SECTION UPDATE - CHIEF'S LETTER

As we welcome 2023, we would like to shine a spotlight on a range of work being done by UChicago’s Section of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. Our dedicated faculty’s ongoing contribution to the various fields related to otolaryngology and beyond has been truly remarkable. We invite you to learn more about our team’s most recent accomplishments, breakthroughs in research, and more.

Sincerely,

UCHICAGO MEDICINE UPDATES

The University of Chicago Medicine is among a shrinking list of top U.S. hospitals to have earned 21 consecutive A’s in hospital safety from the Leapfrog Group. UChicago Medicine is now one of only 22 hospitals nationwide to get an A in all 18 Leapfrog surveys and remains the only hospital in Chicago to achieve the top grade every time.

UChicago Medicine is ranked nationally in US News and World Report 2021-22

We Need YOUR Help!

We are grateful to you for your continued support and are humbled by being recognized in many surveys as a team dedicated to delivering world-class care while advancing medicine through cutting edge research.  Although every rating is imperfect, the sustained recognition of the Section of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and its faculty demonstrates the commitment and expertise of our team to deliver the best care with a focus on excellent patient outcomes and innovation.  Given our dedication, we are confident that we will continue to provide the highest-quality care for our patients. 

Many of you will have the opportunity to participate in the USNWR survey, and I urge you to complete it when it becomes available in February or March. Doximity is the only way to participate in the USNWR “Best Hospitals” survey online.  To receive full credit, you will need to complete all 5 fields of the online survey.   

Thank you again for your continued support!

GROWTH & EXPANDING ACCESS TO CARE

The University of Chicago Medicine broke ground on a new two-story, 130,000-square-foot multispecialty care center & micro-hospital in Northwest Indiana for what will be the academic health system’s largest offsite facility & its first free-standing building in Indiana.

The University of Chicago along with AdventHealth have formed a joint venture called UChicago Medicine AdventHealth. Combining the expertise and resources of both organizations to bring academic medicine into the western suburbs.

TOP DOCTORS

A record number of University of Chicago Medicine physicians were named to Chicago Magazine’s Top Docs list. These experts were selected by their peers for their clinical excellence, bedside manner, education, and board certification. A number of our UChicago Otolaryngology physicians were added to the list.

FACIAL PLASTICS

Our newly formed Facial Plastics section consists of Joseph B. Meleca, MD, Anthony Geroulis, MD, and Anil Shah, MD, highly trained surgeons who offer extensive expertise in functional and cosmetic facial plastic surgery. Alan Harvey, DMD, works with facial trauma, which extends from prevention to recovery.

Dr. Meleca’s clinical expertise is in facial plastic and microvascular reconstructive surgery with a particular interest in functional rhinoplasty, facial trauma, MOHS reconstruction, head and neck reconstruction with microvascular surgery, and facial nerve reanimation.

HEAD AND NECK SURGICAL ONCOLOGY

Our Head and Neck Oncology team works with patients in innovative clinical programs and trials to treat the entire range of head and neck cancers, including primary and recurrent cancer of the head and neck. We strive to offer patients individualized care by a multidisciplinary team of experts, including Nishant Agrawal, MD, Elizabeth Blair, MD, Zhen Gooi, MD, Louis Portugal, MD, and Alan Harvey, DMD.

Startup OrixDX has developed a novel saliva-based molecular test to detect and diagnose oral cancer earlier, thereby improving patient outcomes and saving lives. The Chicago-based company was formed based on a decade of research in the field of liquid biopsy and cancer genomics at the University of Chicago and John Hopkins by top physicians and scientists including co-founders Nishant Agrawal, MD, Rifat Hasina, Ph.D., and Evgeny Izumchenko, Ph.D. The startup company won first place in the Polsky Center’s New Venture Challenge, the signature venture competition for MBA students at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Nishant Agrawal, MD, was featured in Forbes magazine in an article titled “Going Beyond Target or Mechanism of Disease: Disruptive Innovations in Drug Delivery Systems” by Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D. This article highlights how along with a multidisciplinary team, Dr. Agrawal published the results of Privo’s preclinical and clinical studies using PRV111 treatment. The treatment, which has the potential to revolutionize the field, consisted of a topical mucoadhesive cisplatin delivery system.

