neurotology Society [and] European Academy of Otology and Neurotology 2019 Chari DA, Frumm SM, Akil O, Tward AD
• Temporal Dynamics of Pseudoprogression After Gamma Knife Radiosurgery for Vestibular Schwannomas-A Retrospective Volumetric Study.
  Neurosurgery 2019 Breshears JD, Chang J, Molinaro AM, Sneed PK, McDermott MW, Tward A, Theodosopoulos PV
• Impact of pretreatment growth on Tumor control for vestibular schwannomas following gamma knife.
  The Laryngoscope 2018 Chang J, Breshears JD, Molinaro AM, Sneed PK, McDermott MW, Theodosopoulos PV, Tward AD
• Lineage dynamics of murine pancreatic development at single-cell resolution.
  Nature communications 2018 Byrnes LE, Wong DM, Subramaniam M, Meyer NP, Gilchrist CL, Knox SM, Tward AD, Ye CJ, Sneddon JB
• Oncogenic Signaling Pathways in The Cancer Genome Atlas.
  Cell 2018 Sanchez-Vega F, Mina M, Armenia J, Chatila WK, Luna A, La KC, Dimitriadoy S, Liu DL, Kantheti HS, Saghafinia S, Chakravarty D, Daian F, Gao Q, Bailey MH, Liang WW, Foltz SM, Shmulevich I, Ding L, …
• Salivary glands regenerate after radiation injury through SOX2-mediated secretory cell replacement.
  EMBO molecular medicine 2018 Emmerson E, May AJ, Berthoin L, Cruz-Pacheco N, Nathan S, Mattingly AJ, Chang JL, Ryan WR, Tward AD, Knox SM
• Duration and Timing of Transient Tumor Enlargement after Gamma Knife Radiosurgery for Vestibular Schwannomas.
  Journal of Neurological Surgery Part B Skull Base 2018 Jonathan Breshears, Joseph Chang, Annette Molinaro, Penny Sneed, Michael Mcdermott, Aaron Tward, Philip Theodosopoulos
• Meningiomas of the Cerebellopontine Angle.
  Skull Base Surgery of the Posterior Fossa 2018 Stephen T. Magill, Philip V. Theodosopoulos, Aaron D. Tward, Steven W. Cheung, Michael W. McDermott
• Defining epithelial cell dynamics and lineage relationships in the developing lacrimal gland.
  Development (Cambridge, England) 2017 Farmer DT, Nathan S, Finley JK, Shengyang Yu K, Emmerson E, Byrnes LE, Sneddon JB, McManus MT, Tward AD, Knox SM
• Abstract 2673: Inhibition of fatty-acid oxidation as a therapy for MYC-overexpressing triple-negative breast cancer.
  Molecular and Cellular Biology, Genetics 2016 Roman Camarda, Alicia Y. Zhou, Rebecca A. Kohnz, Sanjeev Balakrishnan, Celine Mahieu, Brittany Anderton, Henok Eyob, Shingo Kajimura, Aaron Tward, Gregor Krings, Daniel K. Nomura, Andrei Goga
• Inhibition of fatty acid oxidation as a therapy for MYC-overexpressing triple-negative breast cancer.
  Nature medicine 2016 Camarda R, Zhou AY, Kohnz RA, Balakrishnan S, Mahieu C, Anderton B, Eyob H, Kajimura S, Tward A, Krings G, Nomura DK, Goga A
• Auditory brainstem implantation in a 16-month-old boy with cochlear hypoplasia.
  Otology & neurotology : official publication of the American Otological Society, American Neurotology Society [and] European Academy of Otology and Neurotology 2015 Puram SV, Tward AD, Jung DH, Dilger AE, Herrmann BS, Duhaime AC, Barker FG, Lee DJ
• Reciprocal interaction of Wnt and RXR-α pathways in hepatocyte development and hepatocellular carcinoma.
  PloS one 2015 Li J, Chanrion M, Sawey E, Wang T, Chow E, Tward A, Su Y, Xue W, Lucito R, Zender L, Lowe SW, Bishop JM, Powers S
• Intra-tumor genetic heterogeneity and mortality in head and neck cancer: analysis of data from the Cancer Genome Atlas.
  PLoS medicine 2015 Mroz EA, Tward AD, Tward AM, Hammon RJ, Ren Y, Rocco JW
• Comprehensive genomic characterization of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas.
  Nature 2015 Cancer Genome Atlas Network
• Characterization of HPV and host genome interactions in primary head and neck cancers.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2014 Parfenov M, Pedamallu CS, Gehlenborg N, Freeman SS, Danilova L, Bristow CA, Lee S, Hadjipanayis AG, Ivanova EV, Wilkerson MD, Protopopov A, Yang L, Seth S, Song X, Tang J, Ren X, Zhang J, Pantazi A, …
• Mutant-Allele Tumor Heterogeneity (MATH) Adds to Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Status in Predicting Outcome in Head-and-Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) Molecular Biology and Therapeutics.
