events
Choice for Voice: Crossing boundaries in voice
Virtual 3-day conference: 3-5th September 2021
Steven M. Zeitels, MD, FACS
Director: Centre for Laryngeal Surgery and VoiceRehabilitation
Massachusetts General Hospital
Dr. Steven Marc Zeitels MD, FACS is the Eugene B. Casey Professor of Laryngeal Surgery at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation. In 2004, the first endowed Chair in Laryngeal Surgery at Harvard Medical School was created for him while he re-established a Harvard Laryngeal Surgery service at the MGH, which had not been present since Harris Mosher in the 1920s. Zeitels’ contributions to voice and laryngeal surgery are highly recognized in the USA and throughout the world. He has received more than 75 awards and honored lectureships for his achievements including the Casselberry Award, DeRoaldes Medal, and the Newcomb Award from the American Laryngological Association (founded 1879). Zeitels was the 4th surgeon in the organization’s history to win all three awards and it has been over 40 years since this was last achieved. He has also received the Chevalier Jackson Award and the Broyles Maloney Award (3 times) from the American Broncho-Esophagological Association (founded 1917), as well as the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Boston University (BU) School of Medicine.
Zeitels is widely regarded as a prolific surgical innovator having designed numerous new voice restoration procedures (phonosurgery) and instruments and holds 6 patents for these innovations. He is acknowledged for pioneering novel laser applications to treat precancerous dysplasia and cancer as well as laryngeal papillomatosis, polyps, nodules and is also well known for creating office-based laryngeal laser surgery. Most notable, was his introduction of angiolytic laser treatment of vocal cord cancer, which was a substantial achievement evolving from Judah Folkman’s concepts of tumor angiogenesis and Rox Anderson’s theory of selective photothermolysis. Zeitels has also designed unique procedures to restore the voice of those who have had vocal paresis and paralysis. His techniques were featured in a National Geographic Channel documentary, “The Incredible Human Machine”, which highlighted Zeitels’ microsurgery on Steven Tyler of Aerosmith (honored by the Grammy Foundation in 2020). In addition, his novel surgical treatment of Roger Daltrey (The Who) just prior to his halftime performance in the 2010 Super Bowl was discussed extensively on CBS news. In 2012, there was broad international coverage of Dr. Zeitels’ unique microsurgery that restored Adele’s voice who thanked him in the acceptance of the first of her 6 Grammy Awards.
In 2013, Zeitels’ career and a number of his innovations were highlighted in a long-form biographical profile in the New Yorker Magazine: ‘A Surgeon Pioneers Methods to Help Singers Sing’. He has done voice restoration microsurgery on an unprecedented 18 Grammy-Award winning performers, who have garnered 80 awards from >240 nominations. In 2012, Zeitels was listed 13 in Rolling Stone’s ‘25 Best Things in Rock Right Now’ and 14 in Fast Company’s ‘100 most Creative People’.
His work has been discussed extensively in print media, radio, and television both nationally and internationally [i.e. Good Morning America, Today Show, Wall Street Journal, NY and LA Times, London Sunday Times, Rolling Stone, USA Today, Vogue, Boston Globe & Herald, Bloomberg News, NPR, BBC, The Guardian, National Geographic, Nightline, Boston – New York – LA television news (CBS. NBC, ABC, FOX)]. He has done career-saving surgery on hundreds of American and international performers. Media venues have discussed the surgical and medical care of a number of Zeitels’ celebrity patients including Adele, Julie Andrews, Steven Tyler, Cher, Sam Smith, Roger Daltrey (The Who), Lionel Richie, Keith Urban, James & Livingston Taylor, Tommy Tune, Frederica van Stade, Denyce Graves, Paul Stanley (Kiss), Jimmy Westbrook (Little Big Town), Christina Perri, Donny Osmond, Melissa Errico, Joe Buck, and Dick Vitale.
A group of Dr. Zeitels’ dedicated patients created the nonprofit Voice Health Institute (VHI) in 2003 and the this alliance has led to a variety of significant advances in laryngeal surgery. Key scientific initiatives that arose from the collaboration include the development of a vocal biomaterials program with the Langer Laboratories at MIT for which the group received the 2010 Broyles Maloney Award. Most recently, they received substantial support from Larry Page, Google’s founder and CEO, to pioneer future innovations in laryngeal surgery.
Zeitels has also been the honored guest of many international organizations including the American Society of Pharmaceutical Scientists, Japan Laryngological Assn., British Voice Assn., European Medical Laser Assn., Pan-European Voice Conference, Collegium Medicorum Theatri, Australian Voice Assn., Spanish Head and Neck Society, Brazilian Society of Laryngology and Voice, New Zealand Society of Otolaryngology, Chilean Head & Neck Society, Mexican Society of Otolaryngology, and the British Academic Conference in Otolaryngology. He has also been the visiting professor at >35 departments, universities, and hospitals including, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Columbia Univ., Univ. of Pennsylvania, Univ. of California (San Diego & Irvine), University of Chicago, Univ. of Pittsburgh, Univ. of Texas (Dallas and Houston), Univ. of Oregon, Univ. of Cincinnati, Univ. of Utah, Vanderbilt Univ., Univ. of Alabama, Univ. of Connecticut, University of West Virginia, University of Minnesota, University of Navarra - Pamplona, Spain, Tel Aviv University, Israel, and Aukland University, New Zealand, Kumamoto University, Japan, McGill & Dalhousie Universities, Canada, and The Juilliard School.
Zeitels has authored more than 200 scientific articles, book chapters, and videos in larynx and pharynx surgery as well as presenting over 300 papers and lectures. His Atlas of Phonomicrosurgery is one of the leading textbooks in microsurgery of the larynx. He serves or has served on the editorial board of 5 national and international journals. He was a member of the 1st class of Boston University (BU) Trustee Scholars, attended the BU 6-year medical program, and graduated from the BU School of Medicine in 1982. He completed the BU - Tufts combined Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Program in 1987 as well as a Head & Neck Surgical Oncology Fellowship at BU and the Boston Veterans Affairs Medical Center in 1988.
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