Laryngology & Care of the Professional Voice
Duration:
One year with the opportunity for extension to pursue research funded by the NIH.
Fellows per year:
One (may be increased on per per-year basis depending on funding)
The University of Pittsburgh Voice Center strives to provide the most comprehensive Laryngology fellowship available to otolaryngologists in this country. The fellowship is comprised of a 12-month clinical training program encompassing all aspects of care of the larynx, pharynx, and upper esophagus.
Specific aspects of the program include:
- cold knife and phonomicrosurgery for benign and malignant lesions
- laryngeal framework surgery and rehabilitation of the paralyzed vocal fold
- laryngeal airway reconstruction
- laryngeal botox
- diagnostic laryngeal EMG
- in-office laryngeal procedures (injections, bronchoscopy, biopsies, KTP laser, transnasal esophagoscopy)
- diagnosis and treatment of swallowing disorders.
Fellows will also have exposure to multidisciplinary voice care including voice and singing therapy. The program prides itself in a “hands-on” approach.
The laryngology fellow’s weekly duties consist of 4 main areas: voice clinic, swallowing clinic, operating room time, and protected educational time. The days of clinic and OR may vary between various faculty but in general, one full day is in the O.R. every week, two days assisting in the faculty laryngology clinic, one half day in the swallowing clinic, and one half day in the fellow’s own voice clinic under the supervision of one of the laryngology faculty. The other two half days will be spent in educational time including Wednesday morning grand rounds and optional resident didactic sessions as well as a Friday morning voice center planning meeting and educational voice rounds. The fellow also serves as a c consult service attending once a week which requires about 1-2 hours in the late afternoon on the assigned day.
Voice rounds are an opportunity each Friday morning to have a laryngology-specific educational session. The curriculum consists of lectures given by various speakers from within or outside the voice center. The laryngology fellow and resident currently rotating on the Laryngology service will be asked periodically to give a talk on a subject of his/her choice or one chosen by the faculty. These lectures alternate every other week with discussions on interesting clinical cases or literature reviews. The fellow should be prepared to pull articles from the fellow reading list or elsewhere and discuss them with the group.
The laryngology fellowship reading list consists of approximately 100 of the most pertinent articles to be read and digested by all future laryngologists. The articles were hand-selected by the faculty at the UPMC Voice Center. The list is constantly evolving: older articles are being removed and more pertinent articles are permanent fixtures of the list and are needed for educational/historic completeness. The entire list will be covered yearly through the journal club (which meets 6-7 times a year) and literature review sessions.
Fellows should leave this program with the confidence and skill to practice laryngology anywhere at the highest level. An additional year of basic science or clinical research is encouraged but not required.
Fellowship Director:
Libby Smith, DO