CENTA Center For Ear Nose Throat & Allergy

CENTA Difference CENTA, the Center for Ear Nose Throat & Allergy, is the region's premier provider of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery and allergy services to people of all ages. Our team of highly trained and compassionate physicians and staff provides the highest quality ENT care available anywhere, and our national reputation attests to that. In fact, we serve as the tertiary referral group to other otolaryngologists in the region, who send us their most difficult, uncommon, or complex cases for treatment. CENTA was founded in 1978 by Ronald Hamaker, MD, one of the country's foremost head and neck cancer surgeons. He was soon joined by Mark Singer, MD and world-renowned speech pathologist Eric Blom, PhD. The practice was known at that time as Head & Neck Surgery Associates, and HNSA quickly established itself as a worldwide leader in the treatment of head and neck cancer. Their innovative work led to a number of groundbreaking developments in our field, including the development of the Blom-Singer voice prosthesis. This revolutionary implant, now used around the world, allowed people whose voice boxes were lost to cancer to speak without an electronic device for the first time. They also pioneered the use of intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) for head and neck cancer, and CENTA has the most extensive IORT experience in the world. We are also at the forefront of many other new technologies, including microvascular free flap reconstruction, da Vinci robotic surgery, and laser microsurgery, allowing CENTA to maintain its reputation as the region's premier practice for head and neck surgery. HNSA's cancer reputation continued to grow, despite Dr. Hamaker's death and Dr. Singer's departure. The legacy lives on with Dr. Blom and two of HNSA's past fellows, Drs. Stephen Freeman and Tod Huntley, who joined the group in the early 1990s, and with Drs. Edward Krowiak and Nick Rigas, who were added in 2003 and 2010, respectively..They are assisted by an outstanding oncologic nurse practitioner, Karen Bunnell, who coordinates much of the inpatient and outpatient care. The group's social worker, Mary Jane Renner, is a cancer survivor whose work with head and neck cancer patients is recognized around the country. Though still committed to its cancer care, HNSA has broadened its scope over the years and has evolved into the Center for Ear Nose Throat & Allergy. CENTA provides the highest quality general otolaryngology and allergy care to people of all ages. Our history of being a referral group to other ENT specialists has led us to develop centers of excellence for patients with a variety of ENT disorders, including nasal and sinus disorders,, and allergies.