University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine Program

Program Identity & Fit

UNMC's Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery program is an academic, university-based five-year training pathway that positions itself as the primary tertiary otolaryngology referral center for a large swath of the Midwest, giving residents exposure to a broad catchment of pathology despite Omaha's mid-sized-city setting. The curriculum is structured around subspecialty resident courses (skull base, ultrasound), dedicated temporal bone drilling, mock oral boards, and protected weekly didactics, alongside a distinctive rural rotation exposing residents to private-practice operations and business-of-medicine skills (billing, coding, practice development). Research is supported but not the program's defining feature, with a flexible curriculum explicitly designed to accommodate fellowship-track preparation as well as private-practice-bound residents. The program emphasizes a tight-knit, "family-like" culture reinforced by an off-site annual resident retreat, and selects a small cohort (three residents/year), suggesting value placed on personal fit and cohesion alongside academic strength (high honors rates, AOA induction, multiple research projects per resident).