Morning Session 1

Saied Ghadersohi MD FACS is a Pediatric Otolaryngologist at Lurie Children’s and an Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He serves as the Director of the Complex Sleep Program and the Director of Resident Education at Lurie Children’s for all rotating otolaryngology residents.

After completing his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences, and Pharmacology and Toxicology at the State University of New York at Buffalo, he then completed his medical degree at the State University at Buffalo – Jacob’s School of Medicine, where he graduated summa cum laude. He then completed his residency training in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Northwestern University and fellowship training in Pediatric Otolaryngology at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, CO. He began at Lurie Children’s in 2020 where his clinical and research focus is on pediatric airway disease including obstructive sleep apnea and voice disorders, pediatric cleft and craniofacial disorders, velopharyngeal insufficiency, pediatric otology, and chronic sinonasal disorders.

Dr. Ghadersohi sees the patients at Lurie Children’s main location and Lurie Children’s Outpatient Center in New Lenox.

Dr. Dana Thompson is the Lauren D. Holinger Professor Chair of Pediatric Otolaryngology at Lurie Children’s and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She has held faculty positions at premier institutions including the Mayo Clinic and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine/Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. In 2011 she achieved the academic rank of Professor, making her the first African American woman professor in the specialty of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery in the United States. The leadership journey navigating a career as an underrepresented woman of color in surgery has driven her to become a thought leader in areas of conscious and unconscious bias and impact in health care delivery.

She has a unique hybrid of expertise in the surgical treatment and management of airway, voice, and swallowing disorders for infants, children, and adults. Her other clinical interests include Infant Apnea, Airway and Extraesophageal Manifestations of GERD, Aerodigestive Manifestations of Eosinophilic Esophagitis, Oropharyngeal Swallowing, Airway Protection, Neurolaryngology, and Laryngomalacia. She brings 24 years of experience as an internationally recognized airway surgeon and leader in aerodigestive medicine. The collective research contributions in laryngomalacia have influenced the surgical and medical management of the disease and she is considered one of the world’s authorities on the topic. She received the prestigious Mosher Award from the Triological Society for excellence in clinical research for her seminal work elucidating the etiology of Laryngomalacia. She has published over 100 scientific articles and 15 book chapters.

Dr. Thompson sees patients at Lurie Children’s main location and Lurie Children’s Outpatient Center in Lincoln Park (Clark/Deming).

Dr. Inbal Hazkani BenDror is a pediatric otolaryngologist at Lurie Children’s and an Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She completed her medical degree at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, and a residency training in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Meir Medical Center/ Tel Aviv University in Israel.

She then pursued a two-year NIH-funded fellowship in the Carolina Cancer and Nanotechnology Training Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where her research focused on nanocarriers for the aerodigestive tract. She completed a pediatric otolaryngology fellowship training at Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA, and an additional two years of research-clinical pediatric otolaryngology fellowship at Lurie Children’s where then in 2023 she joined as a physician-scientist, where her clinical and research interests focus on pediatric airway disease, dysphagia, and sleep-disordered breathing disorders.

Dr. Hazkani BenDror sees patients at Lurie Children’s main location.

Dr. Stephen Hoff is a pediatric otolaryngologist with a practice focus on pediatric otology.  He specializes in surgical treatment of hearing loss and ear issues in children, including cochlear implantation, cholesteatoma, congenital and acquired hearing loss, microtia and ear malformations, and tympanic perforations.  He has expertise in microscopic and endoscopic surgical techniques. 

Dr. Hoff is an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and an attending pediatric otolaryngologist at Lurie Children’s. He completed a pediatric otolaryngology fellowship at Stanford University and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Pediatrics. He has received multiple teaching awards from Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine.  He is an avid mountain biker and downhill skier and loves spending time with his own three children. 

Dr. Hoff sees the patients at Lurie Children’s main locations, Lurie Children’s Outpatient Center in Westchester, and Lurie Children’s Outpatient Center in New Lenox.