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Neal Futran, MD, DMD, Allison T. Wanamaker Professor and Endowed Chair

The summer season in academic medicine is always a time of transitions. We recently said farewell to an outstanding group of graduating otolaryngology residents and fellows who have been a wonderful part of our community. Please join me in congratulating them and wishing them continued success in their next steps. At the same time we're delighted to welcome a diverse and exciting group of new trainees from around the country. We also want to thank and congratulate our faculty and staff for their great work this year.

The season also offers a moment for reflection. At our annual EA Weymuller, Jr., Graduation Symposium, we were honored to host Dr. D. Gregory Farwell, chair of the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Pennsylvania. His keynote, "Academic Otolaryngology in a Rapidly Changing World," underscored the critical importance of preserving our field as a true profession. Physicians are not only healers: they are advocates, educators, and leaders. They hold a special trust with the public, and with that trust comes a profound duty to serve the greater good. The physician’s responsibility to society is about more than just treating illness. It’s about building a healthier, more just world. It’s about speaking up when science is under attack, fighting for access to care, supporting the institutions that safeguard public health, and holding ourselves—and each other—to the highest standards.

Dr. Greg Farwell with Neal Futran.

With the recently implemented federal policies, we're facing challenges to academic medicine and to our department's mission in particular. Despite substantial headwinds and financial uncertainty, we are committed to making investments in all our clinical, research, and education programs. This newsletter highlights some of these efforts, such as the Pediatric Otolaryngology Spanish OR Day at SCH and our medical student research pathway initiative. You'll also read of contributions by our amazing faculty and trainees to national conferences, major grants and scholarly initiatives, global health initiatives, and more.

These stories reflect the dedication and excellence of the people who are the fabric and foundation of our department. Their talent and commitment are the foundation of everything we do—and the reason we continue to lead in this field.

To all of our supporters, colleagues, and friends: thank you. I am deeply grateful for your ongoing partnership and belief in our work.

Sincerely,

Neal

On May 8, Seattle Children’s piloted its first all-Spanish-speaking operating room—an initiative designed to provide Spanish-speaking patients with exceptional, compassionate care in their own language. Surgeons, nurses, and staff fluent in Spanish came together to create a space where patients felt genuinely heard, understood, and supported.

The pilot program is led by UW Oto-HNS associate professor and pediatric otolaryngologist Juliana Bonilla-Vélez, MD, founder of the Spanish Otolaryngology Clinic, the first of its kind at Seattle Children’s and in the United States.

A native of Colombia, Dr. Bonilla-Vélez brings a deeply personal perspective to her work. As a child, her family traveled to seek care for her baby brother. Despite the support of interpreters, navigating the complexities of his medical needs in a second language was incredibly challenging.

“Language-concordant care was never something we experienced,” she reflects. “The work is so meaningful to me because I know firsthand how impactful it would have been for my parents to receive care in our native language.”

(Left) Don’t miss the first episode of a new four-part video series featuring Dr. Juliana Bonilla-Vélez and the inspiring team behind Seattle Children’s first Spanish-speaking operating room. Learn how inclusive, language-concordant care is transforming the experience for patients, families, and care teams alike.

Phoebe Macapinlac, an an undergraduate in the Raible Lab, has been awarded a Mary Gates Research Scholarship.

Phoebe (pictured above with her mentor, Francisco Barros Becker) is investigating how hair cells in the inner ear respond to the damaging side effects of life-saving therapeutic drugs.

This work holds personal significance for Phoebe—she was diagnosed with profound hearing loss in fourth grade and later received a cochlear implant.

Bryan Hannon, an undergraduate mentored over the past two years by outgoing chief resident Allison Ikeda (pictured above, left), presented a poster at the SLEEP 2025 Annual Meeting.

Dr. Ikeda shares, “Bryan has been a dedicated and insightful member of the research team and will begin medical school at UW this fall. We are incredibly proud of him and all he has accomplished—his future in medicine is bright!”

