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Department of Otorhinolaryngology (ENT) -
Head and Neck Surgery

Physician and Staff Biographies


Photo: Scott E. Strome, M.D. Scott E. Strome, M.D. is professor and Chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (Oto-HNS). Dr. Strome leads the Department of Oto-HNS with an emphasis on the core themes of clinical practice, research and education.

Dr. Strome received his BA from Dartmouth College in 1987 and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1991. He subsequently completed a combined 6-year internship/residency program at the University of Michigan Medical Center in 1997 and a head and neck surgery/microvascular reconstructive fellowship with Dr. Richard Hayden in 1998. He accepted a faculty position in the Department of Oto-HNS at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in 1998, where he practiced until being recruited to head the Department of Oto-HNS at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Dr. Strome runs a large translational research program, has a long history of federal funding, and has published extensively in leading scientific journals. From a clinical perspective, he is interested in all aspects of head and neck cancer patient care with a particular emphasis on salivary gland disease, laryngeal disease, thyroid disease and head and neck reconstruction.




Bryan T. Ambro, M.D., M.S. Bryan T. Ambro, M.D., M.S., is an assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Division of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. In addition to managing a facial cosmetic surgery practice, he serves as a facial reconstructive surgeon at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center and as a facial specialist at the Baltimore Veterans Administration Medical Center. His specific interests include rhinoplasty (cosmetic and functional), aging face surgery (browlift, eyelift and facelift), and ear reconstruction. This special interest in reconstructing external ear deformities has led Dr. Ambro to begin planning the development of a Microtia Clinic to evaluate and surgically repair/create ears for children with congenital ear deformities.

Dr. Ambro completed his undergraduate education at Georgetown University. He received a master's degree from Cambridge University (England), performing research in the Division of Virology on potential human papilloma virus vaccines. He graduated magna cum laude from the Jefferson Medical College, where he was also inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society and received, among other awards, the S. MaCuen Smith Memorial Prize in Otology.

Dr. Ambro subsequently stayed at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and completed an internship in general surgery and a four-year residency in otolaryngology-head & neck surgery. After working for a year as a clinical instructor of otolaryngology at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, he went to the University of Washington Medical Center for fellowship training in facial plastic & reconstructive surgery, where he trained under two internationally renowned facial plastic surgeons -- Wayne Larrabee, Jr., M.D. (past president of the American Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery) and Craig Murakami, M.D. Throughout his training and practice, Dr. Ambro has performed thousands of surgical procedures on the face, head and neck.

Dr. Ambro sees patients at the Maryland Facial Plastic Surgery office, the University clinic, and at Kernan Hospital.




John Biedlingmaier, M.D. John Biedlingmaier, M.D., joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in 2005. He is spearheading the department's general Oto-HNS medical practice.

He recieved his medical degree at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he also completed a residency in otolaryngology.

Dr. Biedlingmaier was most recently based at Maryland General Hospital, where he was the Chief of the Department of Otolaryngology. He has also worked as an otolaryngology consultant for Kernan Hospital, University Specialty Hospital and Levindale Specialty Hospital.




Andrei Chapoval, Ph.D., joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in 2005. He is a scientist whose area of research interest is in T cell activation/costimulation and experimental cancer immunotherapy.

Dr. Chapoval came to Baltimore from Connecticut, where he was a senior research scientist at the Rothberg Institute for Childhood Diseases. He was also a senior research scientist at Inflammation Group, CuraGen in Connecticut. Prior to that, he was a research fellow in the Department of Immunology at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

After pursuing his Ph.D. in immunology from the Russian Academy of Medical Science, Dr. Chapoval came to the United States as a research fellow in surgery at the Mayo Clinic. He continued his training in Bar Harbor, Maine, as a postdoctoral associate at the Jackson Laboratory.




