2026 Gator Otolaryngology Research Day

To register for our Gator Otolaryngology Virtual Research Day, please fill out the form below.

For questions or more information please contact Nichole Haring: Nichole.Haring@ent.ufl.edu

This research day will also be broadcast using web-based Zoom technology.

Guest Lecturers:

John Rhee, MD, MPH, MBA

Dr. Rhee is the John C. Koss Professor and Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences (position held since 2011) and Professor of Dermatology at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). He is the past Chair of the Board and Interim CEO of the Medical College Physicians multispecialty practice and Interim Senior Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs. He has also served as Interim Chair of the MCW Departments of Dermatology, Ophthalmology and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.

He attended Dartmouth College for his undergraduate education and SUNY at Stony Brook for medical school. Following completion of his otolaryngology–head and neck surgery residency at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City in 1998, he did an additional fellowship year in facial plastic surgery at The University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital. After joining the faculty at MCW in 1999, he obtained an MPH degree at MCW while building his research career on clinical outcome studies. He has held multiple funded grants as the Principal Investigator from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in various aspects of clinical care including skin cancer (R03, National Cancer Institute), surgical nasal airway correction (R01’s and R43, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering). He has served on NIH study sections and is a co-investigator and mentor on numerous NIH and other foundation sponsored grants.

Dr. Rhee has been listed in the Best Doctors of America every year since 2003 and has been awarded a Top Doctor award from Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital, the main hospital affiliate for MCW. Amongst his other notable awards include the George Adams Young Faculty Award from the Triological Society, The Distinguished Service Award from the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head Neck Surgery, Excellence in Professionalism from the Medical College Physicians, and the MCW Distinguished Service Award – the highest award for given to any MCW faculty. He has been invited internationally to speak on topics ranging from outcomes studies, nasal airway surgery, biomedical research, and faculty and leadership development.

Dr. Rhee served as a board member and Coordinator for Research & Quality for the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF). He is past Editor-in-Chief of JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery. He has held multiple leadership positions within the boards and committees of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Otolaryngology – Head Neck Surgery. He has authored or co-authored over 130 scientific publications and has served in the past as a residency program director for MCW. He served as a Director and President for the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery. He also served as the member and Chair of the Otolaryngology Residency Review Committee of the ACGME. He completed the AAMC Council of Deans Fellowship program in 2016.

More recently, he has turned his attention to the topics of healthcare leadership development and wellness. He obtained his MBA with combination credits from the Kellogg (Northwestern) and Isenberg (U Mass, Amherst) Schools of Management. He obtained a certification in leadership and executive coaching from Brown University in 2025.

Alexandra Kejner, MD

Dr. Kejner is an otorhinolaryngologist/head and neck surgeon dedicated to the treatment of head and neck patients, including those with malignant and benign tumors of the head and neck, including skin, sinus, oral cavity, oropharynx, voice box, neck, and salivary glands as well as the reconstruction of those areas after surgery using local tissue, skin grafts, and free tissue transfer. She also is specialty trained in advanced transoral robotic surgery of the upper aerodigestive tract.

She completed her undergraduate degree in Biology and Spanish at Wake Forest University, graduating with honors. She enrolled at the University of Michigan Medical School, graduating with honors in service. She then went on to an otorhinolaryngology residency at the University of Alabama – Birmingham before pursuing advanced training in fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. While there, she received further training in head and neck oncology, skull base surgery, transoral robotic surgery, and microvascular free tissue transfer.

She is certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology. She has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals and several book chapters. She is active in the American Head and Neck Society. She is on the board of the American Head and Neck Microvascular Section. She has been an invited panelist and organizer for multiple national and international meetings.

She speaks fluent Spanish. She is interested in medical technology including fluorescent imaging, outcomes research, surgical margins, microvascular reconstruction techniques, head and neck cancer, and improving the quality of life of head and neck cancer survivors.  She has an adorable husband and an even more adorable 6-year-old.

Ushma Neill, PhD

Ushma S. Neill currently serves as Columbia University Vice Provost for Campus Integration. In March 2025, Ushma came to Columbia as Chief of Staff to the President of Columbia University, while also acting as Vice President, Campus Alignment. She worked under Interim President Katrina Armstrong and Acting President Claire Shipman during a historic period of instability. She led numerous committees and taskforces, crisis response teams, and worked with myriad stakeholders across the University. 

Dr. Neill obtained her PhD in biomedical engineering from Northwestern University. She secured a Marshall Scholarship to do a postdoctoral fellowship at Imperial College, London. After 2 years as Assistant Editor at Nature Medicine, she joined the Journal of Clinical Investigation as Executive Editor serving in this role for 9 years, and then later as Editor-at-Large. Ushma later became the Director of the Office of the President of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, acting as Chief of Staff to then President & CEO Dr. Craig Thompson. After 4 years, she then took on the educational mission of Memorial Sloan Kettering as VP, Scientific Education and Training  In her continued role at the JCI, she has performed over 80 video interviews for their series, Conversations with Giants in Medicine. She has also written extensively (in Scientific American, CNN.com, HBR, and other venues) about ethics, sexism in science, immigrant issues, and tools for young scientists to succeed.