Carson Miller, a second-year medical student at UW, won first place in the poster competition at the recent meeting of the Triological Society in January in Orlando.

Carson presented innovative research from Neel Bhatt’s lab, focused on quantifying endoscopic measures of vocal atrophy. His work is helping advance the field of otolaryngology and making a meaningful impact for patients experiencing age-related voice changes.

Felix Fernandez-Penny, a visiting medical student from Pritzker/U Chicago, has contributed to projects across multiple subspecialties under the mentorship of Aria Jafari, Maya Sardesai, and others.

Felix was first author of a manuscript with Dr. Sardesai and others recently published in The Laryngoscope, which was the subject of the podium presentation by UW Oto resident Anna Clements (PGY4) at Trio 2025. At COSM 2025, Felix presented posters with Drs. Jafari and Sardesai.

with Maya Sardesai;

with Aria Jafari and Katherine Mozingo (MS2)

UW Oto-HNS associate professor David Horn, MD, MS, was recently elected to the Collegium Oto-Rhino-Laryngologicum Amictiae Sacrum (CORLAS).

Founded in Groningen, the Netherlands, in 1926, the Collegium was formed to bring European ENT surgeons back together again after World War I tore them apart. Next year marks the 100th anniversary of this prestigious international scientific society of leading clinician-scientists and basic scientists in the field of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery. The 2026 meeting will take place in the original room in Groningen.

The Collegium, then and now.

The Collegium has a unique membership structure: each country is allowed only 10 clinical members and 5 basic science members in total - except that the US gets 20 clinical and 10 basic science members.

Lau Lands New R01

UW Oto-HNS research assistant professor Bonnie Lau, PhD, has been awarded a new R01 grant from NIH, titled "Auditory predictors of late language emergence." Dr. Lau writes, "Delayed language emergence occurs in approximately 10-20% of children. This project investigates whether early auditory brain or behavioral measures can serve as prelinguistic predictors of later language outcomes, allowing for earlier intervention and prevention."

Ruthberg Wins CORE Grant

UW Oto-HNS resident Jeremy Ruthberg, MD (PGY5), has received an ARS Resident Research CORE Grant for "Dynamic CT Updates for Image Guidance in Sinus Surgery Using Computer Vision." The CORE grants program from AAO-HNS is a collaboration of several societies and industry supporters focused on providing support for research in the field of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery.

Tarfa Awarded F32, AOS

Rahilla Tarfa, MD (PGY4), has won a Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F32) from NIH. The award provides support for postdoctoral research to individuals to broaden their scientific background and extend their potential for research in specified health-related areas. Dr. Tarfa has also been awarded a research grant from the American Otological Society (AOS) for her project titled Molecular Heterogeneity of Vestibular Ganglion Neurons (VGNs).

A multidisciplinary team of researchers from the UW Departments of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery and Mechanical Engineering earned 2nd place in the Hollomon Health Innovation Prize for their project aimed at transforming image navigation during sinus and skull base surgery.

The team’s work leverages advanced computer vision techniques to build accurate surgical scenes, enabling real-time intraoperative updates based on CT imaging—bringing the technology closer to real-time execution in the operating room.

In addition to the prize, the team also received a Phase I commercialization grant from the Washington Research Foundation, further supporting the project’s translation from concept to real-world medical device. These achievements exemplify the power of “team science” in driving meaningful innovations that may ultimately improve patient care.

The team includes UW Oto-HNS resident Jeremy Ruthberg, MD (PGY5), Nicole Gunderson (Mechanical Engineering PhD candidate), Pearson Cheng (Mechanical Engineering PhD candidate), and Mahdi Alighezi (MS3). They were mentored by Eric Seibel, PhD (professor, College of Engineering), and UW Oto-HNS associate professors Randall Bly, MD, and Waleed Abuzeid, MD.

The group has filed a provisional patent on their novel technique and recently completed a pilot study validating their results. They are now expanding their testing to broader clinical settings and preparing an NIH R01 proposal to further advance the project.

