Dr. Alejandro Rivas

Alejandro Rivas, MD, serves as the Division Chief of Otology and Neurotology at University Hospitals, where he is also the Director of the Cochlear Implant Program. Dr. Rivas is a Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and the Department of Neurological Surgery at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Most recently, he had the honor to receive the Richard W. and Patricia R. Pogue Chair in Auditory Surgery and Hearing Sciences. Dr. Rivas is a Fellow of the American Neurotology Society, American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Triological Society and the North American Skull Base Society. He is board-certified in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, as well as Otology and Neurotology.

Dr. Rivas earned his medical degree from the Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, School of Medicine in his hometown of Bogotá, Colombia. He completed a research fellowship and residency in Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at John Hopkins University in Maryland, and subsequently finished an ACGME-accredited Neurotology fellowship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee, where he subsequently practiced for 12 years before moving to Cleveland.

Dr. Rivas’s interests include endoscopic ear surgery, cochlear implantation, single-sided deafness, congenital malformations of the ear, ear canal atresia, bone conduction implantation, acoustic neuromas and other skull base surgeries. He is considered one of the pioneers of endoscopic ear surgery in the United States and the world. Dr Rivas has performed and taught endoscopic ear surgery and cochlear implant surgical approaches to other doctors in many countries, including Colombia, Italy, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Japan, Australia, Peru, France, Spain, and Guatemala. As an educator, he had the opportunity to host and co-direct the 2014 ACIA meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Rivas has also presented at numerous international, national and regional meetings. In addition, he serves as a reviewer for a number of academic journals, is the secretary of the Iberoamerican Cochlear Implant Group (GICCA) and is a board member of the International Working Group on Endoscopic Ear Surgery (IWGEES).

Dr. Rivas’s research endeavors on endoscopic ear surgery and hearing loss target the use of the least invasive and less morbid management options to improve auditory outcomes of hearing-impaired patients. On this subject, he has contributed more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, has edited several books, and presently serves as Associate Editor of Audiology and Neurotology.

Dr. Rivas has received multiple awards, including the Henkel Chief Resident Teacher of the Year Award in 2009, the Honor Award for distinguished service from the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery Foundation in 2018, and the Wesley Wilkerson MD Award for Clinical Excellence in 2019. In 2021, he will be inducted as a member of the Collegium Oto-Rhino-Laryngologicum Amicitiae Sacrum, one of the highest honors in Otolaryngology.