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UC Irvine Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery

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Orange, CA
UC Irvine Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery

Leading Otolaryngology Teaching Hospital: Research, Expanded Residency Program, Continuing Medical Education

Welcome to University of California Irvine Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery. We are your comprehensive resource for all medical issues related to the ear, nose, throat, head and neck tumors, and facial plastic surgery. UC Irvine Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery ranked #33 in the U.S. on US News and World Report's ranking of top hospitals for Ear Nose and Throat. The 2014-15 rankings cover nearly 5,000 medical centers across the country and span 16 medical specialties.

101 The City Drive South, Pavilion II, Orange, CA 92868
714-456-7017
and
62 Corporate Park Ste # 115
Irvine, CA 92606

10/01/2025

Join us for Grand Rounds on Wednesday, October 1 for Meghan Turner, MD, FACS of the West Virginia University of Health Sciences Center for "Complications After TORS." We meet at 5pm PT via ZOOM!

09/24/2025

Coming Soon! This fall, we are excited to be opening a UCI Health Ear, Nose, and Throat clinic to serve our North Orange County population, located in the city of Brea. This shared space between the Departments of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery and Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences will feature 18 exam rooms. Nine rooms will be dedicated to ear, nose, and throat patients with state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment and a full range of audiology services. More to come!

09/17/2025

We are excited to share that Dr. Miriam Smetak has joined our department as our third clinical Neurotologist.

Originally from Fullerton, Dr. Smetak returns to Orange County after completing her undergraduate degree at USC with a BS in Aerospace Engineering and a BA in Interdisciplinary Archaeology, her MD at the University of Minnesota, where she also completed an MS degree in Biomechanical Engineering, her residency training in otolaryngology – head & neck surgery at the Vanderbilt University, and most recently her fellowship training at Washington University in St. Louis, which is one of the premier training programs in the country in neurotology and lateral skull base surgery.

She will initially be seeing patients in Pavilion II in Orange and at the Irvine Wen Center, but once our Brea clinic opens in October, she will help expand our skull base, hearing, and balance services to North Orange County, Los Angeles County, and San Bernardino / Riverside County patients. She will also be pursuing a number of clinical and translational research projects, likely in collaboration with our hearing scientists in the Center for Hearing Research. She has a particular interest in studying and improving surgical ergonomics, an area that combines her engineering and clinical expertise. Dr. Smetak has been officially onboarded as an Assistant Professor of clinical otolaryngology in the UCI School of Medicine and is our 18th faculty member in the Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery.

Welcome Dr. Smetak! We’re so excited to have you join us!

09/16/2025

Join us for Grand Rounds on Wednesday, September 17 for Rosh K.V. Sethi, MD, MPH, FACS of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School for "Patient Reported Outcomes in Head and Neck Surgery." We meet at 5pm PT via ZOOM!

08/30/2025

The gift of hearing again! Dr. Djalilian shares some of the powerful moments patients experience when their hearing is restored:

✨ Hearing the hum of the air conditioner for the first time.
✨ Realizing toilets make a sound when they flush.
✨ Discovering that songs have words, not just melodies. 🎶

These little moments remind us that hearing restoration isn’t just about sound… it’s about rediscovering life itself.
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Hearing Protection, Loud Sound, Headphone Hearing Damage, Hearing Safety, Ear Protection, Parenting Tips, Hearing Damage Prevention, Safe Toys, Ear Health, ENT Tips, Protect Your Ears, ENT Doctor, UCI ENT, Audiology, Otolaryngology, Hearing Loss, Restored Hearing, Ear Surgery

08/27/2025

Join us for Grand Rounds on Wednesday, August 27 for Maki Yamamoto, MD, FACS of UC Irvine Health for "What's New in Melanoma: The Paradigm Shift." We meet at 5pm PT via ZOOM!

08/19/2025

Join us for Grand Rounds on Wednesday, August 20 for Jon Mallen-St. Clair, MD, PhD of Cedars-Sinai for "Evolving Concepts in Mandibular Reconstruction." We meet at 5pm PT via ZOOM!

07/28/2025

Join us for Grand Rounds on Wednesday, July 29 for Dinesh K. Chhetri, MD, FACS of for "Evolution of Laryngeal Reinnervation: Past Milestones and Future Prospects." We meet at 5pm PT via ZOOM!

