Dr. William Yao Named Among Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors
Rhinologist William C. Yao, MD, associate professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, has been named among Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors for 2024. Top Doctors, who represent the top 7% of all physicians practicing in the United States, are considered best-in-class health care providers, demonstrating excellence in clinical care as well as interpersonal skills.
Dr. Yao, who also is co-director of the Texas Sinus Institute Rhinology and Skull Base Fellowship and director of the Otolaryngology Residency Program, has been a Castle Connolly Top Doctor since 2021. Separately, he was named among the organization’s Top Asian American and Pacific Islander Doctors in 2023, the first time Castle Connolly recognized exceptional AAPI doctors. The AAPI distinction is part of the organization’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Initiative, which honors top clinicians and enables patients to find Castle Connolly Top Doctors who have shared backgrounds and experiences.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, Dr. Yao received his medical degree at the University of Colorado Health Science Center School of Medicine, where he was inducted in Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society in 2008. He completed residency training in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, where he was recognized with the 2014 Resident Teaching Award. He subsequently completed a fellowship in rhinology and anterior skull base surgery at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary/Harvard Medical School.
Fluent in English and Japanese, Dr. Yao has a strong interest in surgical technique and residency education, including the development of teaching instruments. He is the author of chapters in many textbooks, as well as numerous articles published in peer-reviewed journals. He has been awarded the Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award at McGovern Medical School every year since 2017 and Faculty Member of the Year Award on multiple occasions. Dr. Yao focuses his clinical practice on disorders of the nose, sinus, and skull base. He remains devoted to delivering cutting-edge medical and surgical management of chronic rhinosinusitis and paranasal sinus diseases, as well as advanced endoscopic sinus surgery, revision sinus surgery, skull base, and orbital surgery.
Castle Connolly Top Doctors are nominated by their peers and thoroughly vetted by the organization’s physician-led research team. The organization has been rating physicians since 1991. Castle Connolly’s established survey research process, directed by a physician, involves tens of thousands of top doctors in America and the medical leadership of leading hospitals.