New data from Regeneron's Phase 1/2 CHORD trial shows clinically meaningful improvements in hearing for nearly all children with profound genetic hearing loss caused by OTOF gene variants.

As presented at ARO, 10 out of 11 children showed significant hearing gains after treatment with the investigational gene therapy DB-OTO, with speech and developmental progress already observed in the first child treated.

“Sound is a significant part of the human experience that connects us to each other and our environment,” said UW Oto-HNS professor Jay Rubinstein, MD, PhD, a CHORD clinical trial investigator. “A year after treatment in one ear with DB-OTO, a child born profoundly deaf was able to enjoy music, engage in imaginative play and participate in bedtime reading when the cochlear implant on their other ear was removed. These seemingly small interactions are life-changing for these children as well as their families, and these results continue to underscore the revolutionary promise of DB-OTO as a potential treatment for otoferlin-related hearing loss.”

Key contributors from Seattle Children's Hospital are lead audiologist Meg Meredith, AuD, CCC-A, and UW Oto-HNS professor Jim Phillips, PhD.

UW Oto-HNS is on the cutting edge of head and neck cancer treatment, with notable contributions in research, teaching, and outreach to our community about advances in oral cancer care. 

Associate professor Brittany Barber, MD, served on a large body organized by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) charged with developing guidelines on the use of TORS for patients with oropharyngeal cancer. The guidelines were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology: Transoral Robotic Surgery in the Multidisciplinary Care of Patients With Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: ASCO Guideline.

The UW/Fred Hutch Head and Neck surgery team, led by Dr. Barber and Neal Futran MD, DMD, recently hosted the 2025 Pacific Northwest Head & Neck Cancer Symposium: Etiology and Management of Oral Cavity Cancer, with over 250 attendees. The day-long course featured local and national speakers on a variety of topics exploring advances in oral cavity cancer care, from etiology to cutting-edge management strategies.  

The UW Oto head and neck team, including Drs. Brittany Barber, Rocco Ferrandino, Neal Futran, and Emily Marchiano, continues to offer de-escalated transoral robotic surgery options using the newest Da Vinci SP model robot for appropriately selected patients. Contact one of our surgeons for more information.

Farewell to the Chiefs!

Pictured above, from left: Peiran Zhou will begin a head and neck fellowship at OHSU; Allison Ikeda will begin a sleep medicine/surgery fellowship at UW (a hybrid program by the departments of Oto-HNS and Pulmonary Medicine); Tanya Meyer, residency program director; Cassie Pan will begin a head and neck fellowship at Vanderbilt; and Ricky Pulido will begin a head and neck fellowship at the University of Miami.

We are thrilled to welcome five extraordinary individuals to our residency program! Through training and mentorship from our dedicated faculty and provider teams, the opportunities our program provides with its multiple sites and specialties, and the climate of excellence and collegiality here at the University of Washington, we know they will become exceptional surgeons and surgeon-scientists.

From left: Carolina Chu, MD, MS, from U Iowa/Carver; Victor deCos, MD, from UC San Diego; Andrea Garofalo, MD/PhD, from Stanford; Amelia Lawrence, MD, from WA State/Floyd, and Jennifer Ren, MD, from Icahn/Mt. Sinai.

From left: Hector Perez, MD (Rhinology), will be joining the faculty at Loma Linda University Oto-HNS; Zahrah Masheed, MD (Head and Neck) will be joining the faculty at Loyola University in Chicago; Eve Champaloux, MD, PhD (Laryngology), will be joining the faculty at SUNY Upstate Oto-HNS; Shane Zhou, MD (Pediatric Oto) will be joining the faculty at UW Oto-HNS; Nicholas Block-Wheeler, MD (Facial Plastics), will enter private practice in the San Francisco Bay area; Jin Yang, MD (Pediatric Oto), will be joining the faculty at UC Irvine Oto-HNS. Not pictured: Jae Bernado, BM, MS, CFY-SLP (Speech Language Pathology) will be exploring opportunities in voice and laryngology in the Pacific Northwest when her fellowship is completed in September.