07/22/2025

Dr. Sina J. Torabi, chief resident, UC Irvine Department of Otolaryngology was awarded a CORE AAO-HNSF Resident Research Grant for his project titled "Data Deficiencies: Implications for Medicare Valuations Within Otolaryngology." Dr. Torabi aims to utilize national datasets to identify critical flaws in the physician reimbursement system in an effort to inform a more sustainable future reimbursement model. He is pursuing this project under the collaborative mentorship of Dr. Edward Kuan of UC Irvine and Dr. R. Peter Manes of Yale University.

07/17/2025

We are proud to share that Dr. Fan-Gang Zeng of the UC Irvine Department of Otolaryngology has co-authored a landmark article published in this month’s edition of Nature Medicine, one of the world’s most prestigious scientific journals.

The paper presents results from the first multicenter clinical trial of gene therapy for hereditary deafness, specifically targeting mutations in OTOF, a gene crucial to the transmission of information from the ear to the brain. Involving ten patients ranging from 1.5 to 23.9 years old, the study demonstrates both the safety and efficacy of an AAV-OTOF vector injection.

The findings are remarkable:

· All participants tolerated the gene therapy procedure well, with no serious adverse events reported.

· Most notably, the intervention restored hearing in individuals previously diagnosed with complete deafness, improving thresholds to the level of moderate hearing loss (approximately 50 dB HL).

· Hearing gains occurred rapidly—largely within the first month of treatment.

This work also breaks new ground in demonstrating successful bilateral and repeat injections, with encouraging results in adolescents and adults, expanding the potential scope of future treatment.

Dr. Zeng’s contribution marks a significant milestone in auditory neuroscience and therapeutic innovation. These promising findings not only deepen our understanding of gene therapy’s biological mechanisms but also offer real clinical hope to individuals with hereditary hearing loss.

Congratulations to Dr. Zeng on this exceptional achievement and the recognition it brings to UC Irvine Department of Otolaryngology’s leadership in hearing and communication sciences.

07/16/2025

The UCI School of Medicine Otolaryngology Department is co-hosting an evening event along with UCI’s Center for Neural Circuit Mapping. The "Art of Science," a special ticketed event held supplementary to the 2025 CNCM Conference: The Changing Brain, will take place on August 19, 2025, with art submissions and a performance by the Pacific Symphony Orchestra.

The "Art of Science" event will be held at the Irvine Marriott and will feature artists, performers, and talks from field professionals to highlight the powerful intersection between artistic expression and scientific discovery. Attendees will get the opportunity to connect with one another and explore the ways in which the two disciplines work together to foster community and innovation.

Event registration is now open until August 8, 2025!

Promo video: https://bit.ly/4lQYCNt

View the agenda and forms for registration and art submissions here: https://bit.ly/4kBB5Pq

07/09/2025

The UCI Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery is pleased to announce the appointment of Tjoson Tjoa, MD, as Guyton-Gatton Endowed Chair. Having served as Interim Chair since 2022, his leadership has led to a 30% growth in the department, which includes 19 full-time faculty as of the 2025-26 academic year, two additional sites of practice, located in Irvine and Brea, and an expanded residency, funded for 15 full-time trainees and with access to a brand new, state-of-the-art skull base and microvascular training lab.

Dr. Tjoa joined UC Irvine in 2016 after completing a fellowship at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear at Harvard Medical School. He currently serves as an Associate Professor who specializes in head and neck cancer and microvascular reconstruction. He previously served as residency program director for the department, and has a keen interest in patient, medical student and resident education. He has received numerous clinical and teaching awards throughout his career and has championed diversity, obtaining funding for and initiating one of the first underrepresented in medicine grants for medical students interested in otolaryngology.

Dr. Tjoa's research focus is on HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer, and he is currently a Co-Principal Investigator on a multidisciplinary spatial genomic and transcriptomic project to characterize various head & neck cancers. He serves on the education committee for the Society for University Otolaryngologists and on the scientific programming committee for the American Head & Neck Society.

Dr. Tjoa is a graduate of UC Berkeley and received his medical degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. He completed an internship in general surgery followed by a residency in head and neck surgery at the UC Irvine School of Medicine prior to completing a fellowship in head & neck surgical oncology and microvascular reconstruction.

Congratulations to Dr. Tjoson Tjoa in his new, permanent role as chair!

Address

101 The City Drive South, Pavilion II
Orange, CA
92868

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 5pm
Tuesday	8am - 5pm
Wednesday	8am - 5pm
Thursday	8am - 5pm
Friday	8am - 5pm

Telephone

+18002639547

Website

http://www.ent.uci.edu/

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