Graduate shifted interest from primary care to subspecialty after spending time in operating room

Graduate profile: Benjamin VanTasel, D.O.

Graduate shifted interest from primary care to subspecialty after spending time in operating room

In the past 10 years, only three WVSOM graduates have entered otolaryngology residency programs. Benjamin VanTasel, D.O., from the school’s Class of 2024, is one of them.

“I wasn’t a kid who wanted to be a doctor from when I was young. But in community college I took a general biology course and learned about the cardiovascular system and the heart and was fascinated by it. I told my wife that I couldn’t stop studying it and that I wanted to know everything about it,” he said. “Medical school was the way I would get there, so I pursued more human anatomy and physiology classes in college. I took a deeper dive into all the body systems and loved it. There was no question I was going to go to medical school.”

VanTasel was drawn to WVSOM for its emphasis on educating physicians to be primary care physicians, a career path he was attracted to until his third year in clinical rotations when he realized how excited he was in the operating room.

“While I did initially pursue osteopathic medicine with the intention of practicing primary care, I found myself drawn to procedures and the operating room. I remember how exhilarated I felt after closing my first laceration in the emergency department,” the Williamsburg, Va., native said. “I was able to spend some of my days with ENTs [ear, nose and throat doctors] and found what they were doing to be interesting, especially from a functional aspect. Giving patients the ability to breathe, hear and smell again was amazing. There is a lot of variety in the procedures they do, and at the end of my third year I decided I wanted to go into that field.”

Issues that otolaryngologists can care for include chronic sinus congestion, difficulty sleeping, loss of taste or smell, painful swallowing, loss of hearing, balance issues, vocal changes and traumatic or cosmetic skin concerns.

VanTasel said helping a patient restore those vital functions of life is rewarding and can have an incredible impact on a patient’s overall well-being.

Otolaryngology is considered a competitive specialty, and VanTasel said he knew he had to prioritize impressive board scores, research project involvement and club involvement. He was president of the school’s Student Osteopathic Internal Medical Association and a member of the Atlas Club and the Christian Medical and Dental Association. In 2022, he received the WVSOM Alumni

Association Scholarship, given to students who exemplify scholarship, osteopathic professional interest, leadership and citizenship. He also focused on audition rotations in otolaryngology to set himself apart from other students.

One patient interaction during his rotations especially stands out.

“We had a patient who had a mass in her neck and we were getting her ready to go in the operating room to fix it. Her caretaker had mentioned how she didn’t listen well and struggled with communication. We looked in her ears and determined there was fluid behind both her ears. That meant the eardrum couldn’t move as well and thus couldn’t transmit sound properly. We were able to treat her later by putting tubes in her ears, and she could hear and communicate much better after that,” he said.

VanTasel said the surgical variety of otolaryngology is appealing and many people don’t understand the entirety of the profession.

“Otolaryngology is a mystery field to most people. Pronouncing the name is a task in itself. Not many people fully understand the scope of an otolaryngologist’s practice. I did not know they were surgeons prior to my third year of medical school,” he said. “I knew I might pursue a surgical specialty, and I always wanted to treat a pediatric population as part of my practice. Otolaryngology fulfilled both of these preferences. In my time on rotations, I saw patients from just a few days old to beyond 100 years, helped perform a variety of surgical procedures and witnessed life-changing treatment. Otolaryngology is a hidden gem, and I’m so glad I found it.”

He is completing his residency at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va. While there, he is hopeful he can incorporate osteopathic manipulative techniques into patient treatments.

“I only applied to osteopathic medical schools because I wanted to be a D.O. and I wanted to learn OMT and practice that philosophy. I think physicians can always use that basic philosophy and treat patients holistically. As I train, it could be easy to develop tunnel vision and only see things that pertain to my field, but I’d like to keep a primary care mindset so I can think of all the possible issues my patients are dealing with," he said.

Not many people fully understand the scope of an otolaryngologist’s practice. I did not know they were surgeons prior to my third year of medical school.