University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix
Status banner
Program status: application under review by the ACGME. The program's application and site visit were completed in 2026, and an accreditation decision is expected in January 2027. Application instructions will be posted here when initial accreditation is granted.
The Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Residency Program at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix is a five-year program built from the ground up around the current ACGME program requirements. Residents train across five sites in the Phoenix metropolitan area — a Level I trauma center and quaternary academic hospital, a children's hospital, a comprehensive cancer center, a VA medical center, and a nationally recognized neuroscience institute — as the primary otolaryngology learners on every service, with faculty who are building the program alongside them.
Program at a glance
| 5 years | 3 residents a year; 15 at full complement | 5 training sites |
| 3-month rotation blocks | 3 months of protected research time in PGY-3 | No night float; advanced practice providers on every service |
From the program director
Every rotation in this program exists because we designed it, not because we inherited it. We built the curriculum backward from what a graduating otolaryngologist needs — the operative numbers, the continuity clinics, the subspecialty depth — and then matched each piece to the site in Phoenix that does it best. Our residents will be the first, and they will help us shape everything that follows.
— Amal Isaiah, MD, PhD, MBA, Program Director
Why train here
- Breadth without competition. Five training sites cover pediatric otolaryngology, head and neck oncology with microvascular reconstruction, otology and neurotology, rhinology and skull base surgery, laryngology, facial plastic and reconstructive surgery, facial trauma, and general otolaryngology. Our residents are the only otolaryngology residents at four of the five sites.
- Volume. Banner Health is Arizona's largest health system, and Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix is a 746-bed quaternary hub with an ACS-verified Level I trauma center. Barrow's neurotology program is one of the largest in the region, and Banner MD Anderson runs one of the Valley's highest-volume head and neck services.
- A research program to join. The department's NIH-funded laboratory, data science group, and collaborations in genomics and hearing science give residents a protected research block in PGY-3 with mentors and data already in place.
- Faculty who chose to teach. Every faculty member joined the department to build a residency; core faculty include fellowship-trained surgeons in each subspecialty, and committees include the associate program director, who previously led a residency Clinical Competency Committee.
- Phoenix. Sunshine, a growing biomedical campus downtown, and a cost of living that still lets a resident buy a home.
Program leadership
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Program Director | Amal Isaiah, MD, PhD, MBA – Professor and Chair |
| Associate Program Director | Pardis Javadi, MD – Assistant Clinical Professor, Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| Program Coordinator | Wendy Hylton, C-TAGME – Banner Graduate Medical Education |
| Site Director – Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix | Harrison Cash, MD, MS |
| Site Director – Banner Desert Medical Center / Banner Children's at Desert | Joshua W. Wood, MD, FACS |
| Site Director – Banner Gateway Medical Center / Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center | Chafeek Tomeh, MD, MPH |
| Site Director – Phoenix VA Health Care System | Cynthia Go, MD, PhD |
| Site Director – Barrow Neurological Institute | Shawn M. Stevens, MD |
| Designated Institutional Official | Cheryl O'Malley, MD – Vice Dean, Graduate Medical Education |
Training sites
Residents rotate at five sites, all within the Phoenix metropolitan area. Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix is the primary site and the home of the weekly conference schedule.
Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix (primary site)
Location: 1111 E. McDowell Road, Phoenix, AZ 85006
Site director: Harrison Cash, MD
What residents do here: 746-bed quaternary academic medical center; ACS-verified Level I trauma center; Arizona's first Level IV perinatal center with a Level IV NICU; 42-bed neuroscience unit with neurosurgical skull base faculty; SimET simulation center; speech-language pathology for voice and swallowing (videostroboscopy, FEES, modified barium swallow); oral and maxillofacial surgery managing the majority of facial trauma (more than 900 operating-room cases a year); plastic surgery.
