Rodney Diaz, FACS, MD
Professor
Residency Program Director
Dr. Diaz's clinical focus concerns the treatment of disorders of hearing and balance within the inner ear and skull base, including the management of acoustic neuroma and other tumors of the cerebellopontine angle and lateral skull base; the medical and surgical management of Ménière's Disease; the treatment of sensorineural hearing loss, including cochlear implantation; and the surgical management of superior semicircular canal dehiscence and other anomalies of the otic capsule. His clinical practice also encompasses the treatment of diseases of the middle ear, including surgery for chronic otitis media, cholesteatoma, otosclerosis, acquired and congenital hearing loss, and surgical repair of the tympanic membrane and ossicular chain.
Dr. Diaz's scientific research has evolved and now focuses on the development of techniques by which the hair cell depleted cochlea can be repopulated by pragmatic and functional hair cell like transplants. He has had many clinical research interests spanning a broad range of topics concerning hearing and balance function, including therapeutic trials of pharmacologic tinnitus suppression and management, evaluation of innovative methods of cost-effective ossiculoplasty, and institution wide evaluation of safety and risk factors in general otolaryngological procedures. He also has had an interest in the assessment, management, and reduction of educational gaps in otolaryngological training and of the longitudinal correlation of evaluative methods in medical and surgical residency applicants.
