The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) celebrated its centennial in 1978, and it is the only accredited institution for medical education in Arkansas. In 1969, Dr. Robert McGrew became Chief of the Division of Otolaryngology and was responsible for initiating the otolaryngology residency program, which was accredited in 1970.
Dr. James Y. Suen was one of the first two residents accepted into the new program. Dr. Suen, an Arkansas native, graduated from UAMS and completed an internship in San Francisco. After finishing the otolaryngology residency, Dr. Suen was the first otolaryngologist accepted into the head and neck fellowship at M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute in Houston. When he returned to Little Rock in 1974, he took over as head of the Division of Otolaryngology at age 33. Dr. Suen’s innovative work in the field of head and neck cancer quickly brought him to national prominence. Cancer of the Head and Neck, edited by Dr. Suen and Dr. Eugene Myers of Pittsburgh, is now in its fourth edition and has become an internationally-recognized reference source.
In May of 2017, Dr. John L. Dornhoffer became chairman of the department. Dr. Dornhoffer served on the UAMS faculty since 1994 and as vice-chair of the department since 2009. He was also a professor and director of the Division of Otology/Neurotology. Dr. Dornhoffer received his medical degree from the University of Kansas Medical School in 1988. He completed his residency in otolaryngology — head and neck surgery at UAMS and continued his training with a fellowship in otology and neurotology at the University of Würzburg in Germany and a fellowship in skull base surgery at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.
Gresham Richter, M.D., became chair of the department on December 1, 2025. Richter received his medical degree from the University of Colorado-Health Sciences Center in 2001. He completed his residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at UAMS and continued his training with a fellowship in Pediatric Otolaryngology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He returned to Arkansas in 2008 and held such early leadership roles as associate residency director in 2008-2012 and pediatric otolaryngology fellowship director from 2009 to 2016.
Richter has served as professor and chief of Pediatric Otolaryngology since 2016 and vice chair of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery since 2017. He was chief of staff for Arkansas Children’s Hospital in 2020-2023. Among other leadership posts, he has directed the Vascular Anomalies Center of Excellence at Arkansas Children’s since 2012 and the Arkansas Vascular Biology Program in the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute since 2013.
Richter’s national leadership roles have included president of the American Broncho-Esophagological Association in 2023-2024 and president of the Society for Ear, Nose and Throat Advances in Children in 2020-2021. He has served as the inaugural editor-in-chief of the Journal of Vascular Anomalies since 2019.
He has published more than 140 manuscripts, five books and over 40 book chapters. Notably, he is a senior editor of the leading textbook on Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.
Richter holds the James H. Hamlen II – Robert Seibert, M.D. Endowed Chair in Pediatric Otolaryngology.
We are proud of our staff, our residents, our team, and their accomplishments. Our goal is to continue to seek excellence, and to preserve those qualities that have brought us this far.
Professorships and Chairs
- Gerald F. Hamra, Professorship in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
- James Y. Suen, M.D., Endowed Chair in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
- Benjamin and Milton Waner, M.D., Endowed Chair in Pediatric Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
- J. Floyd Kyser, M.D., Endowed Lectureship in Otolaryngology
- Samuel D. McGill, Jr., Endowed Chair in Otolaryngology Research
- James H. Hamlen, II / Robert Seibert, M.D. Endowed Chair in Pediatric Otolaryngology
- Josephine T. McGill Chair in Head and Neck Cancer Research
- Patricia and J. Floyd Kyser, M.D., Chair in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
- Pamela Rakhshan Chair in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
- Thomas McGill Chair in Otolaryngology