News - Main

We are thrilled to introduce our new class of residents for 2025! Their arrival marks an exciting chapter for our department, filled with promise and innovation.

Within a year of his 2019 wedding, Derek Saccoccio found himself sleeping alone in his home office thanks to his loud snoring. When other efforts failed to curb his snoring, Duke Health’s Emily Commesso, MD, a specially trained sleep surgeon, shortened Saccoccio’s uvula -- the punching-bag shaped structure that hangs in the back of the mouth -- during an outpatient procedure. Six weeks later, Saccoccio snoring was gone, and he moved back into his bedroom. “The biggest benefit is being able to turn over in bed and see that your wife is right there beside you.”

On March 15, Duke HNS&CS joined the Black Family Wellness Expo by The Links, INC., offering health screenings, live music, cooking demos, and more to improve health and economic disparities in the Black community.

Trinitia Cannon, MD, was recently approved to be promoted to Professor career track, effective April 1, 2025

Eileen Raynor, MD, was recently approved to be promoted to Professor, tenure track, effective April 1, 2025

More than 13 million U.S adults live with measurable smell dysfunction, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD. https://tinyurl.com/2jy4vdv7).

Federal funding led to device that has restored hearing for millions.

The Duke HNS&CS Department ranked 15th in the 2024 BRIMR rankings with over $4.3M NIH funding. Key researchers include Bradley Goldstein. NIH funding advances research in smell, hearing, cancer, and balance disorders.

Five years after joining the faculty at Duke University School of Medicine and Duke Cancer Institute, Tammara Watts, MD, PhD, associate professor of head and neck surgery & communication sciences, is finally outfitting her own lab with support from a generous mentor and colleague in Gerard “Gerry” Blobe, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, cell biology, and pharmacology and cancer biology.

A team from the Duke Voice Care Center, including Leda Scearce, Dan Sherwood, and Eileen Raynor, provided vocal health education at the Raleigh Firebirds STEM and Health Fair, answering questions and presenting.