Hansen to lead Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery

Gantz to remain on faculty and assume new role as special assistant for clinical programs

Marlan Hansen, MD, FACS, has been named chair and departmental executive officer of the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery in the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Hansen’s appointment is effective July 1, pending approval from the Board of Regents, State of Iowa.

Hansen currently is a professor in the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, with a secondary faculty appointment in the Department of Neurosurgery. He also serves as co-director of the Institute of Clinical and Translational Science, and he is a staff physician at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City. Since 2014, he has held the Marvin and Rose Lee Pomerantz Endowed Professorship.

“Dr. Hansen has been an outstanding faculty member here at Iowa—as a clinician, as a researcher, and as an instructor and mentor,” says Brooks Jackson, MD, MBA, UI vice president for medical affairs and the Tyrone D. Artz Dean of the Carver College of Medicine. “I am confident that he will continue to lead and foster a tradition of excellence that has distinguished our otolaryngology department as one of the nation’s best.”

Hansen is a physician-scientist with expertise in skull base surgery and cell and molecular neurobiology. His research interests include basic, translational, and clinical studies related to auditory neurobiology. He and colleagues have explored the response of the auditory nerve to injury as well as its regenerative capacity. As a member of the cochlear implant research team at Iowa, Hansen has studied the benefits of electrical stimulation via cochlear implant electrodes, coupled with acoustic amplification to treat high-frequency hearing loss. In addition to his research and patient care responsibilities, Hansen devotes significant time to teaching—as a lecturer and as a supervisor and mentor to medical students, resident physicians, postdoctoral research fellows, and clinical fellows in neurotology and pediatric otolaryngology.

Hansen earned a medical degree at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He completed residency training in otolaryngology at the UI, where he served as chief resident. He completed a clinical fellowship in neurotology/skull base surgery at the University of Southern California before returning to Iowa to join the Carver College of Medicine faculty in 2003.

Hansen replaces Bruce Gantz, MD, who has served as chair and DEO Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery since 1995. Gantz will continue as a faculty member in the otolaryngology department; he also holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Neurosurgery.

Gantz also will begin a new role with UI Health Care as a special assistant for clinical programs. Reporting to UI Hospitals & Clinics CEO Suresh Gunasekaran, MBA, Gantz will serve as a liaison to clinical department chairs in support of strategic alignment.

Gantz leaves a legacy of excellence across the department, Jackson says.

“Dr. Gantz’s impact at Iowa has been truly remarkable since joining the faculty in the early 1980s and leading the department since the mid-1990s,” Jackson says. “His pioneering work in cochlear implants, his clinical expertise and care in working with patients with hearing disorders and head and neck injuries, and his administrative leadership for nearly 25 years have elevated the department in so many ways. We’re extremely proud of Bruce’s many contributions to the college and the university, and we welcome his perspective and expertise in his new role.”