Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Residency (Minnesota)

Overview

The Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Residency at Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota, provides superior surgical and medical training that features a unique mentorship-apprenticeship system. Residents are trained in all areas of otolaryngology during this program.

This five-year residency prepares residents for either private practice or academic medicine by training with a board-certified staff that teaches management concepts in:

• Otology
• Rhinology
• Laryngology
• Endoscopy
• Pediatric otolaryngology
• Head and neck trauma
• Facial plastic and reconstructive surgery
• Head and neck oncology
• Sleep surgery

In addition, our Clinician-Investigator Training Program gives residents the option of obtaining a master's degree in biomedical science through a year of fully funded research experience.

This residency uses a unique apprenticeship system in which residents are assigned one-to-one to a staff consultant for 10-week periods. This system allows the resident graduated responsibility and close supervision and interaction. In the final year, trainees may become chief resident associates having complete responsibility for their own clinic and operative cases.

Accreditation and certification

The Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Residency is accredited by the American Council of Graduate Medical Education.

Upon successful completion of the residency, graduates are eligible to take the otolaryngology certification examinations offered by the American Board of Otolaryngology. 

Program history

The Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Residency at Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota, was established in 1908 and approximately 280 residents have completed training in this program. The Otorhinolaryngology Department is proud to have graduated both the first female resident, Margaret Smith, M.D., in 1911, and the first African-American resident, Jack Clark, M.D., in 1978, at Mayo Clinic. Five trainees complete this program annually.

You can learn more about the history of otologic surgery at Mayo Clinic and the history of otorhinolaryngology through historical vignettes by Matthew Carlson, M.D. and Kerry Olsen, M.D.