Skip to main content
Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery Otolaryngology
  1. Department of Otolaryngology
  2. Education & Training
  3. Residency Program
  4. Current Residents

Current Head and Neck Surgery Residents

  • Robert Saddawi-Konefka, MD, PhD (PGY-8/ Chief)

    Robert Saddawi-Konefka, MD, PhD (PGY-8/ Chief)

    Hometown: South Bend, IN
    Undergrad: University of Southern California, Neurosciences
    Medical School: UCSD
    Outside Interests: Surfing, Camping and Backpacking, Family Time
    Research Interests: Immuno-Oncology, Immunotherapies and Mechanisms of Tumor-Immune Resistance
  • Morgan Davis, MD (PGY-6 / Chief)

    Morgan Davis, MD (PGY-6 / Chief)

    Hometown: Jackson, Mississippi
    Undergrad: University of Mississippi (Ole Miss); Biochemistry, minors neuroscience and biology
    Medical School: University of Mississippi School of Medicine
    Outside Interests: working out, playing with my dog Cali, traveling, cooking, Netflix
    Research Interests: Facial analysis, tissue regeneration and healing especially in minority populations, head and neck oncology, vestibular migraine
  • Benjamin Ostrander, MD (PGY-6 / Chief)

    Benjamin Ostrander, MD (PGY-6 / Chief)

    Hometown: Kenwood, California
    Undergrad: University of California, San Diego - Bioengineering, Global Health
    Medical School: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
    Outside Interests: Music (from playing guitar and piano to attending concerts), the great outdoors (cycling, hiking, camping, surfing...), art (museums, photography, painting), food & drink (discovering, appreciating, cooking, brewing…)
    Research Interests: Biodesign and surgical innovation, global surgery, facial reanimation, taste and olfaction
  • Samuel Early, MD, MS (PGY-5 / Chief)

    Samuel Early, MD, MS (PGY-5 / Chief)

    Hometown: Vancouver, WA
    Undergrad: Stanford University; BS Biomechanical Engineering
    Graduate School: Stanford University; MS Bioengineering
    Medical School: University of California - San Diego
    Outside Interests: Cycling, hiking, running, kayaking, baking, Taiwanese street food, sustainable seafood
    Research Interests: Hearing loss, Vestibular Schwannoma, cholesteatoma, drug delivery to the middle and inner ear
  • Farhoud Faraji, MD, PhD (PGY-7)

    Farhoud Faraji, MD, PhD (PGY-7)

    Hometown: Sacramento, CA
    Undergrad: University of California, Berkeley; Molecular & Cell Biology
    Medical School: Saint Louis University
    Outside Interests: Terrestrial and marine naturalism, scuba and freediving, climbing, hiking, yoga, travel, culinary arts, sailing, live music, horticulture and botany.
    Research Interests: Head and neck oncology, metastasis biology, transcriptional biology, cell-mediated immunity, medical education.
  • Jeffrey Bernstein, MD (PGY-5)

    Jeffrey Bernstein, MD (PGY-5)

    Hometown: Carmichael, CA
    Undergrad: UC Berkeley
    Medical School: UC San Diego
    Outside Interests: Running, Cycling, Birding, Outdoors, Live music
    Research Interests: Vestibular schwannoma, invasive fungal sinusitis, sinusitis-related neurocognitive changes, functional/structural neuroimaging
  • Andrew Yousef, MD (PGY-5)

    Andrew Yousef, MD (PGY-5)

    Hometown: Glendora, CA
    Undergrad: University of California, San Diego - Human Biology & Economics
    Medical School: University of California, San Francisco
    Outside Interests:Hiking, basketball (both playing and watching), working out, viola, attending concerts, traveling, crosswords
    Research Interests: Surgical education, bettering care and outcomes in underserved populations
  • Benjamin Bernard, MD (RSCH / PGY-4)

    Benjamin Bernard, MD (RSCH / PGY-4)

    Hometown: Overland Park, Kansas
    Undergrad: University of Missouri-Kansas City; Liberal Arts, Chemistry
    Medical School: University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine
    Outside Interests: playing sports (basketball, tennis, and spikeball), watching sports (Kansas City Chiefs, Kansas City Royals, now the San Diego Padres!), exploring the outdoors (hiking/cycling/traveling), and discovering new restaurants
    Research Interests: epigenetic drivers of head and neck cancer, implementation of immunotherapy in head and neck cancer, precision medicine and genomic sequencing
  • Tammy Pham, MD (RSCH / PGY-4)

