MDNews - Cleveland-Akron-Canton

with the institution and especially the other pediatricians at Rainbow and the other physicians in the Department of Otolaryngology. There was really a camaraderie there that I hadn't seen in other places that I'd been." 24 | Cleveland/Akron/Canton MD News In addition to his role as Chief of Pediatric Otolaryngology, Dr. Otteson will attend the Cranial Facial Anomalies clinic with Dr. Gregory Lakin, Chief of Pediatric Plastic Surgery. "Dr. Otteson is nationally known for ■ mdNEWS.Com ■ NovEmBEr /dECEmBEr photo © Smithberger photography, North CaNtoN Dr. kenneth rodriguez was recruited to be the new Chief of rhinology, allergy and anterior Skull base Surgery at uh Case medical Center. ENT disorders as they pertain to children with congenital anomalies such as cleft lip and palate and cranial facial syndromes. He's also a noted expert on airway disorders and has started a swallowing clinic," says Dr. Megerian. "In Pittsburgh, I worked as the otolaryngologist in the cleft palate/cranial facial clinic, so when I arrived here one of the first things I did was to become involved in the cleft palate clinic at Rainbow," says Dr. Otteson. "Another one of my clinical interests is working with patients with Down syndrome. These children can have a variety of ENT issues that require careful follow up. They also often have a need for ENT surgery, which is handled differently. For example, children with Down syndrome can have neck instability, so that impacts the way we would plan for even a routine tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy." In addition to his clinical and administrative duties, one of Dr. Otteson's responsibilities is to recruit more pediatric otolaryngologists to increase access throughout the region. In August, he recruited Dr. Jay Shah. Dr. Shah is a pediatric otolaryngologist who received his fellowship training under Dr. Otteson at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. He is expected to take the lead in developing a subspecialty clinic for the management of respiratory papillom ato sis a nd la r y n got rache a l reconstruction for children who have airway disorders. "So we now have three pediatric otolaryngologists, and we just received approval to recruit a fourth. This gives us the opportunity to cover more geographical area, just because there are more of us, to meet patients where they live ... in Cleveland, Twinsburg, Westlake, South Euclid and Chagrin," says Dr. Otteson. "With soon to be four pediatric otolaryngologists, we will certainly have the distinction of having the most fellowship trained specialists in the region," adds Dr. Megerian. "And that's very, very exciting, especially because they each bring a unique skill set to the table."

• Cover