How I learned to diagnose voice disorders

Preface : Acknowledgements

My teachers to whom I am indebted

In my travels, I discovered many laryngologists who were graceful mentors and gladly shared their knowledge. I will caution the reader - this booklet contains many novel ideas that do not represent the beliefs of many laryngologists, including those that I visited. However, I learned something from all of them. I would like to thank all of them for their generosity of spirit and time. They were all willing to show me both their good and bad, as well as share their personal thoughts and beliefs. Links to these physicians may be found on the Physician page.

Thank you

• Murray Morrison, M.D., University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.
• Steven Zeitels, MD, Mass Eye and Ear, Boston, MA
• Robert Sataloff, MD, Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA
• Charles Ford, MD, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
• Robert Ossoff, MD, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
• James Netterville, MD, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
• Thomas Cleveland, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
• Guy Cornut, MD, Lyon, France
• Marc Bouchayer, MD, Lyon, France
• Gerald Berke, MD, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
• Herb Dedo, MD, San Francisco, CA
• Krzysztof Izdebski, PhD, San Francisco, CA
• Clark Rosen, M.D., University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.

In particular, one laryngologist had a voice oriented perspective on laryngology that seemed so novel, I returned after an initial one week visit for an additional six months of study. I studied with Robert W. Bastian, M.D. from July through December 1998 and produced this web site voicedoctor.net as a way of summarizing what I learned. This time brought into focus the difference between reacting to a disease and understanding a disease.

Now, my greatest teachers are my patients who allow me to look ever so deeply into their voice problems.