Surgical Procedures for Abductor and Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia
Gerald S. Berke, MD FACS
This video is part of the NSDA 2020 Virtual Symposium playlist. Originally scheduled to take place in the Detroit area on May 2, 2020, the in-person meeting was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and migrated online. These presentations were filmed using the Zoom platform and often at the presenter’s home. Please excuse any lags or skips in the presentation due to an unstable internet connection during the broadcast. Special thanks to our speakers for their time and dedication to the NSDA community.
The National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association is dedicated to improving the lives of people with spasmodic dysphonia and related voice conditions through research, education, awareness and support. To learn more, log on to dysphonia.org.
ABOUT: Dr. Gerald Berke is professor of surgery and Chair Emeritus of the Department of UCLA Head and Neck Surgery in the David Geffen School of Medicine and the UCLA Health System. Dr. Berke, who is a highly respected researcher and clinician, served as Chair of the department he founded from 2012 - 2017 and was the prior Chief of the division since 1992. He also is the director of the UCLA Voice Center for Medicine and the Arts, which he founded.
Dr. Berke has authored over 200 manuscripts and has been on 30 grants, both NIH and VA Merit with 10 of them as PI, based on laryngeal physiology and voice disorders in addition to mentoring numerous research fellows. He performed the first functioning larynx transplant in animals and developed the only surgical treatment for adductor spasmodic dysphonia. Dr. Berke has also pioneered many of the techniques now used by laryngologists to treat patients in an office setting. He is considered by his peers to be an international authority on laryngeal physiology and one of Dr. Berke’s main clinical and research focus has been laryngeal function.
Born and raised in Southern California, he currently has 13 published songs and began developing his interest in the voice and ultimately his medical specialty, as a rock musician and songwriter. Dr. Berke came to UCLA in 1979 to complete his surgical residency, after graduating from both undergraduate and medical school at the University of Southern California, and became an assistant professor in 1984, then advanced to become professor and chair of head and neck surgery in 1992.
Outside of UCLA, Dr. Berke is the past president of both the American Laryngological Association, the Triological Society, former director of the American Board of Otolaryngology, and former member of the ACGME RRC for Otoloaryngology. In addition, he recently completed his term as member of the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Deafness and other Communication Disorders and is currently the Scientific Director of the National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association (NSDA) Scientific Advisory Board and a Triological Society Research Liaison.
