Margaret A. Kenna, MD, MPH
Pediatric Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose, Throat)
Boston Children’s Hospital
300 Longwood Ave.
Boston, MA 02115
Margaret Kenna received her MD degree from Boston University School of Medicine. She completed an internship and residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University Hospital of Arkansas and a fellowship at in Pediatric Otolaryngology at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Dr. Kenna has been on the Otolaryngology faculty at Boston Children’s Hospital since 1995. She co-founded the Children’s Hospital Boston Cochlear Implant Program, and was its Director from 1995-2003. She received a MPH in Clinical Effectiveness from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2005. She is the Sarah Fuller Chair for Hearing Loss and Hearing Restoration in 2015.
Research Overview
Margaret Kenna’s research focuses on pediatric otology; currently, she is studying the underlying causes of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), the most common congenital sensory impairment. Her research includes the genetics of hearing loss, especially GJB2 (Connexin 26) and Usher syndrome; anatomic inner ear anomalies (specifically enlarged vestibular aqueducts) and vestibular function testing; and congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. Dr. Kenna’s earlier research focused on the causes and treatment of chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM). She and her colleagues in Pittsburgh established that medical, not surgical therapy was very effective and should be the initial management option. At Boston Children’s Hospital, Dr. Kenna currently runs a multi-disciplinary Hearing Loss Program and is a member of the Harvard Medical School Center for Hereditary Deafness. As the Director of Clinical Research, she works closely with Infectious Disease, Neuroradiology, and Genetics to achieve her clinical and research goal of determining the etiology of every patient’s hearing loss. Dr. Kenna is heavily involved in multi-institutional hearing loss research efforts with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Massachusetts Eye and Ear.
Abstracts/Posters
SEQaBOO: (SEQuencing a Baby for an Optimal Outcome) – Charting a Path for Newborn Screening. Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA. Discover Brigham, November 9, 2017
SEQaBOO: (SEQuencing a Baby for an Optimal Outcome). American Society of Human Genetics. Orlando, Florida, October 17-21, 2017