Co-Laborators

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  Dr. Vela is Professor Medicine, Director of Esophageal Disorders, and Program Director for the Advanced Fellowship in Esophageal Diseases at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. He completed his Medical Residency and a one-year Clinical Research Fellowship in Esophageal Diseases at the MCP-Hahnemann School of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA. This was followed by a three-year Gastroenterology Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, OH, and a Masters degree in Clinical Research from the Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. Vela’s research interests are in esophageal diseases and swallowing disorders. He is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences.  He has more than 100 publications to his name in peer reviewed journals, including guidelines and consensus papers in esophageal disorders.

Dr. Will Karle is a Laryngologist in the Department of Otolaryngology at Northwell Health and an Assistant Professor at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra School of Medicine. He is board-certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. He came here from the Mayo Clinic in Arizona where he had previously worked for several years and held the titles of Assistant Professor and Associate Program Director of their residency program. Dr. Karle obtained his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Otolaryngology residency at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, and Laryngology fellowship at the Oregon Health & Science University. This advanced training makes him one of only a few experts on Long Island caring for the professional voice. His current practice encompasses all areas of Laryngology including professional voice, airway, swallowing, and early laryngeal cancers. 

 Anna Miles PhD is a full-time faculty member in Speech Science, Psychology at The University of Auckland. Dr Miles is a researcher, lecturer and clinician in the area of swallowing and swallowing disorders. She is the New Zealand Speech-language Therapists’ Association Clinical Expert in Adult Dysphagia. Anna is Principle Investigator of the Swallowing Research Laboratory in the Centre of Brain Research at The University of Auckland.  The Swallowing Research Laboratory at The University of Auckland, led by Dr Miles, strives to improve the lives of people with swallowing difficulties through improved assessment, treatment and medical education. In addition to research supervision, Anna provides clinical teaching to students at The University of Auckland and provides a considerable amount of international and national teaching each year in specialty areas of endoscopic evaluation of swallowing, videofluoroscopic study of swallowing, and surface EMG in dysphagia management. 

Yassmeen Abdel-Aty, M.D. is a Board-Certified Otolaryngologist Head and Neck Surgeon who completed her surgical training at Mayo Clinic Arizona. She then completed a Columbia/Cornell joint fellowship for laryngeal surgery in New York City and specializes in voice, swallowing, and airway disorders. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida and Tampa General Hospital where she instituted a multidisciplinary dysphagia clinic with her swallow therapy partner Stephanie Watts, CCC-SLP, PhD.

Dr. Abdel-Aty has had a significant track record in resident and medical student education and has published papers on the subject. She has served on the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery's (AAO HNS) Laryngology Education Committee. She has been an instructor in many courses including anatomy for medical students, surgical and simulation courses for residents, and airway courses for critical care providers, respiratory therapists and nurses, and the military.

Julie Huffman, MS, CCC-SLP is a practicing Speech-Language Pathologist with 29 years of experience in medical speech-language pathology. She works at UNC Rex Hospital in Raleigh, North Caroline, where she is a treating clinician and clinical preceptor for Speech-Language Pathology staff for the last 11 years. Julie has taught on esophageal disorders and comprehensive evaluation and treatment of dysphagia to include consideration and viewing of the esophagus for over 18 years. She is a huge advocate for evidenced-based practice. Julie is passionate about promoting and supporting Speech-Language Pathologists to be confident and competent experts in our field. Julie’s clinical interests include the gastrointestinal system, voice, vocal cord dysfunction, chronic cough, videofluoroscopic swallowing studies, and fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing. Julie is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo.  

Ron J. Karni, MD serves as Chief of the Division of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery and Physician Lead of the Memorial Hermann Cancer Programs.  He obtained his medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine and then completed his residency training at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine. Dr. Ron J. Karni has authored publications on the novel treatment of occult primary oropharyngeal cancer (the unknown primary) and lymphedema after head and neck cancer treatment.  His current research focus includes de-escalation treatment strategies for throat cancer and novel technologies for rehabilitation after head and neck cancer treatment.   