Welcome, Incoming Fellows!

From left: Debbie Pan, MD (Facial Plastics); Sida Chen, MD (Head and Neck); Shruti Dhingra, MS, DNB (Laryngology); Anna Berezovsky, MD (Pediatric Oto); Luke O'Neil, MD (Rhinology); Brandon Jagdhar, MS, CF-SLP (Speech Language Pathology, beginning in September); and Michael Lindeborg, MD (Pediatric Oto).

With more than 200 journal publications and several edited books, he and his many collaborators made profound contributions to the field. Dr. Gates retired as professor emeritus in June 2004, leaving a lasting legacy of leadership, scholarship, and generosity.

Ikeda at SLEEP 2025

At the recent SLEEP 2025 Annual Meeting, co-hosted by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, Allison Ikeda, MD (outgoing UW Oto-HNS chief resident), was invited to speak as part of a symposium on Sleep Surgery Trials. Her presentation highlighted the unique methodological considerations and strategies to conduct high-quality surgical randomized controlled trials. 

Loy at ASPO Montreal

Kelsey Loy, MD (PGY6), delivered two podium presentations at the 2025 ASPO Annual Meeting in Montreal in May: "Objective Measurement of Lymphatic Malformation Size Reduction during Treatment: A Comparative Case Series of Patients Treated with Alpelisib, Sirolimus, and Surgical Excision"; and "Integrating Regional and Single-Cell Spatial Transcriptomic Analysis of Head and Neck Lymphatic Malformations."

Clements at TRIO, ASPO

Anna Clements, MD (PGY4), delivered two podium presentations at the Trio annual meeting in Orlando in January, each based on a manuscript recently published in The Laryngoscope (40342043 and 40353737).

IThen in May, at ASPO in Montreal, Dr. Clements served as instructor for a pediatric airway simulation symposium. She taught slide tracheoplasty with 3D-printed airway models for congenital tracheal stenosis.

The Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center hosted a major event devoted to research. Following introductory remarks by Bloedel director Jay Rubinstein, attendees enjoyed a lecture titled "Developing Technologies to Advance Diagnosis and Treatment, Part 1: Voice and Respiratory Disorders" by David Eddins, PhD, CCC-A, professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and director of the Communication Technologies Research Center at the University of Central Florida. Trained as a classical psychoacoustician, Dr. Eddins seeks to understand fundamental aspects of auditory function—including vocal perception—in real-world settings, and to develop novel technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of hearing and voice disorders. The session continued with "Part 2: Hearing Disorders" in the afternoon.

David Eddins, PhD, CCC-A

Shyam Gollakota, PhD

Shyam Gollakota, PhD, presented "Creating Super-Hearing Capabilities with Real-Time AI." Dr. Gollakota is a Washington Research Foundation and Thomas J. Cable Endowed Professor of Computer Science and Engineering in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington. He directs the Mobile Intelligence Lab, where fundamental and applied projects span a breadth of topics, including machine learning for mobile systems, mobile health, networking, human-computer interaction and battery-free computing. 

Dave Raible, The Virginia Merrill Bloedel Professor and Chair, gave concluding remarks, and the group adjourned to a poster session and refreshments.

10th Annual Northwest Voice Conference

The 10th Annual Northwest Voice Conference was a resounding success, bringing together a dynamic community of clinicians, researchers, and performers to explore The Art and Science of the Performing Voice.

Hosted by the UWMC Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery divisions of Laryngology and Speech-Language Pathology, in collaboration with UW Speech & Hearing Sciences and leading vocal pedagogues across the Pacific Northwest, this milestone event was a true celebration of interdisciplinary excellence.

To learn more about this exceptional gathering—and for information on our upcoming conference, Advanced SLP Topics in Voice, Swallowing, and Upper Airway (on August 8, 2025)—please visit Northwest Voice.