David Eisenman, M.D. David Eisenman, M.D., joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery in 2005 and is the Director of Otology and Neurotology. Prior to coming to UMMC, he spent two years as the Chief of Otology & Neurotology at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, and three years in private practice in Washington, DC. At Walter Reed he was instrumental in creation of a cochlear implant program, and a multidisciplinary, integrated balance disorder center. He has delivered numerous invited lectures on topics in the field of hearing, balance and facial nerve disorders to students, residents and health care practitioners.

Dr. Eisenman graduated magna cum laude from Columbia College in New York in 1987, and was selected for membership in Phi Beta Kappa. He received his MD from the Yale University School of Medicine in 1992. While at Yale, he was awarded the Logan-Clendening Traveling Fellowship for research in the History of Medicine. He also spent an additional year at Yale working in the Laboratory of Developmental Respiratory Neurophysiology. Dr. Eisenman then completed 2 years of General Surgery training at the New York Hospital Cornell University Medical Center, and four years in Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital. From there he went to the University of Michigan for fellowship training in Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery, where he also performed and published his research in recovery from inner ear and vestibular injuries, and in cochlear implantation.

Dr. Eisenman specializes in diseases of the ear and lateral skull base. These include evaluation and treatment -- both medical and surgical -- of hearing loss, balance and vestibular disorders, facial nerve paralysis, chronic ear infections, and skull base tumors. Some specific disorders included in these are acoustic neuroma (vestibular schwannoma), otosclerosis, eardrum perforation, cholesteatoma, ear and temporal bone trauma, Bell's palsy and facial nerve tumors, Meniere's disease and other forms of endolymphatic hydrops, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and migraine-associated vertigo.




Brian R. Gastman, M.D. Brian Gastman, M.D., joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in 2005.

He received his medical degree at the University of Michigan School of Medicine in 1996. His postdoctoral training included a residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. While in residency he was awarded the position of a 2-year NIH postdoctoral fellow. His research won a number of local and national awards and multiple publications and grants. Currently Dr. Gastman has almost 30 publications either published or submitted in peer review journals and many more abstracts. He then completed a fellowship in Head and Neck Microvascular Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Finally, he completed a full residency in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Dr. Gastman, who is board certified in Otolaryngology, specializes in all areas of both otolaryngology and plastic surgery. He has special interests in microvascular surgery, including trauma and cancer reconstruction, head and neck cancer surgery as well as all areas of cosmetic surgery. His main clinical practice is at Maryland General Hospital. In addition, Dr. Gastman has dedicated time and staff to perform basic science research in areas of tumor immunology and aging.




Zhongmin Guo, M.D., Ph.D., joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in 2005.

Prior to coming to the University of Maryland, Dr. Guo served as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Cancer Research Division at Johns Hopkins University.

After receiving his medical degree and a Master of Science in pathology and oncology from the Guangdong Medical College in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, PR China, Dr. Guo received his doctoral degree in pathology and oncology from the Department of Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University Hospital in Uppsala, Sweden.

He has previously served as a visiting scholar in the Department of Genetics and Pathology at Uppsala University Hospital and as an Associate Professor of Cancer Research at the Guangdong Medical Institute, where he received two outstanding achievement awards in science and technology.

Dr. Guo holds memberships in the American Association for Cancer Research, European Association for Cancer Research and the Medical Association of PR China.




Monica HawleyMonica Hawley, Ph.D., joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery as an adjunct assistant professor in 2005. She has been with the University of Maryland School of Medicine since 2001, when she began as a visiting assistant professor.

Dr. Hawley is a graduate of Boston University, College of Engineering, where she received her undergraduate degree, a master's degree and a Ph.D. She continued her training with a research fellowship at Eaton Peabody Laboratory, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. This was followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Speech and Hearing Sciences Program.

Dr. Hawley is an expert in hearing impairment. She is a reviewed for Journal of the Acoustical Society of America and Ear & Hearing.




