Our Team

Michael A. Kohanski, MD, PhD

Principal Investigator

Profile

Michael A. Kohanski received his Bachelors of Science in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002 and his M.D. and Ph.D. from Boston University in 2011.  Dr. Kohanski’s graduate work in the laboratory of Dr. Jim Collins focused on antibiotic mechanisms of action and the development of antibiotic resistance where Dr. Kohanski helped identify a common cell death mechanism among bactericidal antibiotics. Dr. Kohanski completed his otolaryngology residency training at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2016, and a research and clinical fellowship in rhinology at the University of Pennsylvania in 2018.  Dr. Kohanski’s research fellowship with Dr. Noam Cohen focused on exploring the role of solitary chemosensory cells in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.  He demonstrated that solitary chemosensory cells are the epithelial source of IL-25 in the sinus and are significantly enriched in polyp tissue.  Dr. Kohanski joined the faculty of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at the University of Pennsylvania as an assistant professor in 2018.