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Otoneurologist Dr. Jennifer Smullen completed a fellowship in Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery at the University of Miami. She decided to abandon the tropical weather and brave long Boston winters when she joined the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) two years ago. Part of MEEI’s motto is “That the deaf may hear,” and Dr. Smullen’s passion for the cochlear implant — an electronic device that provides sound perception to patients with severe hearing loss — is part of what brought her to the hospital. Her professional interests include clinical research into the benefits of bilateral cochlear implants, a surgery during which a device is implanted in each ear, with the goal of providing the most normal hearing experience. “With cochlear implants it can be possible for patients to have their hearing restored in a very short period of time,” says Dr. Smullen. “In this way, cochlear implants can change people’s lives,” she says.
As an otoneurologist, Dr. Smullen treats common ailments, such as ear infections and hearing loss, and other conditions that many people have not heard about, such as cholesteatomas (skin-like tissue growing in the inner ear) and acoustic neuromas (skull-base tumors). She also performs complex surgical procedures, including cochlear implant surgery.
Dr. Smullen is also one of the doctors at the hospital who is certified to run the Norman Knight Hyperbaric Medicine Center, which was the first in Massachusetts to offer hyperbaric medicine treatment in a hospital setting. The Center treats patients for carbon monoxide poisoning, and for decompression sickness from diving, also know as “the bends.” Hyperbaric medicine also promotes faster wound healing.
An avid scuba diver herself, Dr. Smullen enjoys treating patients, who also like to dive, for diving-related ear injuries. “Treating each patient is rewarding, and treating patients with whom I have something in common serves as a distinct reminder that I chose my medial specialty because it has the potential to make a huge improvement in people’s lives,” she says.
As a physician at MEEI, a teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School, Dr. Smullen has the opportunity to pass on her knowledge of her specialty. She teaches medical students as well as resident physicians at all levels. “I love teaching because it ‘keeps you fresh,’” she says. “You’re dealing with intelligent and talented students. When I’m teaching, it requires me to provide detailed medical instruction to students based on the most current research. I have to be able to justify what I do.”
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