Thomas T. Le, M.D. Thomas T. Le, M.D. is Director of Facial Plastic Surgery and an assistant professor in the Department of Oto-HNS at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. In addition to managing a facial cosmetic surgery practice, he serves as a facial reconstructive surgeon at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center and as a facial specialist at the Baltimore Veterans Administration Medical Center. His area-specific interests include rhinoplasty, nasal reconstruction, and aging face surgery (eyelift, facelift, and necklift).

He graduated with highest honors from the University of Louisville School of Medicine, garnering, among other awards, the Kash Award in Anatomy and the Barbour Award in Pharmacology. His accomplishments gained him early induction as a junior medical student into Alpha Omega Alpha. Before and during medical school, Dr. Le performed lipoprotein and molecular biology research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.

Dr. Le subsequently completed an internship in General Surgery and a residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at St. Louis University School of Medicine, where he won the Resident Research Award. He then became an instructor and fellow of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Miami in Miami, Fla., a mecca for plastic surgery. Throughout his training, Dr. Le logged over 3,400 facial, head, and neck procedures and worked with several nationally renowned facial plastic surgeons, including J. Regan Thomas, MD, and Robert L. Simons, MD (both former presidents of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery), as well as Richard Davis, MD, Julio Gallo, MD, and Brian Jewett, MD.




Tanya Meyer, M.D. Tanya Meyer, M.D., joined the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 2005. Her specialty is the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of voice and swallowing disorders and she is an expert in the diagnosis of neurologic disorders of the larynx and treatment with botulinum toxin.

Dr. Meyer recently completed a fellowship in laryngology ane neurolaryngology with the New York Center for Voice and Swallowing Disorders. After attending medical school at the University of California, San Diego, she completed an internship and one year of residency at the University of Rochester and a subsequent fellowship in in oncology research at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina. She then completed her residency in otolaryngology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. Meyer has received recognition throughout medical school, residency and fellowship for her excellence in research.

Dr. Meyer is an active member of the American Board of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and participates on the Instruction Course Advisory Committee for the Academy of Otolaryngology. Recent publications include "Speech Intelligibility and Quality of Life in Head and Neck Cancer Survivors (Laryngoscope) and "Contemporary Diagnostic and Management Techniques for Extraesophageal Reflux Disease" (Current Opinion Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery).




Chetan S. Nayak, M.D., is a clinical instructor of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and has joined the faculty this year. He received his medical degree with distinction from Temple University Medical School in 2002. He was voted to Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society in his junior year and received the Doane memorial prize as the most outstanding medical school graduate in his class. He completed his residency training in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at University of Maryland Hospital in June 2007.

Dr. Nayak provides care at the University of Maryland Medical Center as well as Bon Secours Hospital. His clinical practice is focused on head and neck oncology as well as general otorhinolaryngology. Dr. Nayak is committed to advance resident education. He is also dedicated to basic science research in the areas of head and neck oncology and immunology.



Kevin D. Pereira, M.B.B.S. Kevin Pereira, M.D., M.S. (ORL), joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in 2007 and is Director of Pediatric Otolaryngology. Prior to coming to UMMC, Dr. Pereira was the Chief of Pediatic Otolaryngology and Interim Chief of Otolaryngology at the Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston. He was also professor of Otolaryngology and Pediatrics and Vice Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

Dr. Pereira received his medical degree at St. John's Medical College in Bangalore, India. He completed Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery residencies in India and at the Royal College of Surgeons in England, and a Pediatric Otolaryngology fellowship at Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center in Memphis.

Dr. Pereira specializes in sleep apnea in toddlers and infants, airway problems, sinusitis, and neck masses in newborns and children.




Robert Sawyer, M.D. Robert Sawyer, M.D. is associate professor of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and has been on the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Medicine since 1991. He completed his residency training in otolaryngology at Walter Reed in 1973. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Otolaryngology and was elected a fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1979. He has been on the medical school teaching faculty of the University of Washington, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, Uniformed Services School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, where he was Assistant to the Department Chair, and Johns Hopkins University.

