Education

MGH Laryngeal Surgery Fellowship Program Graduates

The VHI has continued to fulfill the educational part of its mission by providing ongoing funding for Harvard-affiliated clinical and research fellowships in laryngeal surgery and voice disorders at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The MD-otolaryngologists who have completed the one-year Clinical Fellowship in Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Disorders since the Voice Center opened in 2004 are listed below along with their year of graduation and current position:

• Ilan Hochman, M.D. – Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel

• Rosemary Desloge, M.D. – Private Practice, New York, NY

• John Jarboe, M.D. – Private Practice, Atlanta, GA

• Seth Dailey, M.D. – University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

• James Burns, M.D. – Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

• Adam Klein, M.D. — 2005, Emory University, Atlanta, GA

• Lee Akst, M.D. — 2006, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD

• Matthew Broadhurst, M.D. — 2007, Private Practice, Brisbane, Australia

• Jonatan Lahav, M.D. — 2008, Academic Practice, Israel

• Steven Feinberg, M.D. — 2008, Private Practice, Orange County, CA

• Matthew Lutch, M.D. — 2009, Kaiser Hospital, San Diego, CA

• Aaron Friedman, M.D. — 2009, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH

• Jonathan Young, M.D. — 2010, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

• Paul Bryson, M.D. — 2010, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH

• David Lott, M.D. — 2011, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ

• David Rosow, M.D. — 2011, University of Miami, Miami, FL

• Simon Best, M.D. — 2012, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD

• Tali Landau-Zemer, M.D. — 2012, Academic Practice, Israel

• Anca Barbu, M.D. — 2012, Cedars-Sinai Medical Group, Los Angeles, CA

• Richard Vivero, M.D. — 2013, Private Practice, Miami, FL

• J.P. Gniady, M.D. — 2013, University of Pennsylvania, Hershey, PA

• Mark Weidenbecher, M.D. — 2014, Private Practice, Cleveland, OH

• Tiffiny Hron, M.D. — 2014, Harvard Medical School, MGH Voice Center, Boston, MA

• Noah Parker, M.D. — 2014, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN

• Mursalin Anis, M.D. — 2015, University of Miami, Miami, FL

• Anne Hseu, M.D. — 2015, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA

• Paul Kwak, M.D. — 2016, New York University Voice Center, New York, NY

• Semirra Bayan, M.D. — 2016, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

• Lacey Adkins, M.D. — 2017, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Baton Rouge, LA

• Lauren Tracy, M.D. — 2018, Boston University, Boston, MA

• Brandon Baird, M.D. — 2019, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

• Elizabeth Burckardt, M.D. — 2020, Private Practice, Louisville, KY

• Adam Szymanowski, M.D. — 2021, Baylor College, Houston, TX

• Bharat Panuganti, M.D. — 2022, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL

• Phillip Purnell, M.D. — 2022, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

• Michal Plocienniczak, M.D. — 2024, Harvard Medical School, MGH Voice Center, Boston, MA

• Samir Ballestas, M.D. - Current Fellow

VHI Funds Eugene B. Casey Chair in Laryngeal Surgery at Harvard Medical School

One of the most important contributions to the field of laryngology the VHI has made was to establish and endow the Eugene B. Casey Professorship in Laryngeal Surgery at Harvard Medical School, in the Department of Surgery of the Massachusetts General Hospital. This was made possible through the gracious and generous philanthropy of the Eugene B. Casey Foundation of Gaithersburg, Maryland.

In establishing this professorship, the VHI has ensured that the highest quality clinical care in Laryngeal Surgery will be maintained. The professorship also supports advancements in Laryngology through novel and enterprising research programs. In recognition of Betty Brown Casey's commitment to the welfare of children, innovative approaches to pediatric voice loss have been instituted.

VHI Funds Continuing Medical Education Programs at Harvard Medical School

Since its inception, the VHI has helped to support the following courses through Harvard Medical School's Department of Continuing Medical Education:

• 2005 – Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation

• 2006 – Office-Based Laryngeal Surgery

• 2007 – Laryngeal Framework Voice Surgery

• 2008 – Larynx Surgery Innovations

• 2009 – Laryngeal Papillomatosis and Cancer: Annual Surgical Innovations Course

• 2010 – Laryngology and Voice Surgery

• 2011 – Innovations in Laryngeal Surgery

• 2013 & 2014 – Office-Based Laryngeal Surgery: Injection and Laser Techniques

VHI Supports a Unique Harvard-Mass General Continuing Medical Education Laryngeal Surgery Course

AT THE HARVARD CLUB IN BOSTON

Over the years, the VHI has provided funding to support highly-successful Harvard–MGH continuing medical education (CME) courses in Laryngology and Voice Surgery. These courses have provided a key educational curriculum for surgeons worldwide to become familiar with a spectrum of innovations developed at the MGH Voice Center. This culminated with an exceptional symposium at the Harvard Club in September 2010. 

The attendance of the symposium reached capacity with surgeons registered from 25 countries and 25 states. The program included lectures from 15 leading internationally-recognized experts including Keynote addresses from guest-of-honor Eugene Myers, MD (Distinguished Professor & Emeritus Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine), Andrew Warshaw, MD (W. Gerald Austen Professor of Surgery: Harvard Medical School & Surgeon in Chief of the MGH), Robert Langer, ScD (David H. Koch University Professor: Massachusetts Institute of Technology),  R. Rox Anderson, MD (Professor of Dermatology: Harvard Medical School & Director of the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at the MGH), and Marsha Moses, PhD (Julia Dyckman Andrus Professor: Department of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Vascular Biology Program at Children’s Hospital Boston).

Dimitri Papaioanu Visiting Professor

Personal and academic tribute to the memory of an educator and father.

In furtherance of its educational mission, the VHI co-sponsored with the Department of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital the Dimitri Papaioanu Visiting Professorship. The lecture "Optimizing Results in Phonosurgery" was presented by Dr. Charles N. Ford, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

In attendance was Dimitri Papaioanu's wife, who traveled from Greece for the tribute to her late husband. She was accompanied by their two sons, Athanassios Papaioanu and Paki Papaioanu.

VHI Funds Lectureship at the Annual Meeting of the American Broncho-Esophagological Association (ABEA)

VHI Supports American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Educational Events

Matching PhD Students with Mentors: The VHI provided financial support for the Special Interest Division (SID 3) for Voice and Voice Disorders of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) to hold an Open House at the Massachusetts General Hospital during ASHA's Annual Convention when it was in Boston. This event was coordinated by Dr. Robert Hillman, Co-Director and Research Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital, and a member of the SID 3 Steering Committee. The purpose of the Open House was to provide the opportunity for individuals who are considering a PhD program with a voice research emphasis to meet potential mentors from leading institutions around the country.

The Open House also provided the opportunity to see demonstrations of the latest technologies being developed at the Massachusetts General Hospital including ultra high-speed laryngeal imaging, outpatient laryngeal laser surgery, voice ambulatory monitoring and biofeedback, size calibration of endoscopic images, and voice neural prosthetics.

The event was universally deemed a success with over 150 attendees.

Conference on Laryngeal Imaging: The VHI provided support for a day-long short course on laryngeal imaging held prior to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Annual Convention when it was in Miami, Florida. This highly successful conference was attended by more than 100 speech-language pathologists.