Kenneth Wayne Altman MD, PhD, FACS

Dr. Altman is a nationally and internationally renowned expert in laryngology, care of the professional voice, cough and dysphagia. After receiving his BS from the University of Illinois at Champaign, Dr. Altman went to Duke University for his MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering prior to obtaining his MD degree. He was at the University of Pennsylvania for residency in Otorhinolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, and then completed a fellowship in Laryngology & Care of the Professional Voice at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Altman spent six years in Chicago directing the Center for Voice at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and almost 10 years in New York as Director of the Eugen Grabscheid Voice Center at Mount Sinai Medical Center. He has now joined Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas as Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs and directs the Institute for Voice and Swallowing where he is championing interdisciplinary approaches to voice problems, dysphagia and chronic cough.

He has over 125 peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters, edited 2 books, and delivered over 230 conference and course presentations, along with receiving multiple awards. Dr. Altman is President of the American Laryngological Association where he is also a fellow, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology, American College of Surgeons, American Rhinological Society, and The Triological Society.

Dr. Altman has numerous research interests, including pre-malignant vocal fold disease, and chronic cough as an interrelation of respiratory and upper gastrointestinal tract, and dysphagia in the presence of neurodegenerative disease. He’s been focusing his recent efforts on improving the evidence-based best practice of care through clinical pathways, and advancing physician-hospital alignment.