In 2015, the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents approved the establishment of the Department of Otolaryngology in the School of Medicine. Now with the ACGME approved residency program, Joehassin Cordero, M.D., chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology, said there is an amazing opportunity to provide better health care to this community.

“With a residency program, our department will be equipped to provide a better education and better health care,” Cordero said. “This provides our community better care because there will be more access to physicians. We will have the ability to see more patients in the long run.”

This medical specialty deals with diseases and disorders of the ear, nose and throat (ENT) and related structures of the head and neck. According to the American Academy of Otolaryngology, otolaryngology is the oldest medical specialty in the United States.

The ACGME lists that currently there are 106 ENT residency accredited programs in the U.S., six of those in Texas. According to the American College of Surgeons,the supply of otolaryngologists increased from 1981 until 2001, and then began to decline between 2001 and 2006. Between 2000 and 2009 the number of otolaryngology residents becoming certified by the American Board of Medical Specialties dropped 19.3 percent. In the last decade, the number of solo practice otolaryngologists in rural counties also decreased significantly.

Steven L. Berk, M.D., TTUHSC executive vice president, provost and dean of the School of Medicine, said the Department of Otolaryngology’s residency program will allow the school to further expand its mission of providing excellent health care to the people of this region.

“Our new residency program will present residents opportunities to develop ongoing, cutting-edge advances in ENT clinical service, research and teaching, which are so vital to an academic environment,” Berk said. For West Texas, this is a excellent opportunity.”

The first ENT resident will begin on July 1.

“This is the culmination of years of effort and hard work,” Cordero said. “On behalf of the entire TTUHSC Otolaryngology faculty and staff, we want to say thank you to all who supported and helped make this a reality. We could not have done it without a strong team effort.”