get ORs equipped with the instruments he needed for procedures .
“ It made it tough . Being the new person , I had to be able to explain what I did , what I needed and what I was trying to accomplish .”
Dr . Higgins joined Kentuckiana ENT right away when he moved back and hasn ’ t looked back since . He splits his time between clinic and surgery and of course , the administrative duties . His surgeries are typically out of the Surgecenter of Louisville and Norton Brownsboro Hospital , doing a variety of procedures from sinus surgery to tumor removals .
Recently , Kentuckiana ENT has grown and become a part of ENT Care Centers , of which Dr . Higgins is President and Chairman of the Board .
“ It ’ s a collaboration of four ENT groups and 12 physicians in Louisville and Indiana . Each entity will retain its name , but they are now a division of ENT Care Centers .”
Because of his lifelong interest in research , his current practice has developed a clinical research program . Dr . Higgins serves as the Vice President and Clinical Research Medical Director . They do clinical trials and research , some in collaboration with the UofL
DR . WHO
School of Medicine and other institutions . They also participate in randomized controlled trials in different phases of various ENT conditions such as sinusitis , hearing loss and tinnitus .
“ Innovation and research are so important . As I ’ ve gone through life , I ’ ve always asked how I can improve myself or what I don ’ t know . If there ’ s something I don ’ t know , I try to find the answer . That ’ s what leads me to the research .”
In conjunction with research is his role as Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at UofL School of Medicine , allowing students to train alongside him and participate in ongoing research efforts .
He currently serves on the Greater Louisville Medical Society Board of Governors as Treasurer and is the Chair of the Policy & Advocacy Committee . Organized medicine is something he ’ s passionate about , largely because of the collaboration it allows between specialties .
Within the last few years , Dr . Higgins has worked with a group of ENTs and allergists from around the country to develop a nonprofit organization called the Snot Force Alliance . “ Yes , you heard
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