Yelizaveta (Lisa) Shnayder, MD, FACS

Yelizaveta (Lisa) Shnayder, MD, FACS is Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology --Head and Neck Surgery and Douglas A. Girod Endowed Professor of Head and Neck Oncology at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

Dr. Shnayder started her seven-year-long medical education in Odessa, Ukraine, which was interrupted after 3 years by immigration to New York City. She later graduated summa cum laude from Brooklyn College (CUNY) with a B.S. in Biology. Dr. Shnayder obtained her medical degree at the New York University School of Medicine, where she was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. She trained in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the New York University School of Medicine, where she received Resident Research Awards for two consecutive years, then completed a Head and Neck Oncology and Microvascular Reconstruction fellowship at the University of Miami, having also received a Fellow Research Award at graduation.

Dr. Lisa Shnayder joined the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Kansas in 2006 as an Assistant Professor. She was actively involved in developing a fellowship in Head and Neck Oncology and Microvascular Reconstruction at the University of Kansas, and now serves as its Co-Director. The fellowship training program has been fully accredited by the Advanced Training Council of the American Head and Neck Society since 2009 and accomplished three successful re-accreditation site visits since. Dr. Shnayder also served as an Associate Residency Program Director from 2010 to 2018 and contributed to the program receiving a full 5-year accreditation after a site visit.

Dr. Shnayder has been an active member of the American Head and Neck Society and had served on the Executive Council of the society. She now serves as a Co-Chair of the Mucosal Section and a Chair of the Patient and Public Education Service of the society.

Her clinical interests include head and neck oncologic surgery, microvascular reconstruction, surgical treatment of melanoma, and transoral cancer resections utilizing Da Vinci robotic technology. She has developed a clinical program in Transoral Robotic Surgery at the University of Kansas and founded a Multi-Disciplinary Melanoma Tumor Board at the institution.

Dr. Shnayder's research interests include outcomes in head and neck surgery and microvascular reconstruction, novel drug delivery methods in treating patients with head and neck cancer and radiation induced fibrosis. She was the recipient of the Young Investigator CORE Award jointly sponsored by the American Head and Neck Society and American Academy of Otolaryngology in 2010, for her work investigating cisplatin-hyaluronic acid conjugate in an animal model for head and neck cancer.