USA Health adds pediatric ear, nose and throat specialist
Douglas K. Holmes, M.D., will serve as director of pediatric ENT surgery at USA Health and an associate professor in the departments of surgery and pediatrics.
USA Health is expanding its ear, nose and throat division with the addition of Douglas K. Holmes, M.D., FACS, a board-certified otolaryngologist with decades of experience in military and academic medicine, as well as private practice.
Holmes will serve as director of pediatric ENT surgery at USA Health and associate professor in the departments of surgery and pediatrics at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine at the University of South Alabama. While he will provide a wide range of ENT care, Holmes will specialize in complex pediatric ENT medicine and surgery. This includes upper airway and breathing problems, neck masses (including deep neck abscess), and pediatric otology (ear disorders and infections, hearing loss, and implantable hearing aids including cochlear implants).
“My goal is to direct, grow and sustain an academic otolaryngology division while providing comprehensive, state-of-the-art pediatric ENT care,” he said. “We recognize there are many excellent ENT surgeons in our community doing very nice work. We wish to be a resource for those complicated cases needing the resources of an academic health system.”
Holmes said he also seeks to provide an ENT home for USA and USA Health employees and to be a readily available source for referrals from medical colleagues at USA Health. “We also hope to support those colleagues as necessary with their ENT needs in combined procedures,” he said.
Ear, nose and throat specialists care for patients with conditions such as ear infections, tonsillitis, sinusitis, obstructive breathing, neck masses, and chronic hoarseness.
“Dr. Holmes’ expertise and years of experience will help us grow our ENT services as an academic health system,” said William O. Richards, M.D., FACS, professor and chair of surgery at the Whiddon College of Medicine. “He also brings a passion for educating future physicians and preparing them to be successful in the field.”
Holmes said he looks forward to teaching and mentoring medical students during all four years of their educational experience. “I want every medical student to graduate with the experience and background to be able to diagnose and take care of routine ENT problems and to recognize ENT urgencies and emergencies so as to enlist help from their ENT consultants,” he said.
Holmes said the division’s long-term goals are to recruit other fellowship-trained ENT surgeons in all areas of the specialty and to eventually start an ENT residency program.
He most recently worked in private practice in Raleigh, North Carolina, and served as an assistant professor of otolaryngology at the UNC School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. He previously was director of the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Wake Area Health Education Center/Wake Medical Center in Raleigh.
Holmes also served eight years in active duty in the U.S. Air Force and 22 years in the Air Force Reserves. He was commander of the 916th Aerospace Medicine Squadron at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina, retiring with the rank of colonel.
He previously served as chief of Head and Neck Oncology and Pediatric Otolaryngology at David Grant USAF Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base in California. Prior to that appointment, he was chief of Otolaryngology Services at USAF Regional Hospital at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska and a consultant otolaryngologist at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage.
Holmes earned his medical degree from the UNC School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He completed a general surgery internship and ENT residency at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics, where he trained in the nation’s top-ranked program. Holmes also completed an intensive fellowship year in pediatric otolaryngology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
He is a member of the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery.
Holmes will have office hours for clinic visits at USA Health Midtown. He also will have privileges at USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital to perform consultations on inpatients with complex ENT problems and elective outpatient surgery.
To schedule an appointment, call 251-415-1475.
