The variety of techniques, the spectrum of patients, intricate anatomy — there wasn’t much about otolaryngology that Michael Puricelli, MD, FACS, FAAP, didn’t immediately love.
“It’s a discipline that focuses on the special senses, and that makes it very impactful for children,” he said. “And improving children’s lives makes it fun to do.”
As a pediatric otolaryngologist in the Department of Surgery and Medical Director of the Comprehensive Otology and Hearing Program at Children's Mercy, Dr. Puricelli is also a Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery at both the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine and the University of Kansas, as well as one of the emerging principal investigators with the Children’s Mercy Research Institute (CMRI). His original passion for medicine was ignited at a high school mini-medical school program, which then led to EMT night classes, volunteering at an internal medicine practice and even an emergency department — all before starting college at the University of Missouri.
After 15 years of education and post-graduate training, he joined an academic practice but wanted a chance to conduct research that could impact the children he was seeing. Thus, he made his way to Children’s Mercy in October 2024, which he saw as a chance to advance the field of pediatric ear and hearing services at a pace not previously feasible.
“Children's Mercy had the clinical practice piece with a large patient base that allows us to develop detailed expertise and be competitive for clinical trials,” he said. “That — paired with outstanding community support, a robust research infrastructure and an organizational vision — is the recipe to realize our ambitious goals. It's not enough to just have ideas. You have to be supported to be a successful researcher.”
Research areas seek to improve care for all children
As one of fewer than 10 U.S. surgeons fellowship-trained in advanced ear surgery and complex pediatric ENT, Dr. Puricelli is making the most of his research.
It’s a discipline that focuses on the special senses, and that makes it very impactful for children.
The first project involves the treatment of hearing loss: understanding disparities with advanced analytics and improving the rate (and quality) of diagnostic testing.
“We’re looking at the diagnostic workup as a measurable outcome and trying to understand the predictors of having an incomplete evaluation,” he said. “Plus, in partnership with Genomic Answers for Kids, we’re applying advanced long-read sequencing to better identify genetic hearing loss.”
Simultaneously, his team is advancing therapeutic options by better understanding microscopic ear anatomy and applying it to novel treatments, such as intracochlear gene therapy delivery.
The first phase was outlined in his Katharine Berry Richardson Foundation grant application, “Hearing every child: Building a comprehensive access model for hearing treatment at Children’s Mercy Kansas City.”
His second research area is all about helping babies breathe. Dr. Puricelli is part of the team offering the ex-utero intrapartum treatment (EXIT) procedure, in which the baby is partially delivered with an intact umbilical cord. Airway surgery is performed while the fetus receives oxygen from their mother, and delivery is completed once the airway is safe. While lifesaving for the baby, it can be risky for the mother, making the ideal patient selection especially critical.
Dr. Puricelli was also the lead author of the first international consensus guidelines for perinatal airway management and developed a strategy to assess the necessity of interventions. In collaboration with the Fetal Health Center, he’s co-directing an internally funded 54-site prospective study to better determine airway needs for fetuses with craniofacial skeletal conditions, a head or neck mass and other conditions.
On top of all that, he’s also pursuing innovative research around novel surgical approaches and developing intellectual property related to ear treatment.
Clinical care and research efforts build upon each other
Dr. Puricelli said he appreciates how research provides opportunities to improve patient care and contributes to organizational success.
“Clinical progress will help feed the research questions, which helps us better understand how to treat patients,” he said. “It's this back-and-forth that supports institutional growth.”
He’s also already looking ahead to see how his current efforts can further the educational mission of Children’s Mercy and the field at large.
“The research program and robust clinical practice are the foundation of an outstanding educational experience,” he said. “It’s what differentiates our training program from others out there.”
You can learn more about team members who are advancing the Children's Mercy pediatric footprint in the FY25 Research Annual Report.