About Dr. Steven Zeitels
Dr. Steven Marc Zeitels is the Eugene B. Casey Professor of Laryngeal Surgery at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Voice Center. In 2004, Harvard Medical School established the first endowed professorship in Laryngeal Surgery for him, while he reestablished a Harvard Laryngeal Surgery service at the MGH, which had not existed since the 1920s.
Zeitels’ contributions to voice and laryngeal surgery are widely acknowledged in the United States and worldwide. He is an eminent surgical innovator, having developed more than 25 pioneering airway and phonosurgery procedures and instruments. He holds 7 patents for his contributions to laryngeal surgery. His innovations include the development of laser-based treatments for precancerous dysplasia and cancer of the vocal cords, as well as for laryngeal papillomatosis, polyps, and nodules. Zeitels is also well known for creating office-based angiolytic laryngeal laser surgery, which is now routinely practiced throughout the world.
Most notable was his introduction and routine implementation of angiolytic laser treatment for vocal cord cancer, which transformed the voice outcome for treating this disease. This groundbreaking treatment evolved from integrating Judah Folkman’s concepts of tumor angiogenesis and Rox Anderson’s theory of selective photothermolysis. Zeitels has also designed a unique, award-winning surgery to restore the voice of those who have had vocal cord paralysis and paresis.
Zeitels has authored more than 200 scientific articles, book chapters, and videos on larynx and pharynx surgery and has presented more than 300 papers and lectures. His Atlas of Phonomicrosurgery is a leading textbook on laryngeal microsurgery. He has served on the editorial boards of 5 national and international journals.
Zeitels has trained more than 40 specialized laryngeal surgeons who direct Voice Centers throughout the United States and abroad. Additionally, he has been a visiting professor at more than 40 departments, universities, & hospitals.
He has performed career-saving surgery on hundreds of American and international performers, including an unprecedented 22 Grammy Award winners. His surgical techniques were featured in a National Geographic Channel documentary, “Incredible Human Machine”, which highlighted Zeitels’ microsurgery on Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith. In addition, his novel surgical treatment of Roger Daltrey, the lead singer of The Who, just before their halftime performance in the 2010 Super Bowl, was discussed extensively on CBS News. In 2012, there was broad international coverage of Dr. Zeitels’ unique microsurgery that restored Adele’s voice, who thanked him upon accepting the first of her 6 Grammy Awards in 2012.
Zeitels was a member of the 1st class of Boston University (BU) Trustee Scholars, attended the BU accelerated medical program, and graduated from the School of Medicine in 1982. He completed the BU-Tufts combined Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS) Program in 1987, as well as a Head & Neck Surgical Oncology Fellowship at Boston University and the Boston Veterans Affairs Medical Center in 1988.
