Nikolas H. Blevins, MD

Dr. Blevins received his bachelor's degree from Stanford University in Biology before traveling to Boston to complete his medical training at Harvard. He then completed his residency in Otolaryngology at the University of California at San Francisco, and remained at UCSF for additional fellowship training in otology/ neurotology.

Dr. Blevins joined the Otolaryngology Department at the Tufts Medical Center in Boston as director of the Division of Otology and Neurotology. In 2003, he returned to California to join the Stanford Department of Otolaryngology.

He specializes in disorders of the middle ear, inner ear, facial nerve, and skull base. He is the Director of the Stanford Cochlear Implant Center, which is dedicated to the application of the most advanced technology to hearing restoration.

Dr. Blevins has an active research interest in innovative surgical methods and the application of computer technology to surgical education and preoperative planning.

Kay W. Chang, MD

Dr. Chang's clinical practice is based at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, and is focused on Pediatric Otology. He has specific clinical interests in congenital hearing loss, congenital ear anomalies, microtia and atresia reconstruction, and pediatric cochlear implantation. His research interests are also in hearing loss, and include neonatal hearing screening, genetics of hearing loss, otoacoustic emissions, auditory physiology, and ototoxicity. He is actively involved in several human clinical trials looking at the prevention of cisplatin ototoxicity that may drastically decrease the number of children developing hearing loss after chemotherapy, and also presented the Chang Ototoxicity Scale in Journal of Clinical Oncology. His current research interests include the radiologic evaluation of congenital inner ear anomalies, and the analysis of how Connexin-based mutations can alter management of infants with congenital hearing loss.

Dr. Chang received his B.A. magna cum laude at Brown University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He continued there for his M.D. degree, receiving the Henry Randall Prize and the Sigma Xi Award. He completed his Otolaryngology residency in Seattle, at the University of Washington. This was followed by a fellowship in Pediatric Otolaryngology at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. He joined the faculty at Stanford University in 2000.

Specialties: Pediatric Otology, Auditory Research, Ototoxicity, Pediatric Cochlear Implantation, Microtia Reconstruction, Canal Atresia Reconstruction, Medical Device Research and Development

Alan G. Cheng, MD

Dr. Alan Cheng received his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi. He then received his M.D. degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and graduated with distinction in research in otobiology. Dr. Cheng pursued his residency training in Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at University of Washington. During residency, he undertook a two-year NIH-sponsored research fellowship investigating mechanisms of hair cell degeneration. After residency he sought fellowship training in pediatric otolaryngology in Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School. 

Dr. Cheng joined the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Stanford University as a surgeon-scientist in September 2007. His clinical practice focuses on otologic diseases including congenital hearing loss, cochlear implantation, and chronic ear diseases in the pediatric population. 

In parallel, Dr. Cheng's research program focuses on inner ear cell regeneration. He has received funding from NIH, Triological Society, Percy Memorial Award, and the American Otological Society, and California Institute for Regenerative Medicine for this research endeavor. 

Robert K. Jackler, MD

Dr. Jackler was raised in Waterville, Maine, attended college and medical school in Boston, and moved west to the University of California, San Francisco for residency in Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. After taking a Neurotology fellowship at the House Ear Clinic in 1985, Dr Jackler joined the faculty at UCSF where he remained until 2003 when he become the Sewall Professor and Chair of the Department at OHNS and professor in the departments of Neurosurgery and Surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine. In 2007, he became Associate Dean at the Stanford University School of Medicine with responsibility for postgraduatemedical education.

Dr. Jackler’s clinical interest lies in tumors of the ear and temporal bone with a special focus upon surgery of the posterior and lateral cranial base. He has contributed a number of widely utilized innovations designed to enhance exposure of inaccessible intracranial tumors located adjacent to the brainstem. Since 1988 Dr Jackler has directed a fellowship program in neurotology & skull base surgery which has trained a number of academic leaders in the field.

Dr Jackler has authored over 140 peer reviewed papers, over 25 textbook chapters, numerous editorials, published three books Neurotology (1994, 2004), Atlas of Neurotology & Skull Base Surgery (1996, 2008), and Tumors of the Ear and Temporal Bone (2000).  One of Dr. Jackler’s scholarly interests, and a focus of his health advocacy, is the role tobacco advertising plays in promoting smoking (http://tobacco.stanford.edu).

Lloyd Minor, MD

Dr. Minor graduated from Brown University with a bachelor's degree in 1979 and an M.D. in 1982. He completed his residency training in surgery at Duke University Medical Center (1982–1984) and in otolaryngology–head and neck surgery at the University of Chicago Medical Center (1988–1992). Dr. Minor also completed a research fellowship in vestibular neurophysiology at the University of Chicago. He then completed a clinical fellowship in otology and neurotology at The Otology Group and The EAR Foundation in Nashville, Tennessee (1992–1993).

In 1993, Dr. Minor joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as an assistant professor. He became an associate professor in 1997 and a professor in 2001 in the departments of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Neuroscience, and Biomedical Engineering. In 2003 Minor was appointed the Andelot Professor and director (chair) of the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery and otolaryngologist-in-chief at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. In 2009 Minor became provost of The Johns Hopkins University.