Andrew G. Tritter, MD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, where he serves as Director for the department’s Laryngology division, as well as for the Texas Voice Performance Institute. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University in Spanish Linguistics and his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine. Following medical school, Dr. Tritter went on to complete both an internship and residency in Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at the Louisiana State University in Shreveport before completing an additional year of fellowship training in Laryngology at Columbia University and Weill-Cornell Medical College in New York City. His experiences in fellowship afforded him extensive training in voice, airway, and swallowing disorders. Dr. Tritter is an active member of the American Academy of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery and the American Bronchoesophagological Association.  

Jacqui Allen, MD is an international expert in disorders of voice and swallowing. Trained in Auckland, NZ, Jacqui has worked in the UK and USA.

She was Visiting Assistant Professor in Laryngology and Bronchoesophagology at the University of California, Davis, until deciding to return home to NZ to establish the first center for Voice and Swallowing in Auckland. She was also the first in NZ to perform in-office procedures such as transnasal esophagoscopy and KTP laser laryngology procedures. Dr Allen is an Honorary Associate Professor University of Auckland, where she runs the University of Auckland Laboratory for Swallowing and Voice research and is a grant-funded researcher. She is a member of the American Bronchoesophagological Association, President of the Dysphagia Research Society, Academy of Surgical Educators and NZ Society of Otolaryngology.

Laura Matrka, MD, is a Professor of Clinical Otolaryngology at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery and Director of Research for the Laryngology Division.  She graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College with a BA in English and concentrations in Anthropology and Spanish, completed medical school at University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, completed her residency in Otolaryngology at The Ohio State University, and completed a Laryngology fellowship at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, San Antonio with Blake Simpson.  She is a full-time clinician who devotes significant additional time to clinical research, focusing on complicated airway management, tracheostomy complications, dysphagia after anterior cervical spine surgery, recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, and opioid-related research, among many other topics. She is also devoted to improving gender-affirming health care and addressing issues of diversity in medicine and education. She was inducted into the American Laryngologic Association in 2020, the Triological Society in 2019, and the American Bronchoesophageal Association (ABEA) in 2015. She was awarded the Exceptional Physician Peer Award in 2015 and the 2022 Faculty Teaching Award, has twice received Press-Ganey recognition for patient satisfaction, and has received Castle Connolly’s Exceptional Women in Medicine and Top Doctors awards since 2019. She has served as Course Director for conferences including the annual Advanced Practices in Voice and Dysphagia and the national ABEA conference, and she is the author of over 50 publications.

Dr. Anand Jain is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and a clinical and translational investigator in the field of gastroenterology with advanced training in esophageal physiology.  He is Director of the Emory Esophageal Disorders Program at the Emory Clinic. After completion of gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Michigan, he completed a clinical esophageal fellowship at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. His clinical interest is in improving outcomes in benign esophageal diseases such as esophageal motility disorders, gastroenterology reflux disease, and eosinophilic esophagitis. His research interest is in using advanced diagnostics and high-dimensional data analysis to study the various aspects of esophageal smooth muscle dysfunction and ultimately to develop molecular therapies. He currently receives funding from the NIH, industry, and society grants for his work in esophageal diseases and device innovation.

Melissa Zheng, M.D., is an Otolaryngologist specializing within the field of Laryngology. Her clinical interests include the treatment of laryngeal, voice, airway, and swallowing disorders. She completed undergraduate education at Swarthmore College and medical school at the University of California, San Francisco. She then pursued Otolaryngology residency at the University of Southern California and Laryngology fellowship at the University of Washington. 

Han Zhang, MD, is an esophageal specialist who is a Clinical Instructor of Medicine at Scripps Clinic in San Diego, California. He completed his gastroenterology fellowship at Scripps Clinic, and then pursued esophageal training at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. He is currently practicing at Scripps Clinic, where he is working closely with Speech-Language Pathologists and Head & Neck Surgeons to create a multi-disciplinary approach to taking care of patients with swallowing disorders. His clinical interests include treating patients with GERD, Barrett’s esophagus, esophageal strictures, esophageal motility disorders, and achalasia. His research focus is in the prevention of esophageal cancer through screening. Dr. Zhang also has a passion for medical education. He has won multiple awards for his teaching and has been invited to speak at many centers around the country. 