Dmitry Karpeyev, Ph.D., was diagnosed with rare cancer – adenoid cystic carcinoma. He met with several doctors before coming to the University of Chicago and finding the right fit.  His care team consisted of OHNS providers Nishant Agrawal, MD, and Jayant Pinto, MD, along with other UChicago physicians who worked tirelessly to develop the best treatment plan.  Since then, Mr. Karpeyev has dedicated his time to cancer research and has co-authored a new study in Nature Communication that describes changes to artificial intelligence algorithms to improve their ability to detect cancers.

LARYNGOLOGY

Brandon Jackson Baird, MD and William Gao, MD, joined by our comprehensive speech-language pathology (SLP) team, the University of Chicago Medicine Voice Center is equipped to address all voice and swallow-related disorders including a variety of benign pathology related to professional voice use/over‐use, early glottic cancer, vocal cord lesions, vocal cord paralysis, chronic cough, respiratory papillomatosis, swallowing disorders, and airway problems. Visit the voice center page here.

Brandon Jackson Baird, MD, was appointed as the Co-Director of the Department of Surgery’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Steering Committee.

Dr. Baird, a voice specialist and vocalist himself, was invited to perform the National Anthem at the United Center in February 2022 for a Chicago Bulls home game! Watch the incredible performance here. 

Dr. Gao gave an expert lecture presentation on the Art of Botulinum Toxin Injections for Voice Disorders at the AAO-HNSF 2022 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.

OTOLOGY

Our cochlear implant program, under surgeons Ted Imbery, MD, Dana Suskind, MD, and Michael Gluth, MD has become the highest volume cochlear implant center in the Chicagoland area that provides comprehensive services to both adults and children. We were also the first center in the nation to demo the newly released commercial version of an intraoperative electrocochleography system used to guide cochlear implant array electrode insertion with real time electrophysiological feedback.

Dr. Imbery was featured in UChicago Medicine’s “Behind the Mask” Department of Surgery 2022 Annual Report: “Behind the Mask”.

Dr. Imbery and Dr. Gluth were course faculty at the University of Arkansas for the "Otology Fellows Congress and Advanced Course in Ear and Skull Base Surgery." The course was led by Dr. Gluth and featured both lectures and hands on dissection with otology fellows from the United States and globally. 

PEDIATRIC OTOLARYNGOLOGY

The pediatric otolaryngology team looks to provide exemplary care to patients through a multi‐ disciplinary approach to treatment and research. The team includes OHNS faculty Fuad Baroody, MD, Andrea Shogan, MD, and Dana Suskind, MD, as well as pediatric speech and swallowing pathologists, audiologists, nurses, and other specialties such as plastic surgery, pulmonary, pediatric surgery and gastroenterology.

Andrea Shogan, MD, was elected as Medical Staff Councilor for a 3-year term. She was also promoted to Associate Professor in September 2022.

Dr. Suskind was featured in the award-winning Big Brains podcast where she discussed why we need to invest in parents during a child’s earliest years. The Atlantic, also published Dr. Suskind’s op-ed titled Parents Need Their Own AARP.

Dana Suskind, MD, was chosen to be a Keynote Speaker at the 2023 American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology Annual Meeting in May 2023.  

RHINOLOGY

Our Rhinology team, including Jayant M. Pinto, MD, and Christopher Roxbury, MD, provides the full range of cutting-edge approaches to anterior skull base diseases ranging from benign to malignant. We are also thrilled to report a thriving allergy practice, led by Nadia Caballero, MD, who brings the full range of allergy diagnosis and treatment, including sublingual immunotherapy via tablets or drops.

Dr. Pinto’s research “Olfactory Dysfunction Predicts 5-Year Mortality in Older Adults” was featured in The Washington Post when he was interviewed for an article titled “Covid led to smell problems for many. Seniors are especially vulnerable.” His work was also mentioned in several other articles such as the Talker’s “How Alzheimer’s could be detected years before symptoms begin” and Daily Mail’s “How a Sudden Loss of Smell Could Be a Sign of Dementia – Not Covid.”

Dr. Jayant Pinto was invited to lecture at the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health at The Bloomberg School of Public Health at John Hopkins University. He also worked to present his findings at the Clinical Olfactory Working Group (COWoG) in Varese, Italy.

