Residency Overview

Welcome to the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Louisville! We are glad that you are interested in our residency program and we hope this website helps you learn more about the unique aspects of training with us.

An accredited residency program, the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Residency represents a structured 5-year progressive program of study. The educational goal of the program at the University of Louisville is to help residents obtain the knowledge, operative and clinical skills, and attitude necessary to become competent surgeons and clinicians. The program also interfaces with General Surgery, Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, which allows residents to develop a broad set of skills that can be applied to the specialty of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

The specific knowledge and skill objectives that we focus on are those defined in the Special Requirements for Residency Education in Otolaryngology. These include:

Bronchoesophagology
Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Head and Neck Surgery
Laryngology
Rhinology
Otology
Pediatric Otolaryngology
Otolaryngologic Allergy, Endocrinology, Immunology, and Neurology
Sleep Medicine and Surgery

The curriculum also addresses issues that residents face entering practice and thus ensures that residents are competent in providing high quality, cost-effective care and understanding a diverse patient population. Communication skills, humanistic skills, and professionalism are emphasized.

Our educational goals are met by a curriculum consisting of clinical rotations, formal didactic conferences, assigned textbook and journal readings, temporal bone and cadaver dissection courses, formal continuing education courses, and research endeavors. Residents are exposed to a broad-based clinical setting, spending time at public, private, and veterans hospitals in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

Mission Statement

The mission of the University of Louisville Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Residency Program is: To train outstanding surgeons who are compassionate, skillful, and safe in patient care and become board-certified otolaryngologists with active roles in leadership and teaching in their community; to develop and use scholarly principles and scientific research to guide clinical judgment and teaching skills; to utilize multidisciplinary care systems in a metropolitan setting to treat a diverse patient population locally and regionally under ethical and morally sound principles.

Program Aims

To train young physicians to become skilled clinicians and surgeons who can become board certified after a 5 year training program.
To teach the fundamentals of scientific research and critical thinking for scholarly activity, practice improvement and life-long learning and teaching.
To approach patient care in a tertiary care multidisciplinary setting with a focus on patient safety, advocacy and quality improvement.
To teach residents through mentorship and graduated responsibility to gain confidence in surgical skill and clinical decision making so they can practice in a safe, relevant, and ethically sound manner.