P. Ashley Wackym, MD

Dr. P. Ashley Wackym is a seasoned administrator, investigator and surgical otologist-neurotologist and skull base surgeon. He is currently the Chair of Department of Otolaryngology – Head Neck Surgery at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, a senior Member of the Rutgers Brain Health Institute and a Chancellor Scholar of Rutgers Biomedical Health Sciences.

After completing his medical education at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, residency training at the UCLA School of Medicine and his otology and neurotologic skull base surgery fellowship at the University of Iowa, he served on the faculties of the UCLA School of Medicine, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and the Medical College of Wisconsin where he served as the Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences for over a decade. Prior to his relocation to the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in 2016 his two decades of service in academic healthcare was complemented by serving for seven years in corporate healthcare as the Vice President of Research for Legacy Health, the largest healthcare system in Oregon and Washington, and by directing the Legacy Research Institute in Portland, Oregon.

Dr. Wackym’s clinical emphasis is on cochlear implantation and skull base surgery as well as other hearing and balance disorders. He is particularly well known for the surgical management of patients with superior semicircular canal dehiscence and other third window syndrome disorders.

Among his 18 national and international awards include the Nicholas Torok Vestibular Award of the American Neurotology Society, the Edmund Prince Fowler Award and a Presidential Citation from the American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, and the Honor Award and Distinguished Service Award of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

His basic research was funded by the National Institutes of Health for over two decades in the area of gene discovery in the inner ear. Currently his research is focused on: cognitive dysfunction before and after surgical management of third window syndrome; cochlear implantation; outcomes of Gamma Knife surgery; balance disorders and the development of new biomedical engineering technologies – the NIH recently funded one of these. He has published over 170 papers, 60 book chapters, 20 video productions and edited three books, including the 18th edition of Ballenger’s Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, which is over 1,400 pages and two volumes.