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

This residency offers a robust research experience for trainees. With dedicated mentors, protected time, and access to a wide variety of resources, opportunities to tackle projects big and small are at your fingertips.

This residency program is formatted as a unique apprenticeship model in which residents are assigned one-to-one to a staff consultant for 10-week rotations. This system allows the resident graduated responsibility with close supervision and interaction with the consultants. In the final year, trainees become chief resident associates and take on responsibility for their own clinic and operative cases.

Accreditation and certification

The Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Residency is accredited by the Accreditation Council for 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.

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