Residency

Residency Program Director

USC Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery

Residency Program Associate Director

USC Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery

A partner of the Keck School of Medicine of USC since 1885, Los Angeles General Medical Center is among the largest teaching hospitals in the country. Staffed by more than 450 full-time faculty members of the Keck School and approximately 850 medical residents in training, Los Angeles General Medical Center services 50,000 inpatients and 750,000 outpatients annually. Among its specialized facilities and services is a state-of-the-art burn center, Level III neonatal intensive care unit, Level I trauma service, an NIH-funded clinical research center and a HIV/AIDS outpatient center.

Los Angeles General Medical Center forms the cornerstone for the residency training program in the Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery. The department provides emergency and urgent service to approximately 20 patients every 24 hours. Approximately 20 to 40 procedures are performed every week in our OR and clinic. It has a large outpatient clinic, where approximately 70 to 100 patients are seen on a daily basis. There are four color-coded services: red, blue, purple and green. Each team is comprised of one attending staff, one chief resident, one junior resident and one to two medical students. The on-call attending physician rounds every morning with one team. Departmental rounds take place on the inpatient ward every morning, and faculty, residents, nursing staff and allied health professionals participate in these rounds.

The Keck Hospital of USC was built in 1991 at the Keck School of Medicine. It is a 300 bed tertiary care hospital. The Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery maintains an average census of 5-10 patients on the ward or in the intensive care unit. The faculty performs approximately 45 inpatient and outpatient procedures and evaluates approximately 200 non-emergency patients every week. Each PGY3 resident rotates through Keck Hospital for six months during the year; each PGY4 resident rotates through Keck Hospital for 9 months. These residents are actively involved in the management of the private patients of the attendings. The program at this hospital provides a comprehensive educational experience for the residents in broncho-esophagology, endocrine surgery, microvascular surgery, facial plastic and reconstructive surgery, head and neck surgery, skull base surgery, laryngology, broncho-esophagology, otology, neurotology, sleep surgery, and rhinology. Niels Kokot, MD, supervises the residents along with other faculty members. The PGY4 residents obtain substantial clinical and operative experience during this rotation and prepare themselves to assume the chief resident position in the following year.

This hospital is one of the best Children’s Hospitals providing tertiary care to pediatric patients on the West Coast. Jeffrey Koempel, MD, MBA, chief of pediatric otolaryngology – head and neck surgery, and Christian Hochstim, MD, PhD, Program Director of the CHLA rotation, supervise PGY3 residents along with other distinguished faculty members in a busy in-patient and outpatient service. All types of pediatric otolaryngology care are provided through this division, including trauma, tumor, broncho-esophagology, otology, neurotology, laryngology and repair of cleft palate. Each PGY3 resident rotates through this hospital for 3 months.