He was awarded a two-year fellowship in head and neck cancer surgery and neuro-otolaryngology at the University of London, England, 1979 to 1981. He served as otolaryngology consultant to the entire U.S. Army Health Services Command from 1981 through 1984, and was also chair of the otolaryngology residency training program at Brooke Army Medical Center. He was secretary, head and neck surgery section, of the XIII World Congress of Otolaryngology, 1985.

In 1988 he was named chief of VA ENT Service, was acting director of Surgery at the Baltimore VA Medical Center from 1992 through 1994 and has been Deputy Director of Surgery since that time. He also became chief of the Clinical Informatics Service at the VA Maryland Health Care System in 2001. He is currently a co-investigator in a CDC funded research program attempting to assess the feasibility of using the VA computerized data system as an early detection system for bioterrorism.




Duane A. Sewell, M.D. Duane Sewell, M.D. is an assistant professor of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. Dr. Sewell joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in 2007. Prior to coming to UMMC, Dr. Sewell was an assistant professor of Otorhinolaryngology at the University of Pennsylvania and Staff Surgeon at the Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Dr. Sewell received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1994. He completed his Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery residency at Johns Hopkins in 2000. While at Johns Hopkins he performed a two-year research fellowship studying the genetics of head and neck cancer. After his residency, he performed another six-month research fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania in tumor immunology. He completed his clinical training in 2002 with a one-year head and neck surgery fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Sewell is an accomplished surgeon-scientist with numerous publications and research grants to his credit, including two NIH-sponsored grants. His clinical interests include head and neck oncology and general otolaryngology, and his research interests include cancer vaccines for the treatment of head and neck cancer. He is board-certified in Otolaryngology and a member of several professional societies.




Rodney J. Taylor, M.D., M.S. Rodney Taylor, M.D. Dr. Taylor, who joined the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 2001, is an associate professor of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and co-director of General Otorhinolaryngology. He completed his undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, respectively.

Prior to arriving at UMMS, he completed his residency training in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Oncology at University of Michigan in 2001. He also completed a MS degree in clinical research design and statistical analysis at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Dr. Taylor is board certified and has a wide range of clinical interests and expertise, including head and neck cancer, endoscopic sinus surgery, and anterior skull base surgery.

In addition, he has other general otolaryngology clinical interests, which include pediatric, endocrine, and sleep apnea surgery. Dr. Taylor has served both as treasurer (2003) and president (2004) of the Maryland Otolaryngology Society. He is also an active member of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and the American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy.




Jeffrey S. Wolf, M.D.Jeffrey S. Wolf, M.D. Dr. Wolf joined the faculty at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 2001. He is an assistant professor of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and is co-director of General Otorhinolaryngology. He is also affiliated with the UM Greenebaum Cancer Center. Dr. Wolf graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed his residency in otolaryngology at the University of Maryland.

Clinical interests include general otolaryngology, head and neck oncologic surgery, allergic and sinus disease and obstructive sleep apnea. He is board-certified in otolaryngology and is a fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Wolf is the recipient of 2004 American Head and Neck Society Young Investigator award and is a 2003-2004 Clinical Scholar of the American Academy of Otolaryngology ? Head and Neck Surgery. He is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the Society of University Otolaryngologists, and the American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy.




Charles Schroder

Charles Schroder is the administrator of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and has held this position since August 2000. He previously was a financial specialist in the Office of the Dean for the School of Medicine for two and a half years after spending seven and a half years as an internal auditor at The George Washington University.

He received his MBA from The George Washington University in 1993 and graduated summa cum laude from the Salisbury State University Perdue School of Business with a BS in accounting.

* Refers to PubMed, a service provided by the National Library of Medicine.




Mellisa Tibbs

Mellisa Tibbs is the Assistant Administrator for Otorhinolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery and has held this position since September 2005. Mellisa brings over 10 years of extensive knowledge in operations and practice planning and development. She previously held the position of Director of Patient Services for an organization in Washington D.C. and the Northern Virginia area.

Mellisa is an active member in the Association of Otolaryngology Administrators and National Council of University Research Administration.


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