Otolaryngology Residency Program at the Icahn School of Medicine of Mount Sinai

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai/New York Eye and Ear Infirmary houses a distinguished residency training program in otolaryngology. As the largest program in the country with six residents per training year, it represents a combination of two previously independent programs with complementary strengths.  

Our extensive faculty includes multiple fellowship-trained surgeons in each subspecialty (otology-neurotology, rhinology, facial plastics, head and neck surgery, laryngology, pediatrics, and sleep), many of whom are nationally and internationally renowned experts.  In addition to traditional surgical techniques, residents are exposed to advanced technology, such as virtual/augmented reality and robotics.  We also maintain an active clinical research program with access to a large variety of research projects during training. In fact, the Head and Neck Cancer Research Program is the leading global resource for dormant tumor cell research.

The resident community is a cohesive group of ambitious and innovative young physicians who collaborate not only in delivering patient care and accomplishing pioneering research, but also in providing guidance for continual growth and improvement of the training program.  Located in New York City and drawing from patient populations near and far, the surgical training and opportunity for advanced education in subspecialty otolaryngology is exceptional.

Our training hospitals enrich the medical learning experience while fostering continuity of care and encouraging the development of interpersonal skills, professionalism, and system-based practice.

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Our program includes classes, Annual Head and Neck Dissection course, regular sub-specialty conferences, robust wellness curriculum, practice building seminars, journal clubs and Grand Rounds.

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Our rotations offer comprehensive instruction in all the areas of subspecialty otolaryngology, utilizing resources from the entire health system.

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We offer housing, insurance and competitive salaries and benefits.

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Applications should be submitted online via the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

PGY 5 (Class of 2023)

 

Rocco Ferrandino, MD

Dr. Ferrandino graduated Magna Cum Laude from Georgetown University earning his undergraduate degree in the Biology of Global Health. He then continued on to earn a dual masters and medical degree at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Benjamin Laitman, MD, PhD

Benny Laitman attended the University of Pennsylvania where he double majored in in Biological Basis of Behavior and Anthropology, and also received a Master's degree in Physical Anthropology. He attended Mount Sinai for both his MD and his PhD in Neuroscience where he focused on white matter development. While he is involved in many projects, his primary ENT research focuses HPV vaccine education efforts to help prevent head/neck cancer. He has a strong interest in medical education, publishing multiple papers in that field, and even serves as the Associate Director of Embryology for the Mount Sinai medical school course "Structures."

David Lerner, MD

Dr. David Lerner grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated as a member of Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College in 2014 with a degree in Neuroscience and Chemistry. He went on to attend the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania as a 21st Century Scholar. While in medical school, he was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha honor society and participated in a variety of research projects, including studying the use of endoscopic endonasal surgery for skull base tumors in pediatric patients.  

Noel Phan, MD

Noel grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota and received her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She then attended the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities for her medical degree, graduating in May 2018. During medical school she worked on basic science research projects involving necrosis and necroptosis in arteries. In her free time, she enjoys arts and crafts, cooking and traveling.

Kevin Wong, MD

Dr. Kevin Wong is a resident physician in Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery at Mount Sinai. He graduated from Boston University in 2014 were he was a member of the accelerated seven-year combined BA/MD program. During medical school, he coordinated the FDA clinical trials on auditory brainstem implantation in adults and children. He has received several awards for his research, including 1st place poster at TRIO and 2nd place oral presentation at the ARO MidWinter meeting. He also won the prestigious Massachusetts Medical Society Information Technology Award for developing a smartphone-based augmented reality app for learning anatomy.

Joshua Zeiger, MD

Dr. Joshua Zeiger grew up in New York City and graduated from Georgetown University with a major in English and a minor in Business Administration. He then returned to New York and matriculated at the NYU School of Medicine. Prior to graduation, he spent a research year conducting clinical research within the Rhinology division of the Otolaryngology department at Mount Sinai. Outside of medicine, he enjoys traveling, reading and New York City sports.

 

PGY 4 (Class of 2024)

 

Christine Barron, MD

Dr. Barron grew up in Texas and graduated from Harvard University. Prior to attending medical school at The Ohio State University, she worked in finance and public health for five years. During this time, she pursued quality improvement projects for underserved patients, and worked with states to write healthcare payment reform policy. Her personal interests include playing violin and guitar, rock climbing, hiking, video games, and cooking. She also loves to travel; she has been to over 40 countries and previously worked as a travel writer for Let's Go travel guides.

Usmaan Basharat, MD

Usmaan Basharat was born in Pakistan and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. He attended Arizona State University where he graduated with a BS in Biological Sciences. Following the completion of his undergraduate studies, Usmaan attended the University of Arizona College of Medicine–Phoenix for his MD. His professional and personal interests include medical education, mentoring, basketball, camping, hiking, exercising, and exploring the city.

Alexander Goel, MD

Alex grew up in Saint Louis, MO and graduated from Yale University in 2014 with a degree in Economics. He attended UCLA for medical school where he researched the regeneration of the injured tongue using stem cells.