In 2012 Dr. Minor became Dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Peter Santa Maria, MD, PhD

Dr Peter Santa Maria is a surgeon scientist born and raised in Perth, Australia, with a subspecialty interest in Otology, Neurotology, and Skull Base Surgery. He attended medical school at The University of Western Australia before undertaking his residency in Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. He was the Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery fellow at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (2012), Western Australia before undertaking a three year instructorship at Stanford University in Otology, Neurotology, and Skull Base Surgery (2015). 

Clinically, Dr Santa Maria specializes in adult and pediatric surgery for hearing, balance and facial nerve disorders. He has a special interest in the management of cholesteatoma, acoustic neuroma and glomus tumor surgery as well as hearing implants, including cochlear implants.

John Shinn, MD

Dr. Shinn is a native North Carolinian and a 1965 graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He completed his ENT residency at Stanford in 1970 and in 1972 became the chief of the otolaryngology department at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, a Stanford affiliate. His primary interest over the ensuing forty years was in otology and neurotology. In 2012 he retired from VMC and currently continues his association with Stanford with a clinical interest in neurobalance problems.

He is married to Patricia Argilla, has 3 adult children, 7 active grandchildren and lives in Los Altos.

George Shorago, MD

Dr. Shorago graduated from the University of Miami School of Medicine in 1964 after three years of undergraduate studies.  After completing an internship at Los Angeles County General Hospital and an N.I H. post doctoral fellowship in otologic research at the Kresge Ear Institute in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Dr. Shorago went on to complete his Otolaryngologic residency at the University of Miami in 1970.

Dr. Shorago maintained a private Otolaryngology practice until 1992, when his association with Stanford OHNS blossomed into a Clinical Assistant Professorship. Dr. Shorago remained in private Otolaryngology practice until March 2015 when he began working with great enjoyment with the Stanford Ear Institute as a Clinical Associate Professor.

Dr. Shorago's interests reside in medical otology, particularly the dizzy patient.

He is married to Jan, has six children and four grandchildren.

Kristen Steenerson, MD

Kristen Steenerson is a board-certified neurologist with fellowship training in otoneurology. After graduating cum laude from Claremont McKenna College, she continued on to medical school at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. After four years of excellent training and annual ski passes, she proceeded to the Mayo Clinic in Arizona for neurology residency. There, she discovered the beauty of the Sonoran Desert as well as an unmet need in balance disorders and vertigo, motivating her to pursue a fellowship in otoneurology. She joins Stanford with positions in both Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Neurology with the goal of jointly addressing the junction of inner ear and brain disorders. Her specific interests include vestibular migraine, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, Ménière's disease, persistent postural-perceptual dizziness and international neurology.

Ong-Dee Liu Woods, MSN, RN, NP-C

Nurse Practitioner Woods is a Bay Area native. Ong-Dee graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with an emphasis in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior from the University of California, Davis in 2007.  She went on to earn her Master of Science degree in Nursing from Samuel Merritt University, where she was a member of Sigma Theta Tau, Honors Society of Nursing, and became a Board Certified Family Nurse Practitioner in 2012.  After gaining work experience as a Registered Nurse at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, and as a Nurse Practitioner in Primary Care at Dignity Health, Woodland Healthcare, Ong-Dee joined Stanford's Otology-Neurotology team in 2015. Her passions include dance and music, which are integrally linked to her goal of providing compassionate, exceptional, and individualized care at the Stanford Ear Institute.

Dr. Fitzgerald received his undergraduate degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from The Wichita State University in Kansas and his M.S. in Audiology and Hearing Sciences at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Fitzgerald pursued a clinical fellowship at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, before earning his Ph.D. in Communication Disorders at Northwestern University.

Dr. Fitzgerald completed his post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Otolaryngology at New York University's School of Medicine. In 2010, he joined the faculties at NYU, and at Montclair State University. In 2015, he became the Chief of Audiology at Stanford Medicine, where he oversees the Audiology departments at Stanford Hospital and the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Fitzgerald’s clinical care specializes in cochlear implants and other aspects of aural rehabilitation. He maintains an active research program, which presently focuses on auditory perceptual learning, cochlear implant mapping and outcomes, language development in children with cochlear implants, and new treatments for tinnitus. His research has been regularly funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Amanda Burke, AuD

Amanda Burke obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from Arizona State University in 2008. She attended graduate school at A.T. Still University where she received an Audiology Doctorate in 2012. She joined Stanford Audiology in 2014.

She performs both conventional and advanced diagnostic measures of the auditory and balance or vestibular systems. She also is experienced to select, fit and adjust state-of-the art hearing aids as well as non-conventional amplification devices.

Honey Gholami, AuD

Honey Gholami obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from San Jose State University in 2002. She returned to graduate school at San Francisco State University where she received a Master of Science degree in Audiology in 2004. She then obtained her Audiology doctorate degree from Salus University. She joined Stanford Audiology in 2004.

She performs both conventional and advanced diagnostic measures of the auditory and balance or vestibular systems. She also is experienced to select, fit and adjust state-of-the art hearing aids as well as non-conventional amplification devices. She is fluent in Farsi.

