Professor receives presidential citation

November 25, 2014 | News, Research, UToday, Medicine and Life Sciences
By Samantha Watson



Dr. Reginald F. Baugh has dedicated his life’s work to improving the field of otolaryngology, and he recently was awarded for his contributions.

Dr. Reginald Baugh, right, received a presidential citation from Dr. Richard Waguespack, who was president of the American Academy of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery at the annual meeting in September. This photo is copyright 2014 by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation.

Dr. Reginald Baugh, right, received a presidential citation from Dr. Richard Waguespack, who was president of the American Academy of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery at the annual meeting in September. This photo is copyright 2014 by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation.

“It’s actually very humbling to receive such a recognition from your peers that think your efforts made a difference,” Baugh said. “Certainly I thought they did; that’s why I continued to invest my time over the years.”

Baugh, UT professor of otolaryngology, was awarded a presidential citation at the annual meeting for the American Academy of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery. It is the largest meeting for otolaryngology in the world with 12,000 attending from all over the globe.

Though Baugh has retired from performing surgeries, he continues to teach and create guidelines for the profession. His mission is to improve the quality of care and patient safety.

He has been involved with quality improvement and patient safety efforts with the American Academy of Otolaryngology for most of the last 20 years. He chaired the tonsillectomy guidelines for the organization as well as the Bell’s palsy guidelines, and co-chaired the guidelines for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

All of the guidelines are multidisciplinary and include the best treatments. Unlike many others, the guidelines he writes include what doctors should not do, rather than just what they should.

“Whether they recognized me or not, I would have done the same thing if I had to do it all over again,” Baugh said. “But it was nice to be recognized. It was very humbling.”

Going forward, Baugh is working on a patent for a machine to help patients with mechanical receptor sensitivity. He also is planning to study tonsillectomies because they have a one in 15,000 mortality rate and he feels that he can help prevent 20 to 30 of those deaths per year.

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