| Meet
the Staff
Robert W. Bastian,
M.D.
 Dr.
Bastian is a Board Certified Otolaryngologist (Ear, Nose,
and Throat physician) who has practiced Laryngology exclusively
since 1987. He is an internationally-recognized authority
in the treatment of voice, airway, and swallowing disorders,
having been invited to teach in university and professional
society contexts in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Ireland, France,
Belgium, and Turkey. He has been listed by Chicago
magazine as one of “Chicago’s Top Doctors,”
and by Castle-Connolly as one of “America’s Top
Doctors.” He is also the recipient of the Honor Award
for teaching contributions to the American Academy of Otolaryngology.
Known for his concern for patients, Dr.
Bastian has developed and directed multidisciplinary teams
to consider patient disorders from three perspectives: behavioral,
medical, and surgical. In all of Dr. Bastian’s own professional
activities, whether consulting, operating, treating, researching,
writing, presenting, or training, patients come first.
He was arguably the first in North America to consistently
put forward the voice-restoring possibilities of vocal fold
microsurgery in singers with otherwise irreversible disorders,
at a time when this sort of surgery was widely perceived –
even condemned – as unsafe to the voice in that population.
To date, he has one of the premier North American experiences
with this surgery, having operated on an estimated 600 singers
with diverse problems, not to mention thousands of non-singers.
Beginning in 1983, through his many lectures,
later through courses taught at the American Academy of Otolaryngology,
and his hosting of numerous visitors to his practice, Dr.
Bastian is also considered by many to be the North American
leader and catalyst for the current return of office-based
surgery (e.g. biopsy and injection) of the larynx and pharynx
as a cost-effective, efficient, and safe alternative to surgery
in the operating room under general anesthesia.
Widely known for his work with swallowng disorders, Dr. Bastian
independently developed a comprehensive and often stand-alone
method of swallowing evaluation called the videoendoscopic
swallowing disorder (VESS).
For a particular swallowing disorder called
cricopharyngeus dysfunction, Dr. Bastian has been in the vanguard
in the Midwest of the trend to utilize through-the-mouth laser
surgery rather than traditional surgery through a neck incision.
The caseload he shares with Dr. Richardson is believed to
be the largest series in the Chicago metro area.
Dr. Bastian’s reputation is also based on his noteworthy
experience in several additional areas:
- Larynx cancer surgery, both traditional
and endoscopic (laser).
- Spasmodic dysphonia – with a
lifetime caseload of approximately 1300 patients with this
rare disorder, one of the world’s largest series.
- Vocal fold paralysis (an estimated
500 operated on for this condition to date).
- Non-organic voice disorders.
Dr. Bastian was trained in medicine and
surgery at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis,
Missouri. His mentor there was Dr. Joseph Ogura, the world-famous
pioneer of conservation laryngeal cancer surgery. Prior to
forming BVI, Dr. Bastian completed a highly successful twenty-year
academic medical career first at Washington University, St.
Louis, and then at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood,
Illinois. During his 16 years at Loyola he trained numerous
residents and medical students as well as fellows and visiting
physicians and speech pathologists from many countries.
Dr. Bastian’s passionate interest in the voice flows
directly from his own singing training and experience. He
studied singing with James Wilson, Greenville College; Dale
Moore, Southern Illinois University and Washington University;
Edmund LeRoy of Conservatory and Schools for the Arts, St.
Louis; and Edward Zambara, at the same institution. A subset
of his patients are singers, from the worlds of both opera/classical
and popular music.
Dr. Bastian’s
Curriculum Vitae 
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