Our 2025 Annual UW Oto-HNS Emergencies Boot Camp—led by Maya Sardesai and senior resident Aish Shukla with co-directors Kaalan Johnson, Tanya Meyer, and Emily Marchiano—was a big-team effort and a huge success! Boot camp prepares residents for call, refreshes skills after research years, and allows new residents and fellows to meet one another. It requires contributions from many hands with multiple expertise. UW Oto-HNS faculty, senior residents, fellows, and volunteer medical students all filled essential roles in the day-long training, with invaluable help from UW airway anesthesiologists Drs. William Van Cleve and Steve Vanhoy, and from Seth Friedman and his team at SCH's Innovation Imaging and Simulation Modeling Lab. Keynote speaker Dr. Kathryn Roth from Western University in London, Canada, highlighted the pedagogical foundation and evidence behind simulation bootcamps like these, and UW Oto-HNS professor Kathy Sie inspired with her keynote leadership talk.

Over the course of the day, eight small groups of trainees rotated across 16 stations, gaining hands-on training in a range of essential emergency surgical techniques including flexible laryngoscopy, flexible fiberoptic intubation, surgical airways (needle cricothyroidotomy, emergent tracheotomy), trach change, percutaneous trach, intubation and rigid bronchoscopy, epistaxis and nasal endoscopy, myringotomy, tonsillectomy, suturing, local flaps, head and neck ultrasound, and craniofacial plating, plus two complex scenarios, one on 3am calls, and a virtual reality station.

MERATI: If you could offer advice to yourself on the first day of your UW adventure through a time machine, what guidance would you provide?

SCHWARTZ: Embrace the opportunity to learn! It’s easy to get swept up in the workload, the challenges, and the uncertainty of caring for patients.

MERATI: What drew you to the University of Washington, and can you share the journey and experiences that marked your time there?

SCHWARTZ: I wanted to experience Seattle and knew UW had a strong program, but didn’t know much else. When I spent a month there, I was completely captivated—especially by the people and the culture. It was hard working but very collegial and friendly. Almost everyone was on a first-name basis.

MERATI: You’ve had a really cool career. How did you develop not just your clinical work, but also your non-clinical work, locally and nationally?

SCHWARTZ: Some of it was intentional, but some of it was fortuitous. I always wanted to be in academic medicine, working at a high level with access to high-level care, great hospitals and partners. I was also interested in clinical research. I did a fellowship in Auckland, New Zealand—partly for the training, partly because my wife wanted the experience!

I intended to return to the U.S. for academic medicine but couldn’t find the right fit. I ended up at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, working with UW alum John Kokesh, where I’d done an elective as a resident. Eventually, I realized I missed parts of academic life. That’s when Virginia Mason reached out—a unique hybrid of academics and high-level clinical care. It turned out to be a great fit.

Virginia Mason had strong ties to the Academy and an associated research institute. I was able to negotiate time for clinical research and connect with people like Mike Glenn, a former UW attending who had transitioned to Virginia Mason. Mike introduced me to others in the Academy. Craig Murakami was another. Around that time, the American Academy of Otolaryngology launched its clinical practice guideline program, and I got involved early due to my experience in clinical outcomes research. Rich Rosenfeld, the program’s founder, became a mentor. It started small and a bit controversial, but grew into something central to the Academy—and I grew with it.

MERATI: Part of my late-career work is about normalizing all career paths—not just traditional academic ones. How can training programs support that perspective?

SCHWARTZ: That’s a great question. In academic medicine, especially at a place like UW, research is often seen as the only legitimate goal. But the reality is that it's actually very hard to have an academic career, and even harder to have a successful one. There are many ways to contribute to otolaryngology and to our collective knowledge that don’t involve traditional research. What matters most is that you care about contributing—about leaving the field better than you found it. That contribution can take many forms.

MERATI: For our last question, tell me about an unsung hero from your career—someone who made a big difference but didn’t get a lot of noise.

