Mihir R. Patel, MD

As a board-certified head and neck surgeon, I focus on minimally invasive surgical techniques to treat cancers. My interest in preserving patient function led me to pursue a fellowship in transoral robotic surgery (TORS) at the University of Pennsylvania. Before that, I completed a fellowship in minimally invasive, endoscopic skull base surgery at The Ohio State University Skull Base Center. Before I became a doctor, I was a chemistry teacher in Brooklyn, New York. I tutored students with limited resources after school to support the community's educational efforts. A student I had tutored died from cancer, and that memory is what drove me to change careers and enter the medical field. Today, I'm dedicated to research on head and neck cancer genomics. I was part of the Winship team that participated in the ECOG 3311 human papillomavirus (HPV) oropharyngeal de-escalation trial. I graduated from Duke University and received my medical degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. I completed a seven-year surgical residency at the University of North Carolina Department of Otolaryngology, where I focused on translational research. I then pursued fellowship training in Extended Endoscopic Approaches (EEA) to the skull base at The Ohio State University Wexner Center, followed by a year of fellowship training at the University of Pennsylvania Head and Neck Oncology program.