    Tammy Pham, MD (RSCH / PGY-4)

    Hometown: San Diego, California
    Undergrad: Yale University; Cognitive Science
    Medical School: University of California, San Diego
    Outside Interests: rock climbing (both indoor and outdoor), board games, coaching high school robotics, playing with my family's kitten
    Research Interests: genetics of age-related and noise-induced hearing loss, medical and surgical education, robotics and innovations in surgical technology
  • Priyanka Bisarya, MD (PGY-3)

    Priyanka Bisarya, MD (PGY-3)

    Hometown: San Diego, CA 
    Undergrad: UC San Diego
    Medical School: Yale University School of Medicine
    Outside Interests: sailing, water sports, skiing,  live music, cycling, running
    Research Interests: surgical innovation, robotic technology, medical devices, global health in otolaryngology, medical education
  • Peter Eskander, MD (PGY-3)

    Peter Eskander, MD (PGY-3)

    Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
    Undergrad: University of Southern California; Health Promotion Disease Prevention and Theater Arts
    Medical School: University of Missouri-Columbia
    Outside Interests: Cooking, gardening, the world champion Los Angeles Lakers, scuba diving, and voice over acting!
    Research Interests: Optimizing outcomes associated with head and neck cancers, health literary and equity in underserved groups, facial reconstruction, and professional voice
  • Rohith Voora, MD (PGY-3)

    Rohith Voora, MD (PGY-3)

    Hometown: Fresno, CA
    Undergrad: UCSD
    Medical School: UCSD
    Outside Interests: basketball, surfing, hip-hop/R&B vinyl and live music, discovering new restaurants and breweries
    Research Interests: head and neck oncology, airway and voice, health disparities
  • Madhavi Murali, MD (PGY-2)

    Madhavi Murali, MD (PGY-2)

    Hometown: Lake Zurich, IL
    Undergrad: University of Missouri-Kansas City; Liberal Arts, Chemistry
    Medical School: University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine
    Outside Interests: Running, acrylic painting, cooking, traveling (and reviewing airports!)
    Research Interests: Epigenetics in head and neck cancer, healthcare disparities in underserved populations, vestibular schwannoma
  • Archana Podury, (PGY-2)

    Archana Podury, (PGY-2)

    Hometown: Cupertino, CA
    Undergrad: Cornell University; Neurobiology & Behavior
    Medical School: Harvard Medical School, Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology (HST) Program
    Outside Interests: art, plants, reading, music, fashion, solo travel, exploring nature
    Research Interests: device engineering, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, hearing loss

     
  • Clara Draf, MD (PGY-1)

    Clara Draf, MD (PGY-1)

    Hometown: Fulda, Germany
    Undergrad: Technical University Dresden
    Medical School: Technical University Dresden 
    Outside Interests: Scuba Diving, Sailing, Skydiving, Dogs, and facilitating an Autonomous Robotics program at Elementary Schools through San Diego Rotary
    Research Interests: Otology: In Vivo Models for drug delivery into the inner ear, AR approaches for temporal bone training, Global health in Otolaryngology
  • Bita Naimi, MD (PGY-1)

    Bita Naimi, MD (PGY-1)

    Hometown: Saratoga, CA
    Undergrad: Boston University
    Medical School: Boston University School of Medicine 
    Outside Interests: spending time outdoors (hiking, swimming, biking), painting, piano, concerts, traveling, baking 
    Research Interests: olfactory dysfunction, platelet rich plasma, novel therapeutics, health disparities, medical education, mentorship
  • Olivia LaMonte, MD (PGY-1)

    Olivia LaMonte, MD (PGY-1)

    Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
    Undergrad: University of California, Santa Barbara
    Medical School:  University of California, San Diego
    Outside Interests: Writing comedy, reading psychological thrillers, staying humble through rec sports, sampling every workout class in San Diego, and catering to my Chihuahua mix.
    Research Interests: Vestibular schwannoma, genetics of hearing loss, quality of life analysis, developing shared decision-making tools, and graduate medical education with a focus on resident training.