SCHWARTZ: Two come to mind. One is Al Hillel. He did high-level academic work in laryngology but maintained real balance in life—valuing his family, travel, and non-clinical interests. He never sought attention, but everyone knew and respected him. The other is John Kokesh in Alaska. It was a quiet place, but he pioneered telemedicine in otolaryngology in a way that became a global model. And he never bragged about it—he just did the work.

Former UW Oto-HNS resident Fred Deleyiannis ('99) announced the publication of his new book, meant to illustrate the importance and limitations of microsurgery in caring for patients suffering from trauma or cancer. In addition to offering an historical perspective of microsurgery, it shows in a very real sense what it is like to be a modern microsurgeon from the standpoint of dedication, quality of life, opportunity cost, and expertise. The book's intended audience includes practicing surgeons, students and other clinicians interested in cancer or trauma care, and patients and families who wish to see what is beyond the routine explanation for reconstruction.

Dr. Deleyiannis is a reconstructive surgeon in the Colorado area who has chosen to focus his talents on helping those with deformities, trauma, and birth defects both locally and abroad. UW Oto-HNS professor and chair Neal Futran helped write the forward for the book, Reflections of a Microvascular Plastic Surgeon: Reconstructing Shattered Lives. 

The BackTable ENT Podcast is a go-to resource for otolaryngologists seeking practical insights, surgical tips, and expert advice across the spectrum of ear, nose, and throat care.

Drs. Aria Jafari and Neel Bhatt recently joined the growing list of UW Oto-HNS faculty featured on the podcast. Click below to listen!

Sinusitis & Cognitive Impairment: Exploring the Inflammatory Pathway, with Dr. Aria Jafari, 2025.06.04.

Aging Voice: The Science and The Art, with Dr. Neel Bhatt, 2025.02.18.

Brittany Barber, MD

Holly Harris, MPH, ScD

Luis Gomez Castillo

A new study, "High Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake and Oral Cavity Cancer in Smoking and Nonsmoking Women" by MS4 Luis Gomez Castillo with Drs. Brittany Barber and Holly Harris, demonstrates a link between consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and oral cavity cancer in women. This study shows a 4.87x higher risk in women consuming one or more sugary beverages per day. This study received a lot of media attention - it was picked up by over 100 news outlets.

A recent study, Dynamic Airway CT for Morphometric Analysis of Pediatric Tracheomalacia Throughout Respiration, led by UW Oto-HNS resident Hannah Case, MD (PGY 6), with UW Oto-HNS associate professor Randy Bly, MD, describes a novel, semi-automatic protocol developed in 3D Slicer to enhance the evaluation of tracheomalacia in pediatric patients using 4D-CT. While 4D-CT enables full respiratory-phase imaging of the trachea, most clinical workflows rely on qualitative review. This new protocol introduces quantitative metrics to support objective assessment.

Demonstrated across four cases with varying degrees of airway collapse, this method bridges the gap between advanced imaging and measurable clinical insight.

Read the full article on WebMD.

UW Oto-HNS associate professor Kaalan Johnson, MD (left), traveled to Chennai, India, in December 2024, where he was the International Keynote Speaker at the Larynx 2024 Conference put on by the Tamil Nadu Association of Phono Surgeons of India.

In addition to his keynote and panel lectures, he taught at an all-day airway course, including presenting techniques on open airway reconstruction, and on slide tracheoplasty using the 3D printed model developed by his team at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Aria Jafari, MD

In reflecting on this issue, I’m reminded of what makes our department so special—not just the groundbreaking research and clinical excellence, but also the generosity, mentorship, and quiet acts of service that define our daily work.

This edition captures the energy and heart of our community—from trainees stepping into leadership, mentoring others, and distinguishing themselves nationally, to faculty advancing the field and leading the conversations that shape progress in our specialty. It’s a privilege to be part of such an inspiring team.

Thank you to everyone who contributed. If you have ideas or updates for future newsletters, I’d love to hear from you.

With gratitude,

Aria Jafari