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Message from the Chair: Tjoson Tjoa, MD, Interim Chair

Tjoson Tjoa, MD

The UCI Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery is a passionate, innovative, and caring group of clinical and research faculty. As the only tertiary-level care otolaryngology department serving the diverse patient population of Orange County, we take great pride in providing and continually looking for ways to improve the delivery of care for our patients.

Our department has a proud tradition of clinical and academic excellence. It comprises nationally and internationally recognized leaders in head and neck cancer, hearing and balance disorders, sinus and skull base surgery, voice and swallowing disorders, sleep surgery, and facial plastic and reconstructive surgery.

Our ENT physicians lead the highest volume head and neck cancer and skull base surgery programs in Orange County. We offer HPV-related throat cancer treatment using the latest single-port robotic surgical technology. And we are ranked 45th out of 116 academic ENT departments in the nation in terms of NIH funding. Our commitment to excellence continues, as evidenced by a long list of faculty awards and achievements. 

Our department includes 12 Clinical and 3 Basic Science Faculty: 

  • Tjoson Tjoa, MD, Interim Chair and Chief, Division of Head & Neck and Reconstructive Surgery
  • Brian Wong, MD, Vice Chair and Chief, Division of Facial Plastic Surgery
  • Hamid Djalilian, MD, Chief, Division of Neurotology
  • Ed Kuan, MD, Chief, Division of Rhinology & Skull Base Surgery
  • Sepehr Oliaei, MD, Chief, Division of Comprehensive Otolaryngology
  • Fan-Gang Zeng, PhD, Professor and Director, Center for Hearing Research
  • Mehdi Abouzari, MD, Assistant Professor
  • William Armstrong, MD, Professorand Chair Emeritus, Head & Neck Surgery
  • Naveen Bhandarkar, MD, Professor, Rhinology
  • Roger Crumley, MD, Professor, Comprehensive Otolaryngology
  • Yarah Haidar, MD, Assistant Professor, Head & Neck and Reconstructive Surgery
  • Harrison Lin, MD, Associate Professor, Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery
  • John Middlebrooks, PhD, Professor, Hearing Research
  • Douglas Trask, MD, Professor,Sleep Surgery
  • Sunil Verma, MD, Professor, Laryngology

We are proud to share that our department:

  • Published over 120 publications last calendar year
  • Contributed as first or senior author on 50 manuscripts
  • Received over $8 million in grants participated in as investigators

Faculty Achievements

7 Physicians named 2023 Orange County Physicians of Excellence  

Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery 
William B. Armstrong, MD 
Naveen D. Bhandarkar, MD 
Hamid R. Djalilian, MD 
Harrison Lin, MD 
Tjoson Tjoa, MD 
Sunil P. Verma, MD 

Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery 
Brian J.F. Wong, MD 

Individual Faculty Contributions

 

Fan-Gang Zeng, PhD  

  • Elected to National Academy of Engineering in 2022 – recognized for developing better treatments for hearing loss. 
  • Named the Roger Crumley Endowed Chair 
  • Selected as Equity Advisor by the UCI School of Medicine

  

Hamid Djalilian, MD  

  • Published landmark paper identifying causal association between migraines and tinnitus
  • Keynote speaker at Alabama Society of Otolaryngology annual meeting
  • Invited speaker at Otology on the Nile in Egypt
  • Panelist at American Academy of Otolaryngology and American Neurotology meetings
  • Device development includes:
  • Prototype device to electrically stimulate cochlea to stop tinnitus
  • Novel direct drive hearing aid
  • Spectroscopic otoscope
  • Device to treat tonsillitis

Edward Kuan, MD, MBA  

  • Primary editor, International Consensus Statement on Allergy and Rhinology: Sinonasal Tumors 
  • Associate Editor of American Journal of Rhinology & Allergy, Current Opinion in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and Lasers in Medical Science 
  • Editorial boards of Rhinology Journal, International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology, Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology, ENT Journal, and JNS Reports 
  • Consultant to American Rhinologic Society (ARS) Board
    • Chair, ARS Online Education Committee

Tjoson Tjoa, MD and Yarah Haidar, MD:  

  • Perform over 100 complex reconstructions for head & neck cancer patientsannually
  • Performed over 35 transoral robotic surgeries for HPV-related cancers annually
  • Co-investigators on a treatment de-escalation clinical trial through the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
  • Co-investigators on a genomic and transcriptomic spatial mapping project for HPV-related cancers in partnership with the Center for Neural Circuit Mapping

Douglas Trask, MD  

  • 1 Inspire implanter in California with over 140 patients to date 

Brian Wong, MD, PhD  

  • Serves on the Board of Directors for the:
    • Evidence-Based International Rhinoplasty Group
    • American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
    • American Society for Laser Medicine & Surgery
  • Principal Investigator on an R01 grant focused on in vivo mapping of ciliary beat frequency.  
  • 2023 Richard L. Goode lecturer on “Physics, Engineering, Rhinoplasty, and the Nose” at Stanford University.  
  • Keynote speaker at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde (German “AAOHNS”) in Leipzig. 
  • Keynote speaker at the Face and Nose Institute in Bogota. 
  • Invited speaker at Third International Meeting of Rhinoplasty Societies in Berlin.
  • Served as Program Chair for the Photonic Therapeutics and Diagnostics International Symposium on Biomedical Optics
  • Serves as Editor in chief for Lasers in Surgery and Medicine

 

Textbook Editorships and Contributions

  • Skull Base Reconstruction Editors Edward Kuan, MD, Bobby Tajudeen, MD (Rush University), Hamid Djalilian, MD, and Harrison Lin, MD
  • Cummings Review of Otolaryngology Editor Harrison Lin, MD
  • Cummings textbook Multiple chapter authors– William Armstrong, MD, Tjoson Tjoa, MD, Sunil Verma, MD

Clinical Trials 

Hamid Djalilian, MD:  

  • Randomized combination drug trial for tinnitus 
  • Randomized combination drug trial for Meniere’s disease 
  • Internet based cognitive behavioral therapy for tinnitus 
  • Upper airway irrigation device for treatment of tonsillitis 

Harrison Lin, MD:

  • Facial Nerve Selectivity in Humans

Naveen Bhandarkar, MD:

  • Randomized drug trial for the treatment of Chronic Rhinosinusitis in adults

News Highlights

One third of Americans are regularly exposed to loud noises - Almost 50 million Americans suffer some form of hearing loss. It’s no longer just loud music causing the damage. The Apple Hearing Study recently revealed that one third of Americans are regularly exposed to excessive sounds over 70 decibels, including guns, power tools and construction noise. UCI Health otolaryngologist and hearing loss expert Dr. Hamid R. Djalilian spoke to Healthline about the effect of repeated exposure over a lifetime. “As people get older, following more and more noise exposures and the onset of age-related hearing loss, the damage done in the younger days becomes apparent on the hearing test.” 

These people can’t burp. It’s painful and embarrassing. - While many clinicians are wary of medical information spread via social media, a recent trend has emerged to help patients suffering from rare diseases. For example, patients suffering from a condition dubbed the "no-burp syndrome," or retrograde cricopharyngeus dysfunction (RCPD). Dr. Sunil Verma, director of the UCI Health University Voice and Swallowing Center, was recently featured in The Washington Post to talk about the impact sites like Reddit have had on clinical care. Patients suffering from RCPD have found community, and often crucial resources, from online discussion. “This article highlights how medicine has changed and how patients find out about new health conditions," Verma said. "As physicians we need to embrace this new way patients learn and spread information."