Dr. Kara Detwiller stepped into the role of Program Director for the Otolaryngology residency program in November 2025, and joined the OHSU faculty and Portland VA as a rhinologist in 2017.  Dr. Detwiller is a welcome addition to the program’s leadership team and utilizes her experiences as faculty and former OHSU Otolaryngology resident to positively add to our resident’s support structure.  Within the program, she’s focused on maintaining our accreditation status, educating faculty and residents on providing effective feedback, she revitalized resident orientation activities, and chairs our Clinical Competency Committee.  Within her medical practice she’s interested in both clinical outcomes and patient quality of life research with a focus on inflammatory sinonasal disease, and long term outcomes on patient quality of life after sinus surgery.  Dr. Detwiller is a go-to source of support for all our residents and her vision and leadership within the program is essential for its continued success.  

Dr. Timothy Smith is our Department Chair. 

Matt joined the program in 2016 and among keeping tabs on the residents and Dr. Wax, he also is heavily invested in reducing the administrative burden on residents, helping them navigate the hospital bureaucracy, maintaining our accreditation status with the ACGME, and sharing conversations, experience, and personal support over drinks.  Matt is Board Chair for the Otolaryngology Program Coordinator Organization (OPCO), is a member of the OHSU GME Diversity and Inclusion Sub-Committee and Otolaryngology Diversity and Anti-Racism Committee, organizer for OHSU Health Equity and Anti-Racism Talks, and, in general, is interested in making the medical world a more socially just space for patients and healthcare providers, he sees this being accomplished through the development of effective and novel educational curriculum in this area. He is supported by a robust administrative team that are really the people that makes him look good when it comes to events and projects.

Dr. Mark Wax was the Otolaryngology residency program and microvascular reconstructive surgery fellowship for 28 years. His dedication to the program brought the program to where it is now as one of few programs with gender parity in the nation, nationally recognized program improvements, and integration into all the subspecialties in Otolaryngology.  His reputation as a nationally recognized microvascular surgeon and educator and welcoming demeanor means that our learners are supported throughout all parts of their education and career.