Charley C. Della Santina, PhD MD

Professor of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery and Biomedical Engineering

Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery

Division of Otology, Neurotology & Skull Base Surgery

Dr. Della Santina earned his PhD in Bioengineering in 1994 from the University of California at Berkeley and UC San Francisco. While there, he developed and applied micro-machined silicon microelectrodes for chronic single-unit recording from multiple axons in the auditory/vestibular nerve. He earned his MD from the University of California at San Francisco in 1997 and then completed residency training in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he performed post-doctoral research on human vestibular physiology. He later joined the faculty in the department’s Division of Otology, Neurotology & Skull Base Surgery, in which he founded the Johns Hopkins Vestibular NeuroEngineering Laboratory and practices as a board-certified otologist and neurotologist. 

Dr. Della Santina's clinical interests include:

1. Restoration of hearing via cochlear implantation, stapedotomy/stapedectomy, middle ear reconstruction, bone-anchored hearing systems and other implantable devices

2. Management of patients suffering from vestibular disorders including bilateral vestibular sensory loss due to gentamicin and other ototoxic medications, genetic disorders, Meniere's disease, Superior Canal Dehiscence Syndrome, vestibular neuritis, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, and migraine-associated vertigo

3. Management of patients with vestibular schwannoma (acoustic neuroma) and other tumors affecting hearing and vestibular sensation

4. Treatment of otosclerosis, chronic otitis media, tympanic membrane perforation and cholesteatoma

His research, which is funded primarily by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), centers on development of a vestibular implant intended to restore sensation of head movement.  He has also published studies on inner ear physiology and anatomy, development and evaluation of clinical vestibular tests, effects of cochlear implantation on vestibular function, and effects of superior canal dehiscence syndrome and of intratympanic gentamicin therapy.  His notable honors include an American Otological Society Clinician-Scientist Award (2002), the Robert Bárány Society Young Scientist of the Year Award (2004), American Neurotology Society Frank M. Nizer Lectureship (2007), the ENTER Foundation Award for Innovation in Otolaryngology (2008), the ENT-UK Gordon Smyth Lectureship (2008), induction into multiple honorary societies (including the American Otological Society, American Neurotology Society and Barany Society), and the Association for Research in Otolaryngology Clinical Innovator Award (2021).

For an appointment with Dr. Della Santina, please contact his medical office at the following address:

Charles C. Della Santina PhD MD

Division of Otology, Neurotology & Skull Base Surgery

Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery

Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center

601 N. Caroline Street, Suite 6253

Baltimore, MD 21287-0910

410-502-7909

For an up to the minute PubMed listing of Dr. Della Santina's publications, click here.