New Chairman Announcement

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the appointment of José P. Zevallos, MD, MPH, as the Eugene N. Myers Professor and Chair, Department of Otolaryngology, effective Aug. 1, 2022.

Dr. Zevallos comes to Pitt from Washington University in St. Louis, where he served as chief of the Division of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology in the Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine. He also serves as the Joseph Kimbrough Professor of Head and Neck Surgery and as director of the head and neck surgical oncology and microvascular fellowship program.

In his new roles at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC, Dr. Zevallos will focus on further elevating the Department of Otolaryngology’s status as one of the premier research and clinical Otolaryngology programs in the country. Working with our outstanding faculty and building on the tradition set forth by Drs. Eugene Myers and Jonas T. Johnson, he will focus on making continued investments in clinical and translational research, defining new paradigms of clinical care, and enhancing the department’s already excellent educational and training programs.

Born in Lima, Peru, Dr. Zevallos earned his undergraduate degree in biology from Middlebury College, Vt., and his medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He completed his internship and residency at Baylor College of Medicine affiliated hospitals in Houston, Texas, followed by a fellowship in head and neck surgical oncology and microvascular reconstruction at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. He is board certified in Otolaryngology.

Dr. Zevallos’ research interests and clinical specialties are in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, human papilloma virus head and neck cancers, oropharyngeal cancers, salivary gland tumors, thyroid and parathyroid conditions, benign head and neck tumors, parotid and submandibular gland masses, head and neck skin cancer and microvascular free flap reconstruction. He currently serves as associate editor of Head and Neck and as a member of the editorial boards of Oral Oncology and Cancer Medicine.

Over the course of his physician-scientist career, Dr. Zevallos has published more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and been invited to present his work at numerous domestic and international symposiums. He is an investigator on multiple governmental and nongovernmental research grants and is dedicated to mentoring junior faculty and fellows. He is also the founder and chair of the board of an early-stage liquid biopsy company focused on early detection of minimal residual disease after cancer surgery.

Dr. Zevallos succeeds the current Eugene N. Myers Professor and Chair of Otolaryngology, Jonas T. Johnson, MD, who will step down as chair on July 31, 2022, after 17 years of outstanding leadership of the department. Dr. Johnson will remain clinically active in the UPMC Head and Neck Cancer Survivorship Clinic, which he founded in collaboration with nursing colleague Marci Nilsen, PhD, RN, as one of the highlights of his career. We thank Dr. Johnson for his many years of dedicated service and extraordinary leadership within Pitt health sciences.

Please join us in congratulating and welcoming Dr. Zevallos to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC and to his new role leading the Department of Otolaryngology.

José P. Zevallos, MD, MPH Eugene N. Myers Professor and Chair, Department of Otolaryngology

Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health Sciences John and Gertrude Petersen Dean, School of Medicine University of Pittsburgh

Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Executive Vice President, UPMC President, UPMC Physician Services