Abdullah Alkhattabi, MD, is a Consultant of Medicine and Gastroenterology at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Currently, he is an advanced esophageal disease fellow at the Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, Arizona. He has an interest in swallowing disorders and esophageal motility diseases. His goal as an esophageal specialist is to establish an MDT (Multidisciplinary Team) approach along with ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) and SLP (Speech-Language Pathology) upon his return to Saudi Arabia, taking care of patients with complex esophageal diseases. In addition to this, he has been assigned to plan and start up a brand-new motility lab at the new facility project of KFSHRC, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

William Z. Gao, MD is a fellowship-trained laryngologist and Co-Director of the Voice & Swallowing Center at the University of Chicago. He completed his residency in Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at Georgetown University, where he served as administrative chief resident and later returned as faculty prior to transitioning to UChicago. Passionate about helping patients with voice, airway, and swallowing disorders, he works with a multidisciplinary team to ensure holistic care across a wide range of laryngeal and aerodigestive disorders. Dr. Gao is enthusiastic about medical education and co-founded the non-profit online resource Stroboscopy.org for learning laryngeal stroboscopy.

Laura Bach, D.O. is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Duke University in Durham, NC. After graduating from Midwestern University-Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, she completed her internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Advocate Lutheran General in Park Ridge, IL. She then moved west to pursue specialty training in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ.  After completing her training, she served as a clinical teaching faculty at the University of Arizona for two years, during which time she developed a special interest in esophageal disorders.  This led her to complete a subspecialty fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ- Advanced Esophageal Diseases, with a special focus on esophageal dysmotility and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). She is a member of the Esophageal Diseases faculty at Duke, providing care for patients with a variety of esophageal disorders and also participates in Duke University’s Multidisciplinary Clinic alongside her surgical colleagues. 

Amrit Kamboj, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and leads the esophageal clinical practice at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. He completed his gastroenterology fellowship followed by esophageal diseases fellowship at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota). His clinical and research interests relate to a breadth of esophageal disorders including Barrett’s esophagus, gastroesophageal reflux disease, eosinophilic esophagitis, and esophageal motility disorders such as achalasia. At Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Kamboj also leads the multidisciplinary esophageal case conference and he also recently helped initiate a multidisciplinary dysphagia case conference. Over the past decade, Dr. Kamboj has led numerous research studies and regularly presented his research at national meetings. He is also passionate about medical education and was recently awarded a faculty teaching award for his contributions to trainee education.

Julie Huffman, MS, CCC-SLP is a practicing Speech-Language Pathologist with 29 years of experience in medical speech-language pathology. She works at UNC Rex Hospital in Raleigh, North Caroline, where she is a treating clinician and clinical preceptor for Speech-Language Pathology staff for the last 11 years. Julie has taught on esophageal disorders and comprehensive evaluation and treatment of dysphagia to include consideration and viewing of the esophagus for over 18 years. She is a huge advocate for evidenced-based practice. Julie is passionate about promoting and supporting Speech-Language Pathologists to be confident and competent experts in our field. Julie’s clinical interests include the gastrointestinal system, voice, vocal cord dysfunction, chronic cough, videofluoroscopic swallowing studies, and fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing. Julie is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo.  

Ron J. Karni, MD serves as Chief of the Division of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery and Physician Lead of the Memorial Hermann Cancer Programs.  He obtained his medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine and then completed his residency training at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine. Dr. Ron J. Karni has authored publications on the novel treatment of occult primary oropharyngeal cancer (the unknown primary) and lymphedema after head and neck cancer treatment.  His current research focus includes de-escalation treatment strategies for throat cancer and novel technologies for rehabilitation after head and neck cancer treatment.   