  International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics 2014 J.W. Rocco, A.D. Tward, Y. Ren, R.J. Hammon, E.A. Mroz
• High intratumor genetic heterogeneity is related to worse outcome in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
  Cancer 2013 Mroz EA, Tward AD, Pickering CR, Myers JN, Ferris RL, Rocco JW
• The mutational landscape of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
  Science (New York, N.Y.) 2011 Stransky N, Egloff AM, Tward AD, Kostic AD, Cibulskis K, Sivachenko A, Kryukov GV, Lawrence MS, Sougnez C, McKenna A, Shefler E, Ramos AH, Stojanov P, Carter SL, Voet D, Cortés ML, Auclair D, Berger …
• Integration of genomic analysis and in vivo transfection to identify sprouty 2 as a candidate tumor suppressor in liver cancer.
  Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.) 2008 Lee SA, Ho C, Roy R, Kosinski C, Patil MA, Tward AD, Fridlyand J, Chen X
• The Functional Consequences of Polymorphisms in the Human PON1 Gene.
  The Paraoxonases: Their Role in Disease Development and Xenobiotic Metabolism 2008 C.E. Furlong, R.J Richter, W.-F. Li, V.H. Brophy, C. Carlson, M. Rieder, D. Nickerson, L.G. Costa, J. Ranchalis, A.J. Lusis, D.M. Shih, A. Tward, G.P. Jarvik
• Distinct pathways of genomic progression to benign and malignant tumors of the liver.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2007 Tward AD, Jones KD, Yant S, Cheung ST, Fan ST, Chen X, Kay MA, Wang R, Bishop JM
• Inhibition of CDK1 as a potential therapy for tumors over-expressing MYC.
  Nature medicine 2007 Goga A, Yang D, Tward AD, Morgan DO, Bishop JM
• Bone morphogenetic protein antagonist gremlin 1 is widely expressed by cancer-associated stromal cells and can promote tumor cell proliferation.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2006 Sneddon JB, Zhen HH, Montgomery K, van de Rijn M, Tward AD, West R, Gladstone H, Chang HY, Morganroth GS, Oro AE, Brown PO
• Trypanosoma congolense: paraoxonase 1 prolongs survival of infected mice.
  Experimental parasitology 2006 Bhasin KK, Yu JM, Tward A, Shih D, Campbell DA, Lusis AJ
• Hepatocellular carcinoma in Txnip-deficient mice.
  Oncogene 2006 Sheth SS, Bodnar JS, Ghazalpour A, Thipphavong CK, Tsutsumi S, Tward AD, Demant P, Kodama T, Aburatani H, Lusis AJ
• Role of paraoxonase (PON1) status in pesticide sensitivity: genetic and temporal determinants.
  Neurotoxicology 2005 Furlong CE, Cole TB, Jarvik GP, Pettan-Brewer C, Geiss GK, Richter RJ, Shih DM, Tward AD, Lusis AJ, Costa LG
• Toxicity of chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos oxon in a transgenic mouse model of the human paraoxonase (PON1) Q192R polymorphism.
  Pharmacogenetics and genomics 2005 Cole TB, Walter BJ, Shih DM, Tward AD, Lusis AJ, Timchalk C, Richter RJ, Costa LG, Furlong CE
• Genomic progression in mouse models for liver tumors.
  Cold Spring Harbor symposia on quantitative biology 2005 Tward AD, Jones KD, Yant S, Kay MA, Wang R, Bishop JM
• Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) status and risk of insecticide exposure.
  Journal of biochemical and molecular toxicology 2005 Furlong CE, Cole TB, Walter BJ, Shih DM, Tward A, Lusis AJ, Timchalk C, Richter RJ, Costa LG
• Systemic rather than local heme oxygenase-1 overexpression improves cardiac allograft outcomes in a new transgenic mouse.
  Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) 2003 Araujo JA, Meng L, Tward AD, Hancock WW, Zhai Y, Lee A, Ishikawa K, Iyer S, Buelow R, Busuttil RW, Shih DM, Lusis AJ, Kupiec-Weglinski JW
• Expression of human paraoxonase (PON1) during development.
  Pharmacogenetics 2003 Cole TB, Jampsa RL, Walter BJ, Arndt TL, Richter RJ, Shih DM, Tward A, Lusis AJ, Jack RM, Costa LG, Furlong CE
• Decreased atherosclerotic lesion formation in human serum paraoxonase transgenic mice.
  Circulation 2002 Tward A, Xia YR, Wang XP, Shi YS, Park C, Castellani LW, Lusis AJ, Shih DM
• MSJAMA. From grave robbing to gifting: cadaver supply in the United States.
  JAMA 2002 Tward AD, Patterson HA
• Cancer risk in ATM heterozygotes: a model of phenotypic and mechanistic differences between missense and truncating mutations.
  Molecular genetics and metabolism 1999 Gatti RA, Tward A, Concannon P