Rotations: PGY-1 (non-otolaryngology and junior otolaryngology); Rhinology and Anterior Skull Base (PGY-2, PGY-3); General Otolaryngology and Laryngology (PGY-4, PGY-5); Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Facial Trauma (PGY-4, PGY-5)
Banner Desert Medical Center and Banner Children's at Desert
Location: 1400 S. Dobson Road, Mesa, AZ 85202
Site director: Joshua W. Wood, MD, FACS
What residents do here: Dedicated children's hospital tower with a 76-bed Level III NICU and a pediatric intensive care unit; pediatric airway surgery and tracheostomy, pediatric head and neck surgery, otologic surgery, and sleep-disordered breathing; full-service pediatric and adult audiology (behavioral audiometry, non-sedated ABR, OAE, cochlear implant programming, bone-anchored devices).
Rotations: Pediatric Otolaryngology, junior (PGY-2) and senior (PGY-3)
Banner Gateway Medical Center and Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center
Location: 2946 E. Banner Gateway Drive, Gilbert, AZ 85295 (Banner Gateway: 1900 N. Higley Road, Gilbert)
Site director: Chafeek Tomeh, MD, MPH
What residents do here: Banner MD Anderson, a partnership of Banner Health and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, provides high-volume head and neck surgical oncology with microvascular free-flap reconstruction, transoral robotic surgery, thyroid and parathyroid surgery, a weekly multidisciplinary head and neck tumor board, radiation and medical oncology, clinical trials, and speech-language pathology for dysphagia and alaryngeal speech. Inpatient care is delivered at Banner Gateway Medical Center.
Rotations: Head and Neck Surgical Oncology (PGY-2, PGY-4, PGY-5)
Phoenix VA Health Care System (Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center)
Location: 650 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix, AZ 85012
Site director: Cynthia Go, MD, PhD
What residents do here: Comprehensive adult otolaryngology for veterans with graduated resident autonomy in clinic and the operating room; a dedicated audiology and speech pathology clinic (hearing and balance evaluation, hearing aids, cochlear implant and bone-anchored implant evaluation and management; voice, swallowing, and cognitive-communication therapy).
Rotations: General Otolaryngology, junior (PGY-2) and senior (PGY-4)
Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center
Location: 350 W. Thomas Road, Phoenix, AZ 85013
Site director: Shawn M. Stevens, MD
What residents do here: The Barrow Department of ENT and Skull Base Surgery: a cochlear implant program with 139 surgeries and activations in 2024 (top third of programs nationally), auditory brainstem implants, bone conduction devices, acoustic neuroma and lateral skull base surgery, Gamma Knife radiosurgery, hypoglossal nerve stimulation, endoscopic anterior skull base surgery, transoral robotic surgery, four audiologists, and a weekly multidisciplinary skull base conference.
Rotations: Otology, Neurotology, and Skull Base, junior (PGY-3) and senior (PGY-5)
Curriculum and rotation design
Training is organized in three-month blocks. The intern year combines six months of surgical foundations at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix with six months on the otolaryngology service. From PGY-2 onward, residents cycle through the subspecialty services with graduated responsibility, returning to each service at a senior level. The order of blocks within a year varies by resident; every resident completes every rotation.
| Year | Block 1 | Block 2 | Block 3 | Block 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PGY-1 | Surgical foundations at BUMCP: Neurosurgery, Neuroradiology, Surgical ICU, Anesthesiology, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery / Facial Trauma, Plastic Surgery (one month each) | Surgical foundations, continued | Otolaryngology (junior), BUMCP | Otolaryngology (junior), BUMCP |
| PGY-2 | Rhinology and Anterior Skull Base, BUMCP | Pediatric Otolaryngology, Banner Children's at Desert | Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, Banner Gateway / Banner MD Anderson | General Otolaryngology, Phoenix VA |
| PGY-3 | Rhinology and Anterior Skull Base (senior), BUMCP | Pediatric Otolaryngology (senior), Banner Children's at Desert | Otology, Neurotology, and Skull Base (junior), Barrow | Research (protected) |
| PGY-4 | General Otolaryngology and Laryngology, BUMCP | Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Facial Trauma, BUMCP | Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, Banner Gateway / Banner MD Anderson | General Otolaryngology (senior), Phoenix VA |
| PGY-5 (chief) | General Otolaryngology and Laryngology (chief), BUMCP | Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Facial Trauma (chief), BUMCP | Head and Neck Surgical Oncology (chief), Banner Gateway / Banner MD Anderson | Otology, Neurotology, and Skull Base (senior), Barrow |
BUMCP: Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix.