Jannine B. Larky, MA

Jannine Larky has worked with pediatric and adult cochlear implant patients for over 20 years. She obtained a Master of Arts degree from the University of Iowa in 1989. She then returned to California to complete her Clinical Fellowship in Audiology at the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles. Three years later she accepted a position at UC San Francisco and remained there for the next 12 years. In 2004, she joined Stanford Audiology to establish and direct a new Cochlear Implant Center.

She oversees the clinical and daily operations of the center and sees patients, providing the full range of services to cochlear implant candidates and recipients. She has expertise in programming all manufacturers of cochlear implants that are available. She has presented widely on cochlear implantation.

Jaclyn Moor, AuD

Dr. Jaclyn Moor obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Arizona in 2013. She then continued her studies at the same university and received an Audiology Doctorate in 2017.  As part of her training, she also completed a fellowship year at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ. She  joined the Stanford Audiology team in 2017.

Dr. Moor performs both conventional and advanced diagnostic measures of the auditory and balance or vestibular systems. She is experienced in selecting, fitting, and adjusting state-of-the art hearing aids and non-conventional amplification devices, including cochlear implants.

Sarah Pirko, AuD

Dr. Sarah Pirko graduated from the University of Southern California in 2010 with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Psychology and Neuroscience. She went on to study Audiology at the University of Washington, where she received her Audiology Doctorate in 2015 after completing a clinical fellowship year at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston. Upon graduation, she was awarded the Carrel-Miner Achievement Award, recognizing outstanding clinical performance to one member of her graduating class.

Dr. Pirko was thrilled to join the Stanford Audiology team in 2015 after returning to her hometown of Palo Alto. She performs both conventional and advanced diagnostic measures of the auditory system, and sub-specializes in the field of adult cochlear implants. She has expertise in programming all manufacturers of cochlear implants, and is also experienced in the selection, fitting and adjustment of state-of-the-art hearing aids and other assistive hearing technology.

Austin Swanson, AuD

Austin Swanson obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Chico in 2002. He returned to graduate school at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa where he received a Master of Science degree in Audiology in 2004. He then obtained his Audiology doctorate degree from Salus University in 2008. He joined Stanford Audiology in 2009.

He performs both conventional and advanced diagnostic measures of the auditory and balance or vestibular systems. He is experienced to select, fit and adjust state-of-the art hearing aids and non-conventional amplification devices including cochlear implants.

Goutham Telukuntla, AuD

Goutham Telukuntla obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Mangalore, in India, in 2001. He received his Master of Science degree from the University of Wyoming in 2006. He then obtained his Audiology doctorate degree from the University of Florida in 2009. He joined Stanford Audiology in 2008.

He performs both conventional and advanced diagnostic measures of the auditory and balance or vestibular systems. He also is experienced to select, fit and adjust state-of-the art hearing aids as well as non-conventional amplification devices. He is fluent in Telugu and Hindi.

Dr. Tribble received her Bachelors of Science in Speech Pathology and Audiology from Miami University (Ohio) in 2002 and her Doctorate in Audiology degree from Kent State University (as part of the Northeast Au.D. Consortium) in 2006.  She is the pediatric audiologist for the cleft and craniofacial team at Stanford Children’s Health.  In addition to her work at Stanford Children’s Health, Dr. Tribble has served on the board of directors for the California Academy of Audiology.  Dr. Tribble joined the pediatric audiology team at Stanford Children’s Health in 2007.

Dr. Tribble has expertise in performing comprehensive developmentally appropriate assessments of the auditory system.  Additionally, she has expertise with the pediatric population in the selection, fitting and verification of state-of-the-art hearing aids and assistive listening devices.  Dr. Tribble provides a full range of services to cochlear implant candidates and recipients, including the programming all manufacturers of cochlear implants.

Dr. Perkins received her Bachelors of Arts degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Louisiana State University in 2007 and her Doctorate in Audiology from the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, LA in 2012.  Dr. Perkins completed her externship at Texas Children’s Hospital in 2012 and was a pediatric audiologist at Children’s Hospital Fresno prior to joining the pediatric audiology team at Stanford Children’s Health in 2014.

Dr. Perkins has expertise in performing comprehensive developmentally appropriate assessments of the auditory system.  Additionally, she has expertise with the pediatric population in the selection, fitting and verification of state-of-the-art hearing aids and assistive listening devices.

Erin is a vestibular and neurologic physical therapist who joined the Stanford Outpatient Neurologic Rehab team in 2014. Erin studied at the University of Pittsburgh where she earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Rehabilitation Sciences in 2004. She continued her studies there to obtain a Doctorate in Physical Therapy in 2008. She received her competency as an APTA certified vestibular therapist in 2010. She has continued vestibular education with courses including advanced practice in vestibular physical therapy and concussions. In 2014, she became a Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Neurologic Physical Therapy.

Erin has been working with individuals recovering from vestibular disorders since the beginning of her professional career at Centers for Rehab Services in partnership with The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. There, she further developed her skills working with the vestibular and concussion population.