University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago Program

Program Identity & Fit

UIC's Otolaryngology-HNS program is a university-based, multi-site training program built around a distinctive combination of county safety-net (Cook County Hospital), VA (Jesse Brown), pediatric quaternary (Lurie Children's), and suburban community (NorthShore) rotations layered onto the home academic hospital, producing broad exposure to trauma, head and neck oncology, pediatric airway/otology, and general community ENT within a single five-year block. Research is structurally embedded rather than optional: every resident writes an AAO-HNSF CORE grant as an intern, completes a dedicated 3-month PGY-3 research block with a formal mentor-guided plan, and must produce two posters, two manuscripts, and an oral presentation by graduation, alongside a parallel quality-improvement curriculum with its own certificate and project requirements. Career outcomes split roughly evenly between general otolaryngology practice and competitive subspecialty fellowship, reflecting a program that treats research literacy and QI competency as core professional skills for any eventual career path rather than as a fellowship-only differentiator. The program explicitly emphasizes resident autonomy achieved through graduated responsibility across its safety-net and VA sites, alongside a self-described tight-knit resident culture across the five-site rotation structure.