Dr. Pinto published multiple papers this year including Particulate Matter Air Pollution Exposure Disrupts the Nrf2 in Sinonasal Epithelium Via Epigenetic Alterations in a Murine Model, Olfaction in Pregnancy and Measuring SARS-CoV-2 Aerosolizaiton in Rooms of Hospitalized Patients.

The Endoscopic Skull Based Surgery Program, directed by Christopher Roxbury, MD, continues to grow and is an integral part of the University of Chicago Skull Base Center, which was recently named a North American Skull Based Society Multidisciplinary Team of Distinction. 

Nadia Caballero, MD, Jayant Pinto, MD, Louis Portugal, MD, and Christopher Roxbury, MD, were among the authors of a paper titled Practice Patterns and Provider Satisfaction in a Virtual Rhinology and Skull Base Surgery Clinic.

SLEEP SURGERY

Phillip LoSavio, MD, MS, has joined the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Section as an Associate Professor of Surgery, the Surgical Director of UChicago Sleep Center, and Director of Surgical GME in the Department of Surgery.  Dr. LoSavio graduated from Rush Medical College and completed his residency at Rush.

Collectively, Dr. LoSavio’s efforts culminated in creating a nationally recognized sleep disorders program with one of the largest hypoglossal nerve stimulator programs in the Midwest. Concurrently, Dr. LoSavio has been devoted to medical education, quality, safety, and exceptional patient care for patients in the Chicagoland region.

Phillip LoSavio, MD, MS, partners with the University of Chicago Sleep Disorder Center as the new Surgical Director to establish a robust sleep endoscopy program with standardized pathways for evaluation for those needing alternatives to CPAP therapy. The center offers different surgical services including craniofacial surgery and bariatric surgery to be integrated seamlessly into these clinical treatment pathways.

RESIDENTS AND FELLOWS CORNER

Our resident program is comprised of 13 residents, all of whom are exposed to a diverse clinical experience of over 2000 surgical cases over the 5 years of training. The department fosters mentorship opportunities for the residents and medical students to experience subspecialties in otolaryngology. Our highly trained physicians work alongside medical students to provide support and direction in their studies. We aim to train future otolaryngologists of varied backgrounds to become leaders and enhance diverse representation in our field.

Dr. Baroody recently received the Program Director of the Year Award from the Graduate Medical Education Office at the University of Chicago Medicine. 

Thomas Cyberski, MS3 received the Burrows Wellcome Fund Fellowship through the Burrows Wellcome Fund Early Scientific Training for Research Excellence Post-Graduation (BEST-PREP) program. This program is designed to support the development of MD-only students seeking careers that will include rigorous basic/translational research.

Amanda Zhang, MS4, presented her research titled “Does Video Calling Protect Older Adults from Depression Associated with Sensory Impairment?” at the NIH Social, Behavioral, and Economic (SBE) Health Impacts of COVID-19 Spring Webinar in April 2022.

Julia Thomas, PGY-2, won the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Award for Residence Humanism and Excellence in Teaching.

Laura Petrauskas, PGY-5, David Grande, PGY-3, and Aaron Wallace, PGY-3, represented The University of Chicago Medical Center by participating in the resident bowl at the Triologic Society Combined Meeting in San Diego. They received third place with 8 other teams and got eliminated in sudden death.

RECENT EVENTS

In May 2022, the section held the 21^st Annual Fernandez – Lindsay Lecture. The lecture was delivered by Dr. Craig Buchman, of Washington University in St. Louis, titled “Electrocochleography in Cochlear Implantation.”

The 7^th Annual Ernest Mhoon Lecture was delivered by Kathleen Yaremchuk, MD, MSA, titled “Past, Present, and Future of Sleep Medicine.” Dr. Kathleen Yaremchuk was recently elected as the President of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and is one of many distinguished UChicago OHNS alumni.

The University of Chicago Section of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Section partnered with ATOS Medical, a medical device company to host the 6^th Annual Head & Neck Cancer Symposium for the Advanced Practitioner.  This course consisted of 3 days of lectures delivered by practitioners within the field, led by Course Directors Nishant Agrawal, MD and Ellen MacCracken, SLP. Multiple UChicago OHNS faculty presented at the conference, including Dr. William Gao and Dr. Brandon Baird

PHILANTHROPY

We would like to take a moment to highlight and give special thanks to those below. Our continuous commitment and dedication to medical education, research, and patient care would not be possible without your continued support.

FACULTY