The division’s medical staff comprises eight pediatric otolaryngologists and three nurse practitioners. The division is closely associated with the Childhood Communication Center, which brings together staff from audiology, the cochlear implant team, education, genetics, pediatrics, psychiatry and speech and language services to provide multidisciplinary care to children with communication needs. Division members also participate in the Craniofacial Center to serve children with cleft lip and palate and other craniofacial disorders.
The division has several subspecialty clinics. The Hearing Loss Clinic provides a multidisciplinary evaluation of children with hearing problems. The Vascular Anomalies Clinic treats children with birthmarks ranging from port-wine stains to large vascular tumors. Other specialty clinics include the Complex Airway Clinic, Voice Clinic, Microtia Clinic, Velopharyngeal Insufficiency Clinic and Chronic Sinusitis Clinic.
In its research efforts, the division is closely affiliated with the University of Washington and its Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center. In addition, the division supports basic science research focusing on lymphatic malformations. Ongoing research projects include speech processing for young cochlear implant recipients, gene mapping for vasculogenesis in vascular anomalies, immunologic profiling in chronic sinusitis patients, outcomes with speech surgery and ototoxicity.
The Division of Otolaryngology is involved in training otolaryngology residents from the University of Washington and Madigan Army Medical Center. We offer a one-year clinical fellowship in pediatric otolaryngology. Fellows may also pursue a second year of research funded by the University of Washington Department of Otolaryngology NIH Training Grant.