Dr. Diaz's clinical focus concerns the treatment of disorders of hearing and balance within the inner ear and skull base, including the management of acoustic neuroma and other tumors of the cerebellopontine angle and lateral skull base; the medical and surgical management of Ménière's Disease; the treatment of sensorineural hearing loss, including cochlear implantation; and the surgical management of superior semicircular canal dehiscence and other anomalies of the otic capsule. His clinical practice also encompasses the treatment of diseases of the middle ear, including surgery for chronic otitis media, cholesteatoma, otosclerosis, acquired and congenital hearing loss, and surgical repair of the tympanic membrane and ossicular chain.

Research/Academic Interests

Dr. Diaz's scientific research has evolved and now focuses on the development of techniques by which the hair cell depleted cochlea can be repopulated by pragmatic and functional hair cell like transplants. He has many clinical research interests spanning a broad range of topics concerning hearing and balance function, including therapeutic trials of pharmacologic tinnitus suppression and management, evaluation of innovative methods of cost-effective ossiculoplasty, and institution wide evaluation of safety and risk factors in general otolaryngological procedures. He also has an interest in the assessment, management, and reduction of educational gaps in otolaryngological training and of the longitudinal correlation of evaluative methods in medical and surgical residency applicants.

Division

Head and Neck Surgery

Undergraduate School

B.A., Astrophysics, UC Berkeley, Berkeley CA 1995

Medical School

M.D., UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento CA 1999

Internship

General Surgery, UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento CA 1999-2000

Residency

Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento CA 2000-2004

Fellowship

Otology, Neurotology, and Skull Base Surgery, Michigan Ear Institute, Farmington Hills MI 2004-2006

Sacramento's Top Doctors, Sacramento Magazine, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2020, 2021

Honors Award, American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Foundation, AAO-HNSF Annual Meeting, 2016

Fellow, American College of Surgeons, ACS Clinical Congress, 2014

Faculty Teaching Award-Resident Graduation, Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, UC Davis Medical Center, 2012

Resident Research Award-Graduation Research Forum, Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, UC Davis Medical Center, 2003

Quesada PR, Solis RN, Ojeaga M, Yang NT, Taylor SL, Diaz RC. Overemphasis of USMLE and Its Potential Impact on Diversity in Otolaryngology. OTO Open. 2021 Jul 20;5(3):2473974X211031470. doi:10.1177/2473974X211031470. eCollection Jul-Sep 2021. PMID:34350370.

Chou DW, Pletcher SD, Bruss D, Sung CK, Diaz RC, Liang J, Durr ML. Otolaryngology Residency Interviews in a Socially Distanced World: Strategies to Recruit and Assess Applicants. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2021 May;164(5):903-908. doi:10.1177/0194599820957961. Epub 2020 Sep 1. PMID:32870721.

Dedhia RD, Chin OY, Kaufman M, Hsieh TY, Diaz RC, Brodie HA, Funamura JL. Predicting complications of pediatric temporal bone fractures. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2020 Nov;138:110358. doi:10.1016/j.ijporl.2020.110358. Epub 2020 Sep 1. PMID:32906079.

Solis RN, Quesada PR, Ma C, Olinde LM, Diaz RC. Applicant-to-Residency Program Communication: Does It Matter? Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 2020 Nov;129(11):1056-1062. doi:10.1177/0003489420928381. Epub 2020 Jun 2. PMID:32483992.

Sagiv D, Chin OY, Diaz RC, Brodie HA. State of the art regeneration of the tympanic membrane. Curr Opin Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2020 Oct;28(5):314-322. doi:10.1097/MOO.0000000000000646. PMID:32796267.

Conley M, Diaz RC. Asymmetric sensorineural hearing loss and vestibular schwannoma: when to image? Curr Opin Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2020 Oct;28(5):335-339. doi:10.1097/MOO.0000000000000661. PMID:32841960.

Quesada PR, Solis RN, Diaz RC, Kraft SM. Otolaryngology Residency Application during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Pandemic. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2020 Jul;163(1):89-90. doi:10.1177/0194599820925037. Epub 2020 May 5. PMID:32366198.

Goodarzi A, Toussi A, Garza N, Lechpammer M, Brodie H, Diaz RC, Shahlaie K. Internal Acoustic Canal Stenosis Due to Hyperostosis. J Neurol Surg B Skull Base. 2020 Jun;81(3):216-222. doi:10.1055/s-0039-1685530. Epub 2019 Apr 22. PMID:32499994.

Chin OY, Diaz RC. State-of-the-art methods in clinical intracochlear drug delivery. Curr Opin Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2019 Oct:27(5):381-386. doi:10.1097/MOO.0000000000000566. PMID:31460985.

O’Brien DC, Robinson AD, Wang N, Diaz R. Transdermal lidocaine as treatment for chronic subjective tinnitus: A pilot study. Am J Otolaryngol. 2019 May-Jun;40(3):413-417. doi:10.1016/j.amjoto.2019.03.009. Epub 2019 Mar 18. PMID:30905472.