Laryngology

Professor Yasuo Hisa

Yasuo Hisa holds an MD in Medicine and PhD in medicine majoring in orolaryngology. After graduating with his PhD 1983 he took on the role of Visiting Assistant Professor at the Department of Otolaryngology, State University of New York, USA. In 1985 he returned to Japan where he became Assistant Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine. In 1999 Dr hisa became Professor and Chairman at the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine. He sill holds this position today.

Doctor Akihito Watanabe

Akihito Watanabe graduated from Asahikawa Medical College in 1985 and went on to work in the Department of otolaryngology at the Asahikawa Red Cross Hospital and Asahikawa Medi-cal College. In 1989 he became Director if the Department of Otolaryngology at Nikko Memorial Hospital followed by a two year stint as the Director of the Department of Otolaryngology at Wakkanai City Hospital. In 1995 he was appointed Chief Director, Department of Otolaryngol-ogy at Keiyukai Sapporo Hospital. He is currently the Vice-President at the Department of Oto-laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at Keiyukai Sapporo Hospital.

Peter Belafsky
Peter C. Belafsky, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., is an Associate Professor and the Director of The Center for Voice and Swallowing at the University of California at Davis. After obtaining a combined medical degree and masters in public health from Tulane University in New Orleans, Dr. Belafsky completed a surgical internship and subsequent Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the Tulane University Department of General Surgery and Graduate school. He was a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and taught Epidemiology 601 and 603 in the evenings while completing his residency in Otolaryngology at Tulane. He finished a fellowship in Laryngology/Bronchoesophagology at the Wake Forest University Department of Otolaryngology in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. After the completion of his fellowship, Dr. Belafsky moved cross-country to accept a position as a clinical Laryngologist and Director of the Scripps Center for Voice and Swallowing in La Jolla, California. He left Scripps in 2004 to accept a position as Assistant Professor and Medical Director of the Center for Voice and Swallowing at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Belafsky's research interests focus on disorders of voice and swallowing. He is particularly interested in health related outcomes and novel approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of swallowing disorders. Dr Belafsky has authored or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles, 12 book chapters, and a textbook on Transnasal Esophagoscopy. He has lectured extensively both nationally and internationally. He currently resides in Davis California with his wife and three children.

Michael Benninger
Chairman of the Head and Neck Institute at The Cleveland Clinic and Professor of Surgery, Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. He is Treasurer of the American Laryngologic Association, and on the Board of Directors of the Voice Foundation and International Association of Phonosurgeons. He served on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery for 12 years, a former Vice President and Chairman of the Board of Governors of that organization. He is Past-President of the American Rhinologic Society and former Editor-in-Chief of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

Koichi Omori

Koichi Omori, M.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan, since 2003. He graduated from Kyoto University School of Medicine in 1985. He was Research Associate studying perioperative laryngeal function at Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, U.S.A., 1993-1995. He served as Director of Department of Otolaryngology, Nishi-Kobe Medical Center, Kobe, 1996-2001. His special interests include Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, and Regenerative Medicine. He is internationally known for regenerative medicine of the larynx and trachea using in situ tissue engineering technique. His other topic is office based endoscopic laryngeal surgery under topical anesthesia.

James Thomas

James P. Thomas, M.D. has practiced laryngology exclusively since 1998. His special areas of interest include improving diagnostic endoscopic imaging of the larynx, transgender voice issues and neurologic disorders of the larynx. He is presently authoring a handbook on hoarseness.