Opportunities for Giving
If you would like to make a donation to the NYU Voice Center or find out more about our programs, please call (212) 263-3705 or contact us online. Online donations will be available on our website in Summer 2009.
Introduction to the
New York University School of Medicine
Clinical and Research Program in Laryngeal Disorders
(NYU Voice Center)
Most of us take our ability to communicate for granted. The ease with which we speak belies the complex and intricate nature of the vocal mechanism. It is only when there is a disruption in this system that we realize what we have lost. Disorders of the larynx or voice box, including hoarseness, are fairly common, affecting over 30% of the general population at some point in their lives. Fortunately, episodes of voice loss are mostly temporary. However, an estimated 7% of the population will suffer chronic voice loss, which may affect the social and economic well-being of millions of individuals in this country. Even more will be affected by other laryngeal disorders including airway stenosis (narrowing of the air passages) and dysphagia (swallowing disorders). Patients with laryngeal disorders often complain of inability to function at work and loss of social contact, leading to depression. The quality of life impact on patients with these disorders has been equated to the impact of cardiac disease, since it affects many activities of daily living.
There are multiple and varied causes of voice loss, airway stenosis, and dysphagia including occupational exposure, cancer, and stroke. Evaluation and treatment of these disorders requires a multidisciplinary approach involving individuals who specialize in this highly focused field. Several years ago, NYU School of Medicine and the Department of Otolaryngology made a commitment to building a program of excellence in laryngeal disorders by establishing the NYU Voice Center. In order to build a world-class center, individuals with national and international reputations were recruited. Since its inception in 2005, the Center has grown enormously.
The mission of the NYU Voice Center is to help individuals regain normal function to improve their health and quality of life, whether they are professional singers or telephone operators. This mission involves a commitment to clinical, research, and educational excellence. Patients are seen in a multidisciplinary effort involving cutting-edge physicians and therapists. The team collectively evaluates and treats individuals taking into consideration a number of factors, such as the patient's medical diagnosis, vocal needs, nutritional status, and cognitive abilities. Focusing on the individual patient and providing state-of-the-art care have allowed us to become one of the leading centers for treatment of voice disorders in the country.
Program Description
After establishing the NYU Voice Center, the leadership team has focused on establishing a truly comprehensive center, integrating clinical, research, and teaching components. Clinically, the Center is a regional/national referral center for treatment of laryngeal disorders and serves a large and diverse patient population with a very complex set of medical conditions. Because of its reputation for comprehensive and quality care, clinical volume has grown rapidly, exceeding our initial projections.
Our research program contains a diverse portfolio of projects in basic science, clinical research, clinical trials, and education research. We have government and private funding sources for several of our projects. Our faculty frequently publishes the results of their work in prestigious journals and presents their findings at national and international meetings.
Education is also a focus of our Center. In addition to conducting research on educational techniques, we educate and train residents and students on a daily basis. We also conduct regional and national meetings to teach physicians and other health professionals about recent advances in medical knowledge and new treatments for patients with laryngeal disorders.
How You Can Help
There are many ways that friends can support the vital work of the NYU Voice Center and help us ensure the continued growth of our clinical, education, research, and training initiatives.
Professorship in Laryngeal Disorders
To help the clinical program meet its primary goal of maximizing the recovery of patients with laryngeal disorders, the Center wishes to create an endowed professorship to support clinical activities and research in laryngeal dysfunction and facilitate the advancement of patient care at NYU.Clinical Care Initiatives
To better care for the ever increasing volume of patients that seek the Center’s help, new equipment and facilities are essential. A gift in support of diagnostic evaluation and treatment facilities would greatly improve the Center’s clinical capabilities. Examples of equipment needed include: high resolution manometry equipment – new technology that measures pressure and function of the throat and esophagus in a novel way; high definition video equipment to enhance evaluation of patients and for research documentation; and additional laser equipment to enhance our minimally-invasive capabilities.Education Initiatives
Integral to the Voice Center’s development, the Education Program provides critical support to patients to enhance their understanding of their disorder. Increased funding will enable the Program to develop stronger relationships with community physicians and heighten efforts to convince greater numbers of clinicians of the importance of proper diagnosis and intervention. Your donation would also be used to support educational activities such as multidisciplinary conferences. These conferences feature speakers from the local community as well as nationally recognized researchers.Research Initiatives
The Voice Center has established important collaborations with researchers in Radiology, Neurology, and the basic sciences. A novel area of study that is being developed is the use of state-of-the-art MRI equipment to assess swallowing dysfunction. The Center’s researchers are also developing methodology to investigate basic neurophysiology related to vocal dysfunction. The research is designed to study the laryngeal sensory system, which is often ignored, but is likely critical to proper voice function. Research has also been initiated to study the effects of lasers on vocal cord scar. This work is an extension of our state-of-the-art clinical work in minimally-invasive laryngeal surgery. Support for the research program would fund expanded basic research, including the recruitment of additional research personnel.Training Initiatives
The Voice Center is committed to helping train a cadre of world-class clinicians and researchers. To that end, the Center invites national and international students and professionals to train at NYU. The Center currently has one dedicated post-doctoral trainee and provides limited training to five to six additional individuals each year. Your donation would assist the Center in establishing an endowed fellowship training program, which would allow us to invite interested individuals to spend extended, dedicated time learning and performing clinical research in laryngeal disorders at NYU for many years to come.
Our Team
Milan R. Amin, MD
Dr. Amin, the Director of the NYU Voice Center, was recruited to New York in 2005 for his clinical expertise and research related to laryngeal dysfunction. Since arriving, he has set up a research and educational program within the Division of Laryngology and has greatly expanded the clinical program at the Voice Center. Dr. Amin has also been invited repeatedly to speak at national meetings. He has written extensively on the topic of laryngeal disorders, including numerous book chapters and research articles. He is recognized as an expert in laryngeal disorders by his peers around the country.
Steven G. Rothstein, MD
Dr. Rothstein trained at NYU Medical Center and has been a faculty member in the Department of Otolaryngology since 1988. He is the founder of the Sony Vocal Health Laboratory and NYU Swallowing Disorders Center. He participates extensively in the education of residents and students and has a busy clinical practice focusing on laryngeal disorders.
Cathy L. Lazarus, PhD
Dr. Lazarus joined NYU from the prestigious Northwestern University Speech and Swallowing Program. Dr. Lazarus is an internationally renowned dysphagia clinician and researcher. She was recently awarded an NIH grant to study tongue base strength in patients with swallow dysfunction. Dr. Lazarus has published and lectured extensively on swallow dysfunction. She has also trained many speech pathologists in her role as a faculty member for numerous educational courses on dysphagia. She has worked closely with Dr. Amin to help develop a strong research program in dysphagia here at NYU.
Danielle Lodewyck, PhD
Dr. Lodewyck joined NYU from the University of Utah Medical Center, where she earned her PhD. Her focus has been on vocal cord anatomy and function. She completed her thesis on the study of water channels that exist on the surface of vocal cords. She is currently pursuing training in voice and swallowing disorders under the tutelage of Dr. Lazarus while continuing her research on the vocal cords.
With the help of these and other affiliated team members throughout the Medical Center, the clinical program in voice, swallowing, and airway disorders has consistently provided excellent care to patients at Tisch Hospital, Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, Bellevue Hospital, the Manhattan VA Hospital, and to patients referred to us by physicians and hospitals throughout the country.