Aparna Govindan, MD

Dr. Govindan grew up in New Jersey and matriculated at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School seven year BA/MD program. She studied chemistry and political science as an undergraduate. In medical school she was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society, and participated in a variety of research and service organizations, including serving as director of the student run clinic, providing medical and social services to the surrounding community. In her free time she enjoys learning and teaching Indian classical dancing, hiking, biking and attending concerts.

Anish Raman, MD

Anish was born in Pennsylvania and briefly lived in England before moving to the northern suburbs of Chicago. He received his undergraduate degree from Duke University, where he developed his interest in cancer research. Upon returning to Chicago for medical school at Rush Medical College, he participated in research on benign central airway obstruction, HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer, and chronic rhinosinusitis.

Likun Tian, MD

Dr. Tian was born in northern China, and grew up in Melbourne Australia and Montreal Canada. She graduated from Yale university with a B.A. in Economics, and was CCO for Edrolo, an education tech company, before attending medical school at Columbia University. Prior to graduating, she completed a research year investigating the neuromodulator pathways for axon regeneration after recurrent laryngeal nerve injury.

 

PGY 3 (Class of 2025)

 

Sida Chen, MD

Dr. Chen was born in China, came to New York soon after, and never left. She studied visual art and biology at Columbia University, then graduated from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Sunder Gidumal, MD

Dr. Gidumal grew up in Manhattan and attended Dartmouth College, majoring in neuroscience. He attended Mount Sinai for medical school. As an MS3, Sunder was one of two medical students selected nationally for the MD Scholar Fellowship at the Boston Consulting Group. Sunder spent two years in BCG's healthcare practice in San Francisco, pursuing quality improvement projects for hospitals, research institutes, and pharmaceutical companies before returning to Mount Sinai for his fourth year of medical school. His interest in quality improvement research has continued in residency. His personal interests include skiing, brewing beer, and learning how to surf.

Alexandra Hamberis, MD

Dr. Hamberis was born and raised in South Carolina. She graduated from the Honors Program at the University of North Carolina with a double major in Biology and Spanish Literature and a minor in Chemistry. She attended the Medical University of South Carolina where she served as President of her class. During medical school, she completed a research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. Her research interests include dysphagia, pharyngeal manometry, and pediatric hearing loss in various congenital syndromes. Personal interests (list 3): singing, running, Greek and Lebanese cooking

Catharine Kappauf, MD

Dr. Kappauf was born in New Jersey before moving with her family to Connecticut and then North Carolina. She attended college at Duke University, where she double majored in Biology and Spanish and spent her free time working in a microbiology lab and dancing. After graduating, she worked as a research assistant at Memorial Sloan Kettering before enrolling at Mount Sinai for medical school. During medical school, she was involved in various research projects, including assessing opioid prescribing practices after sinus surgery and studying the multidisciplinary care of primary thyroid lymphoma.

David Z. Liao, MD

Dr. David Z. Liao was born in Utah and raised in suburban Maryland. He received his undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt University where he studied biomedical engineering. Afterwards he moved to the Bronx, NYC to attend the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. There, he pursued a research year to investigate head and neck cancer treatment delay, bedside tracheotomies, surgical simulation, and cost-effectiveness in head and neck surgery. David also has research interests in robotics, 3D printing, and video game-integrated therapy. He is extremely excited to stay in NYC to continue his medical training!

Ann Powers, MD

Dr. Powers graduated from Northwestern University prior to matriculating to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. During medical school, Ann completed a year of research in Dr. Richard Wong's laboratory at Memorial Sloan Kettering where she developed a novel mouse model for studying perineural invasion, the process by which cancer cells invade nerves. Ann's clinical research interests are principally focused on oncology including head and neck cancer outcomes and the epidemiology of thyroid cancer.

 

PGY 2 (Class of 2023)

