August 03, 2017
Hello,
Dr. Martin Citardi, chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, recently gave an outstanding presentation at our clinical chairs meeting. I’ve asked him some questions here to recap the information to give us all a better understanding of his department.
Tell us about the vision and goals of your department.
Our mission is to deliver world-class, patient-centered otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery care in a clinically integrated academic medical center and community health system. With 14 faculty and four audiologists (https://med.uth.edu/orl/faculty/), we provide comprehensive ENT care, from simple to complex, and our goal is to offer the right care at the right time for the right patient. We have an active educational program, which includes an ENT residency, two fellowships, and CME events. Finally, we strive to develop new knowledge that can improve the care of patients with diseases and conditions of the ears, nose and throat, and related structures.
How is the department structured?
Academic otorhinolaryngology practice is really a series of subspecialty practices that share a common infrastructure. Thus, we have organized ourselves into a series of specialized programs, including Texas Center for Facial Plastic Surgery, Texas Sinus Institute, Texas Skull Base Physicians, Texas Voice Performance Institute, General ENT, UTHealth Audiology, UTHealth ENT Sleep Disorders & Surgery, UTHealth Head & Neck Surgical Oncology, UTHealth Otology, and UTHealth Pediatric ENT. We have a dedicated committee for clinical operations; this group includes Dr. Soham Roy and myself as well as our DMO, Don Venker, and managers from our clinical team. We have monthly faculty meetings; agenda items are rotated each quarter, and of course, we discuss other issues as they arise.
Where do you care for patients?
Our clinical locations include Memorial Hermann Medical Plaza (here at TMC), Memorial Hermann-Southeast, Memorial Hermann-The Woodlands, and LBJ General Hospital. All of our clinical locations house the specialized equipment and technology needed to offer our full range of care.
Tell us about your department’s research.
We have a translational science program led by Amber Luong, M.D., Ph.D., ORL research director. This program is investigating the causes of chronic rhinosinusitis, one of the most common chronic illnesses in the United States. In addition, we have started to do clinical trials—something that is relatively rare in the ENT world. We also collaborate closely with various device companies in the development of new products and new applications of existing products.
Tell us about your residency program.
We have two residents a year for our five-year ACGME-accredited ORL residency program. Memorial Hermann-TMC and Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital are our primary teaching sites along with rotations at LBJ and MD Anderson Cancer Center. The residency program recently was approved for an additional resident (starting in July, 2018). We also offer a facial plastic surgery fellowship and a rhinology fellowship.
How do you get the word out to the public about your conferences and programs?
We have a consistent marketing strategy and message that we have pursued for years; we embrace our roles as academic surgeons, dedicated to clinical care, education, and research. In collaboration with the marketing department at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and the school’s Office of Communications, we develop stories that highlight different parts of our daily work. Our audience is broad; we need to reach current and future patients, referring physicians, colleagues, and many others. We try to develop different messages for each group. We recently relaunched our newsletter as ORL Notes, and we started ORL Memo; both of these email services drive traffic to our department website. Later this year, we hope to release an updated website as well.
What is on the horizon for your department?
This is an exciting time for the department. We are looking forward to growing our collaboration with Memorial Hermann as we expand our clinical enterprise at TMC and across Houston. We also seek to expand our educational programs, including our residency and CME events. In addition, we anticipate additional growth in research efforts. The bulk of our initiatives will remain clinical, and as a result, we will work to optimize our clinical operations, including initiatives for EHR improvements and MACRA preparations. This is a challenging time for healthcare and academic medicine—but, we are looking forward to new opportunities in all aspects of our mission.
Thank you, Dr. Citardi, for this thoughtful overview of our Department of Otorhinolaryngology. Special thank you to your faculty and staff for their hard work and dedication to patients and trainees and the multiple missions of an academic department.
Warm regards,
Barbara
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