Title: Should You Take Antibiotics for a Sinus Infection? Students Are Working To Find Out.

Every year, nearly 30 million Americans are diagnosed with a sinus infection, which can cause facial pain, headaches, congestion and other symptoms that often result in missed work or school.

Nearly 80-90% of the time, patients receive antibiotics to treat the infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The problem, said Dr. Dan Merenstein, a professor in the School of Medicine and School of Health, is that there isn’t strong evidence behind this guidance.

“There is a debate: People need antibiotics or don’t need antibiotics. But it is not very well studied,” he said.

Merenstein and his team are changing that.

In the largest-of-its-kind study, Merenstein and co-investigator Nawar Shara of MedStar Health, are collaborating with investigators from six universities across the U.S. to determine the most effective treatment options for sinus infections. 

Funded by a $23.6 million research grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, Merenstein and his team are recruiting 3,700 participants across the U.S. to find out which patients need antibiotics and which can benefit from over-the-counter treatments or other interventions. And he’s inviting Georgetown students to help him. 

Since January, undergraduates have fanned out to clinics across the metropolitan Washington area, helping recruit patients in downtown DC and across Maryland and Virginia.

Chiamaka Nwazue (H’26), a junior in the School of Health, is one such student. She began working on the study last year and contributed to the team’s work on their website. She’s seen the study through approvals and now helps recruit, onboard and track patients in clinics across DC, including Georgetown’s Student Health Center.

On a typical weekday, Nwazue will roll a bin of supplies to the Health Center. She sets up shop at a desk, where she places flyers for the study, a blood testing machine, and vials to collect blood samples. She then meets with patients who express interest, discussing how the study invites them to participate over a set time period with different treatments. 

Nwazue said she’s enjoyed communicating directly with patients and following up with them as they improve and feel better.

“It makes you feel more connected to the study, because these are real people, and if we can get great data from this study, it can help people get better soon and know how to manage their symptoms,” she said. 

She also said the work has inspired her to apply research to improve a community’s health and wellness — a future career goal as she plans to become a family physician.

“I love the idea that I could be a part of helping a community achieve their utmost health goals, no matter the barriers that they may face,” she said. “At the end of the day, you should have the ultimate decision to have the best health outcome to the best of your ability. That’s something I’m passionate about.”

Mary Truong (H’25), a senior in the School of Health, said the study has also cemented her career path in medicine.

Truong is a first-generation college student who grew up in a low-income community in Silver Spring, Maryland. In middle school, she helped translate doctor visits and medical forms for her parents, who immigrated from Vietnam. For a time, access to healthcare was scarce for Truong and her family without insurance.

“That’s when I realized healthcare is not easy to access,” she said. “I wanted to be that kind of person to use these opportunities I had going to high school, going to college to then give back to my community.”

Truong wrote her Georgetown application essay about whether she truly wanted to be a pediatrician or if she was pursuing it for her family and their expectations of her.

Her next four years at Georgetown answered the question.

After hearing Merenstein talk to her human science class about his clinical work in her first year, Truong began working as a research assistant in his lab. In the years since, she has worked on two of his studies, including examining the impacts of antibiotics and probiotics on the gut. 

Those experiences, she said, prepared her for her active role in the study, particularly in how to talk to patients.

“Since we are in the doctor’s office, they are already feeling sick. So we always want them to feel comforted and comfortable,” she said. “I want them to feel like they’re working with us, not like they’re working for us. So the kind of language I use, my demeanor, how I carry myself, how I introduce myself. I want to give them the sense that I am personally invested in this and it’s not just my job.”

Truong has traveled to Gaithersburg and Germantown, Maryland, and other clinics in DC to help recruit study participants. 

Along the way, she’s found she’s resolved the question that stumped her in her college application. 

“I feel like throughout my years, working with students and with kids, being in clinical studies and having such an early experience working with patients, I realized this is what I want to do,” she said.

After graduating, Truong will continue working on the study for Merenstein, this time as a research associate, before she applies to medical school. In the meantime, she’s using her research experience for her senior capstone, assessing data from the study and looking for trends.

“I’m having so much fun. I love doing this, and I would love to continue doing this for the rest of my life.”