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School of Medicine and all three diagnose and treat acute and chronic sinonasal problems in patients, mostly referred by primary care physicians or other otolaryngologists in the region. Each also has his/her specialty areas. For Dr. Reisman they include obstructive sleep apnea and primary and revision sinus surgery, while Dr. Rodriguez's include complex revision sinus surgery and advanced skull base tumor surgery. Dr. Ponsky, who is dual-boarded in otolaryngology and facial plastic surgery, specializes in surgical correction of the nose for form, as well as function. "We have the expertise and the technology to diagnose simple or complex problems of the nose and sinuses," says Dr. Rodriguez. The Expertise A graduate of University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Dr. Rodriguez completed his otolaryngology residency training there, followed by fellowship training in rhinology and anterior skull base surgery at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He joined UH last summer. Dr. Reisman joined UH as a practicing physician in 1991. A graduate of Chicago Medical School, he received his additional training in general surgery at Washington University/Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Mo., and in otolaryngology/head and neck surgery at UH. Georgetown University School of Medicine is where Dr. Ponsky received her MD degree, residency in general surgery and residency in otolaryngology/head and neck surgery. She came to Cleveland in 2008 for a fellowship in plastic and reconstructive surgery at University Hospitals Case Medical Center (UHCMC) and permanently joined the staff after completing her fellowship. "We will see any patient with any problem that the referring physician has a question about," says Dr. Rodriguez, "from a patient with a chronic runny nose, to patients who have been operated on multiple times for sinonasal disease and their symptoms haven't improved, to patients whose symptoms really don't have any clear clinical correlate." Common complaints include congestion, difficulty breathing through one or both sides of the nose, post nasal drip, nasal bleeding, facial pain and pressure, headaches, snoring, and loss of smell. "Many snoring problems actually relate to obstructive sleep apnea which is related to the nose," says Dr. Reisman. "Loss of smell can also be related to nasal and sinus pathology. Sometimes we can get a patient's sense of smell back and sometimes we can't, but we certainly do all we can to get some return of smell because that's a major quality of life issue." Patients are often referred to Dr. Reisman for primary and revision sinonasal surgery. "A lot of my patients are referrals who had previous nasal and sinus surgeries and their problems have returned," he says. Dr. Rodriguez receives referrals of patients needing complicated revisions and those with nose or sinus tumors or cancers. "I take the lead in treating patients who need complex or revision endoscopic sinus surgery, especially those with underlying medical problems such as cystic fibrosis," says Dr. Rodriguez. "My fellowship training focused on those types of patients, so I learned a variety of approaches with different therapeutic protocols, to try to help these patients as much as possible, given their underlying problems." Dr. Rodriguez also completed additional training in allergic disease through the American Academy of Otolaryngologic Kenneth Rodriguez, MD, specializes in advanced skull base tumors, as well as medical and surgical management of sinonasal disease. 2014 JANUARY/FEBRUARY ■ MDNEWS.COM ■ MD NEWS Cleveland/Akron/Canton | 19