On every service residents work in a junior–senior team: the general otolaryngology and laryngology service at the primary site runs with an intern, a PGY-4, and a chief; head and neck oncology with a PGY-2, a PGY-4, and a chief; and the pediatric, rhinology, VA, and otology services with a junior and a senior resident. Facial trauma call is shared with oral and maxillofacial surgery from the PGY-2 year, and the Level IV perinatal center at the primary site adds a neonatal consultation service for stridor, feeding difficulty, congenital anomalies, and failed newborn hearing screens.
Conferences and didactics
- Core Curriculum Conference — weekly, Wednesdays 7:00–8:00 a.m. at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix with video link to every site, following the AAO-HNSF Otolaryngology Core Curriculum on a two-year cycle; faculty-led, with resident presentations.
- Department Grand Rounds — monthly, with visiting professors.
- Morbidity and Mortality and Quality Improvement conference — monthly, resident-led.
- Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Tumor Board — weekly at Banner MD Anderson.
- Multidisciplinary Skull Base Conference — weekly at Barrow.
- Joint craniomaxillofacial trauma conference — quarterly, with oral and maxillofacial surgery.
- Temporal bone dissection and surgical simulation — temporal bone laboratory at Barrow and the SimET Center at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix; cadaveric endoscopic sinus and skull base dissection.
- Journal club, board review, and the annual Otolaryngology Training Examination — protected time
Research
Every resident completes a protected three-month research block in PGY-3 and is expected to present at a national meeting and submit a manuscript before graduation. Mentors and projects are available across the department: the chair's NIH-funded program in pediatric sleep-disordered breathing, neuroimaging, and artificial intelligence (with access to the ABCD Study and a dedicated GPU computing cluster); head and neck and skull base outcomes at Banner MD Anderson and Barrow; cochlear implant outcomes at Barrow; and the genetics and biology of hearing with faculty in Translational Neurosciences. Residents interested in a research career receive mentorship toward NIH career development awards. Quality improvement projects run from PGY-1 through PGY-5, with protected time during the research block and the chief year.
Call, supervision, and wellness
- Home call at the primary site with faculty backup; call at the other sites covers each service's own patients. There is no night float.
- Advanced practice providers work with residents on every service, and faculty are in house or immediately available at all sites.
- Moonlighting is not permitted.
- Vacation is 20 working days a year, taken as five days in each of four blocks, with up to 10 days of medical leave a year under Banner Graduate Medical Education policy.
- Residents are supported by Banner Graduate Medical Education's wellness program and a resident retreat.
Salary and benefits
Residents are employed by Banner Health and receive the Banner Graduate Medical Education stipend and benefits, including health, dental, and vision coverage, disability and life insurance, retirement contributions, paid time off, an educational allowance, and lab coats.
How to apply
Applications will be accepted through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) once the ACGME grants initial accreditation, and the program will participate in the National Resident Matching Program.
- Application deadline: TBD
- Questions: Wendy Hylton, C-TAGME, Program Coordinator — @email
Frequently asked questions
Is the program accredited?
The program has applied for ACGME accreditation. The site visit took place in 2026, and the Review Committee's decision is expected in January 2027. We will post the outcome here.
Where will I live?
Most rotations are in central Phoenix and Mesa, with head and neck rotations in Gilbert; all sites are within about 20 miles of one another.
Will there be fellows?
No. There are no otolaryngology fellowships at any of the five sites, so residents are the senior learners on every service.
Living in Phoenix
Phoenix is the fifth-largest city in the United States and the center of a five-million-person metropolitan area, with more than 300 days of sunshine, the Phoenix Biomedical Campus downtown, the Sonoran Desert and mountain preserves within the city limits, and Sedona, Flagstaff, and the Grand Canyon a few hours away.