Instead of just training the best Otolaryngologists in the world, Vanderbilt is committed to creating future healthcare leaders. Vanderbilt Otolaryngology has created a unique multi-year leadership training program for residents, developed to bridge the gap between elite medical institute training and the real-life need for physicians to be leaders, in clinical, institutional and research capacities.
By putting students into leadership roles, we give them the opportunity acquire invaluable "hand-on" leadership skills. The Leadership Training Program has been featured in Harvard Business Review and New England Journal of Medicine for the innovative approach to residency learning.
The Leadership and Innovation Training Program includes:
- Personalized Leadership Development
- Team and Organizational Leadership
- Maximizing communication in Leadership
- Contextual Leadership and Operations Management (Micro-MBA)
- Health Systems Science, Biodesign, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship
Each residency class is tasked with completing a health systems or public health capstone project, leveraging the skills that they develop throughout the training program. Over the course of five years, each class identifies a specific health systems or public health problem, works with faculty and colleagues to identify potential solutions, and implement the solution. The goal is to give residents the opportunity to develop leadership and innovation skills that will be a requisite for post-residency success.
Examples of the prior Public Health Capstone Project include the HPV Animation, the HPV and Throat Cancer PSA and the Hearing Loss PSA.
Residents also receive practical education in innovation, entrepreneurship and commercialization, learning how to identify unmet needs, evaluate potential solutions and understand the pathways that move an innovation from an idea toward real-world implementation. This education is reinforced through active participation in the Department’s innovation programs: residents help evaluate candidates for the Haynes Scholar Award and, through the Matheny Innovation & Entrepreneurship Award, assess early-stage innovations from a commercialization perspective. These experiences give residents the opportunity to apply concepts such as customer discovery, market need, adoption, business models and commercialization strategy to real innovations.
Learn more about the Department’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program.
The Otolaryngology Leadership Development program is led by Priyesh Patel, MD (Residency Program Director), with support from Eben Rosenthal, MD (Department Chair), Aaron Moberly, MD (Associate Residency Program Director), Amy Whigham, MD, MS-HPEd (Director of Resident Didactic Curriculum), and Alex Langerman, MD, SM, FACS.