 
Chris Choi, MD Dr. Chris Choi grew up in New Jersey, received his undergraduate degree from The College of New Jersey and his medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in the accelerated 7- year BS/MD program. Prior to attending medical school, he also conducted research in the Netherlands at Utrecht University on the use of induced pluripotent stem cells in different animal models for infarcted tissue. His academic interests include head and neck cancer outcomes, disparities in healthcare, and medical education. His personal interests include soccer, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, hiking, camping, and traveling. 
Katherine Liu, MD Dr. Kathy Liu grew up in Westchester, New York and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania where she studied the Biological Basis of Behavior. Prior to medical school, she worked as a healthcare consultant, developing digital health strategies for Global Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies. She attended medical school at Stony Brook University. During medical school, she completed the The Steven Sacks, MD and Carole Sacks Research Fellowship in Mount Sinai's Department of Otolaryngology, with a focus on projects using virtual reality and augmented reality to improve patient experience during otolaryngologic office procedures, as well as to augment resident education and surgical planning. Her personal interests include jazz piano, hiking with her two mini dachshunds, and watching scary movies. 
Maria Mavrommatis, MD Dr. Mavrommatis grew up in Westchester, New York and graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Neuroscience and Behavior from Columbia University. She then took the long journey across Central Park to pursue her medical degree from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, graduating with a Distinction in Research. She now works as a resident-physician in the Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery Department of Mount Sinai, and her research interests include the ever-expanding indications for cochlear implantation. Her personal interests include visiting her family in Cyprus, watching scary movies, and designing nail art.
Juan Nogues, MD Dr. Nogues was born in Havana, Cuba and raised in Miami, FL. He received his undergraduate degree from The Florida State University and attended medical school at George Washington University. His clinical interests are in head and neck oncology and reconstructive surgery. Outside of medicine, he enjoys fishing, scuba diving and is a college football aficionado.
Aisosa Omorogbe, MD Dr. Omorogbe was born and raised in Nigeria before moving to Chicago with his family. He attended Loyola University Chicago where he obtained a BS in molecular biology. After graduating he worked as a physical therapy technician for a year before moving to NYC for medical school at ISMMS. During medical school, he was involved in various research projects and did a yearlong MPH program studying disparities in access to care and cost-effectiveness of care in cancer patients.
Ahmed Toure, MD Dr. Toure was born and raised in New York City. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in biology. He then returned to New York to attend Weill Cornell Medicine for medical school. Ahmed has a strong interest in research. He spent two years studying immune responses to cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering. In medical school, he pursued a research year at the Rockefeller University to investigate the biomechanics of inner ear hair cell proteins involved in sound transduction. In his free time, Ahmed enjoys discovering music, trying new restaurants and long distance running.

 

PGY 1 (Class of 2023)

 
Brian Deutsch, MD Dr. Deutsch was born in Southern California and attended college at Stanford University, where he graduated with honors in Biology with a minor in the Classics. After graduating, he continued working at Stanford doing research on tumor immune microenvironment using 3D organoid modelling. He attended his first three years of medical school at Mount Sinai before being accepted as an NIH TL1 predoctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, where he validated a clinical tool to predict ototoxicity in head and neck cancer patients while receiving a master’s degree in clinical investigation. After returning to New York to complete medical school, Brian spent one year as a preliminary resident in the department of general surgery at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. When not in the hospital, you can find him playing basketball or cooking a new recipe.     
Ryan Huang, MD Dr. Ryan Huang grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from Harvard University with a major in Neurobiology. He then attended the Duke University School of Medicine, where he took a research year to earn a Master of Health Sciences degree in Clinical Research. During his research year, he completed several research projects with the divisions of Rhinology and Otology & Neurotology at Duke. In his spare time, he enjoys running, basketball, and going to concerts.
Daniel Kraft, MD Dr. Daniel Kraft grew up outside of Boston, MA and graduated Magna Cum Laude with Honors from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Molecular Biology. He worked in consulting and research before matriculating at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. During medical school, he served as a member of the Rhode Island Hospital ethics committee and was awarded the Joukowsky Family Award for Scholarly Excellence and the Barbara Rosen Endowment for the Enhancement of Humanistic Patient Care. He was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society upon graduation. Outside of medicine, he enjoys backpacking, fly-fishing, cooking, and the Boston Celtics.
Harrison Smith, MD Dr. Smith was born in Pittsburgh before moving to the suburbs of Boston where he grew up. He pursued his undergraduate studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and majored in Biochemistry. After his undergraduate work, he returned to Boston to work at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute before matriculating at New York Medical College for his undergraduate medical training. During his training, he was awarded a T32 grant to pursue dedicated research at the Washington University in St. Louis. There, he completed coursework for his Master’s in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) and published on clinical outcomes and decision making for vestibular schwannoma. Outside of the hospital, you may find Dr. Smith skiing down the mountains of New England, enjoying hot pot in Flushing, or singing along to his favorite songs at a local karaoke establishment.
Torin Thielhelm, MD Dr. Thielhelm was born in Florida and attended Duke University, where he majored in Biology. During his free time, he was working in a microbiology lab and playing soccer. After graduating, he worked as a clinical research associate at the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development before matriculating to the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. During medical school, he was involved in several research projects, including basic science research on radiation resistance in vestibular schwannoma and clinical research on quality of life in HPV+ head and neck cancer patients. His personal interests include water and snow skiing, cooking, and Duke basketball. 
Nathan Wallace, MD Prior to studying medicine at Boston University, Dr. Nathan Wallace graduated with honors in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida. During his undergraduate studies, he worked with cancer patients and their families in rural Florida, as well as conducted biomedical engineering research in ophthalmic drug delivery. These efforts furthered influenced his research throughout his medical education—healthcare access and federal policy, and its impact on thyroid and pituitary cancers. The results of his research have been published in multiple journals and presented at various international medical conferences. While in Boston, Dr. Wallace emphasized the importance of mentorship in medical education and was inducted into the medical honors society Alpha Omega Alpha. In his free time, he enjoys listening to music, playing various sports, and hiking with his dog.

Our residents gain exceptional experience at the Otolaryngology Program. Learn more about the ENT-operated COVID-19 ICU at Elmhurst Hospital.