About the H. Bryan Neel III, MD, PhD Distinguished Research Lecture
Funded by the Neel family and friends, the H. Bryan Neel III, MD, PhD Distinguished Research Lecture was established in 1993 to disseminate information regarding new developments in biomedical science to the otolaryngologic community.
2026 Lecturer
Albert H. Park, MD
Sunday, October 18, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm (PT)
Thoughts on the Role of Research for the Practicing Otolaryngologist
Albert H. Park, MD, is the former Chief of Pediatric Otolaryngology at the University of Utah and at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is the Director of the multidisciplinary hearing center that he and John C. Carey, MD, MPH, established in 2004.
Dr. Park serves as Co-Principal Investigator on a National Institutes of Health-funded project assessing the role of resident tissue macrophages in cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and cochlear development. He served on the Board of Directors for the National CMV Foundation and has worked with the National Institutes on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Genentech, and approximately 30 academic institutions to introduce hearing-targeted early CMV testing to more than one hundred birth hospitals across the United States.
Dr. Park established a CMV Working Group that brought together experts in pediatric neonatology, infectious disease, genetics, otolaryngology, audiology, healthcare economics, biostatistics, and neurology. These collaborative efforts produced a statewide expanded targeted early CMV screening program for newborns, universal CMV screening in the NICU, a multidisciplinary congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) clinic, and the first clinically validated dry blood spot and saliva polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for cCMV detection.
Working alongside Representative Ronda Rudd Menlove, Dr. Park helped introduce legislation in the Utah legislature to increase awareness of cCMV infection and mandate early testing for newborns who fail their hearing screen. In July 2013, Utah became the first state to implement a hearing-targeted CMV screening program. Dr. Park has received the Ruben Scientific Achievement Award from SENTAC and the American Academy of Pediatrics Advocacy Award.
About the Lecture
Funded by the Neel family and friends, the H. Bryan Neel III, MD, PhD Distinguished Research Lecture was established in 1993 to disseminate information regarding new developments in biomedical science to the otolaryngologic community.
Previous Lecturers:
- 2025: Maie A. St. John, MD, PhD
- 2024: Noam A. Cohen, MD, PhD
- 2023: Theresa (Tessa) A. Hadlock, MD
- 2022: Konstantina “Tina” Stankovic, MD, PhD
- 2021: Alexander H. Gelbard, MD
- 2020: Glenn E. Green, MD
- 2019: Baran D. Sumer, MD, FACS
- 2018: Nikolas H. Blevins, MD
- 2017: Thomas Lee, MD
- 2016: Martha J. Somerman, D.D.S., Ph.D.
- 2015: Lloyd B. Minor, MD
- 2014: Carter Van Waes, MD
- 2013: Martin A. Birchall, MD
- 2012: Allan I. Pack, MD, PhD
- 2011: James Christopher Post, MD, PhD
- 2010: Joseph P. Vacanti, MD
- 2009: Martin J. Burton, DM, FRCS
- 2008: Blake S. Wilson, BSEE and Richard T. Miyamoto, MD
- 2007: Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D.
- 2006: Robert McKinnon Califf, MD MACC
- 2005: Alfred E. Mann, PhD
