The faculty in the Department of Otolaryngology has been very productive in research activities and leading discoveries and scientific advancements in the field of Otolaryngology.

Dr. Thanos Tzounopoulos has made a ground breaking discovery regarding the underlying cause of Tinnitus. Dr. Tzounopoulos’ novel experimental approach has resolved why tinnitus-affected auditory centers show increased responsiveness. After administering a variety of agents that block specific excitatory and inhibitory receptors and seeing how the brain center responded, his team determined that blocking an inhibitory pathway that produces GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter, enhanced the response in the region surrounding the DCN in the control brain slices more so than it did in the tinnitus slices.

Furthermore, in conjunction with the UPMC Sleep Medicine Center, the Division of Sleep Surgery is currently participating in a clinical study involving a promising new therapy for treating patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). OSA patients who have not responded to or cannot tolerate CPAP may be candidates for an implantable device that stimulates the hypoglossal nerve during sleep. Dr. Ryan Soose, the regions only Board Certified and Sleep Fellowship trained Otolaryngologist and Director of the Division of Sleep Surgery in the Department of Otolaryngology is 1 of 20 principal investigators in the world participating in this study.

The UPMC Department of Otolaryngology has established the Center for Robotic Head and Neck Surgery. Until recently, people with complex head and neck disorders had minimal options for surgical treatment. Traditional approaches often have left patients with visible scars, difficulty breathing or swallowing following surgery, and a lengthy recovery. At the UPMC Center for Robotic Head and Neck Surgery, surgeons are now able to treat these complex disorders using minimally invasive robotic surgery. Umamaheswar Duvvuri, MD, PhD is the Director of the center and is 1 of 3 surgeons in the Department performing head and neck surgery robotically. The center is also actively engaged in collaborating with the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University to develop and optimize cutting-edge robotic technologies. We have successfully recruited Alec Vaezi, MD who is a physician-scientist to the head and neck cancer team; Dr. Vaezi will create a new research program and perform clinical work.

Lastly, the Department of Otolaryngology is ranked among the best in the world. For the past decade, the Department of Otolaryngology has received the highest U.S. News and World Report rating of all the medical specialties at UPMC. In 2011, the department was ranked #2 in the nation, an increase from #3 in 2010.

Jonas T. Johnson, MD, FACS
The Dr. Eugene N. Myers Professor and
Chairman of Otolaryngology
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine