DOUGLAS DENYS, M.D.

Dr. Denys operating during a relief mission in Kenya, Africa

Dr. Denys is a board certified surgical specialist in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery and is well trained in all aspects of the specialty. He has special interest in surgical treatment of thyroid and parathyroid conditions but also in general pediatric conditions like tonsillectomy.

After a student completes medical school, they must complete an accredited internship in general surgery and then a residency training program in Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose, Throat). Otolaryngology is an interesting field of medicine which includes both medical and surgical care for all ages and for a wide variety of conditions. Compared to other specialties there are fewer training programs and available spots because a large population base is required in order to gain sufficient training to develop a high level of skill in the specialty; this has made ENT surgery a competitive field and typically only a select group of the top medical students are able to match into a residency each year. Most training programs include a year of general surgery and the doctor rotates through several surgical specialties.

Dr. Denys completed his internship in general surgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. During this time he trained in trauma care at one of the busiest trauma centers in the country, critical care, plastic surgery, neurosurgery, general surgery, pediatric surgery at both LeBoneur's Children's Hospital and at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, endoscopy, cardiac surgery, and the regional burn center. This was an extremely busy program and was a regional center for health care, providing service to West Tennessee, Northern Mississippi, East Arkansas, South Missouri, and Kentucky. St. Jude Children's Hospital had a worldwide patient draw for the most advanced and rare cancer types. This program included training at a University Hospital, a tertiary care burn center, a tertiary care trauma center, A Veterans' Administration Hospital, A regional pediatric hospital similar but larger than Primary Children's Hospital, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, two private hospitals: Baptist Memorial (once the largest Hospital in the country and where Elvis Presley died), Methodist Hospital which was another huge free standing hospital, a Plastic Surgical Institute, and the renowned Shea Ear Clinic.

To become board eligible, an ENT surgeon must complete a residency and pass a written and an oral compitency test and show that they have done a sufficient number of surgical cases in all aspects of the field. Most residency programs require four years after internship year. Dr. Denys program was geared toward academic training and required five years of training after internship for a total of six years-the same as neurosurgery. For the last year, Dr. Denys was chosen to be chief resident and he was able to choose which surgical cases and conditions he wanted to focus on. He was able to gain considerable experience in head and neck surgery including thyroid and parathyroid surgery during this time and log many more surgical cases than most residents who graduated from other residency programs. He also gained experience in cosmetic and reconstructive facial plastic surgery repairing patients with facial injuries and was invited to go to the Philippines to perform cleft lip and palate surgery. Dr. Denys passed the board national board certification exam and recorded the highest yearly board scores in his program every year for six years. He has maintained continuing education in excess of the required hours every year since finishing training. He has chosen not to offer certain special treatments like allergy testing and dizziness, as he prefers to fous on the more surgical aspect of the specialty.

Since he began private practice, Dr. Denys has continued to perform head and neck surgery at the American Fork Hospital and was the first to offer advanced head and neck cases. He has shown dedication to the field and has become a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He is the only surgeon to perform endoscopic thyroid surgery and the only surgeon so far at American Fork Hospital to use radio-guided probe surgery for parathyroid surgery. He has consistently performed more thyroid cases than any other surgeon at the American Fork Hospital.

A sculpture chiseled out of raw marble by Dr. Denys

It is often difficult to know who you should choose to perform your surgery as real risks are present and the more experience a surgeon has with your condition, the lower the chance you will have a complication. It may also make a difference between a case that takes two hours and five hours. The true information about your surgeon may not be available to you or the person referring you may not really know. In the modern day when doctors refer to other doctors for no other reason than they are partners in the same group or because they receive a financial incentive to do so, it has become tougher as a patient to know what to do. Dr. Denys has performed many cases, has consistently performed many cases during training and for over ten years in Utah County, and has a special interest in thyroid an parathyroid conditions. He is in solo practice and receives many of his patients from his previous patients who have had good outcomes, surgical hospital staff, and other physicians who are part of typical "self referral multi-specialty groups". You have a choice and you may have surgery by any surgeon of your choice. Dr. Denys is a member of almost every insurance plan and still cares for medicare and medicaid patients.

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