Andrew G. Tritter, MD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, where he serves as Director for the department’s Laryngology division, as well as for the Texas Voice Performance Institute. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University in Spanish Linguistics and his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine. Following medical school, Dr. Tritter went on to complete both an internship and residency in Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at the Louisiana State University in Shreveport before completing an additional year of fellowship training in Laryngology at Columbia University and Weill-Cornell Medical College in New York City. His experiences in fellowship afforded him extensive training in voice, airway, and swallowing disorders. Dr. Tritter is an active member of the American Academy of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery and the American Bronchoesophagological Association.  

Jacqui Allen, MD is an international expert in disorders of voice and swallowing. Trained in Auckland, NZ, Jacqui has worked in the UK and USA.

She was Visiting Assistant Professor in Laryngology and Bronchoesophagology at the University of California, Davis, until deciding to return home to NZ to establish the first center for Voice and Swallowing in Auckland. She was also the first in NZ to perform in-office procedures such as transnasal esophagoscopy and KTP laser laryngology procedures. Dr Allen is an Honorary Associate Professor University of Auckland, where she runs the University of Auckland Laboratory for Swallowing and Voice research and is a grant-funded researcher. She is a member of the American Bronchoesophagological Association, President of the Dysphagia Research Society, Academy of Surgical Educators and NZ Society of Otolaryngology.

Laura Matrka, MD, is a Professor of Clinical Otolaryngology at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery and Director of Research for the Laryngology Division.  She graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College with a BA in English and concentrations in Anthropology and Spanish, completed medical school at University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, completed her residency in Otolaryngology at The Ohio State University, and completed a Laryngology fellowship at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, San Antonio with Blake Simpson.  She is a full-time clinician who devotes significant additional time to clinical research, focusing on complicated airway management, tracheostomy complications, dysphagia after anterior cervical spine surgery, recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, and opioid-related research, among many other topics. She is also devoted to improving gender-affirming health care and addressing issues of diversity in medicine and education. She was inducted into the American Laryngologic Association in 2020, the Triological Society in 2019, and the American Bronchoesophageal Association (ABEA) in 2015. She was awarded the Exceptional Physician Peer Award in 2015 and the 2022 Faculty Teaching Award, has twice received Press-Ganey recognition for patient satisfaction, and has received Castle Connolly’s Exceptional Women in Medicine and Top Doctors awards since 2019. She has served as Course Director for conferences including the annual Advanced Practices in Voice and Dysphagia and the national ABEA conference, and she is the author of over 50 publications.

Dr. Anand Jain is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and a clinical and translational investigator in the field of gastroenterology with advanced training in esophageal physiology.  He is Director of the Emory Esophageal Disorders Program at the Emory Clinic. After completion of gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Michigan, he completed a clinical esophageal fellowship at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. His clinical interest is in improving outcomes in benign esophageal diseases such as esophageal motility disorders, gastroenterology reflux disease, and eosinophilic esophagitis. His research interest is in using advanced diagnostics and high-dimensional data analysis to study the various aspects of esophageal smooth muscle dysfunction and ultimately to develop molecular therapies. He currently receives funding from the NIH, industry, and society grants for his work in esophageal diseases and device innovation.

Melissa Zheng, M.D., is an Otolaryngologist specializing within the field of Laryngology. Her clinical interests include the treatment of laryngeal, voice, airway, and swallowing disorders. She completed undergraduate education at Swarthmore College and medical school at the University of California, San Francisco. She then pursued Otolaryngology residency at the University of Southern California and Laryngology fellowship at the University of Washington. 

Han Zhang, MD, is an esophageal specialist who is a Clinical Instructor of Medicine at Scripps Clinic in San Diego, California. He completed his gastroenterology fellowship at Scripps Clinic, and then pursued esophageal training at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. He is currently practicing at Scripps Clinic, where he is working closely with Speech-Language Pathologists and Head & Neck Surgeons to create a multi-disciplinary approach to taking care of patients with swallowing disorders. His clinical interests include treating patients with GERD, Barrett’s esophagus, esophageal strictures, esophageal motility disorders, and achalasia. His research focus is in the prevention of esophageal cancer through screening. Dr. Zhang also has a passion for medical education. He has won multiple awards for his teaching and has been invited to speak at many centers around the country.