L. Frederick Lassen, MD, Medical Director

Dr. Lassen graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in chemistry and earned his medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. He completed a residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at San Diego Naval Hospital and a fellowship in Otology-Neurotology at the University of Pittsburgh. He is Board Certified in Otolaryngology.

Dr. Lassen retired from the U.S. Navy in 2005 with the rank of Captain. His most recent assignment was at the Naval Regional Medical Center, Portsmouth, Virginia, where he served as the Otolaryngology Department Chairman, ENT Residency Program Director, and Director of Surgery. While in the Navy, he pioneered many new and innovative operative procedures for patients with hearing disorders including the first adult and pediatric cochlear implants in a military hospital, the first bone-anchored hearing device (BAHA®), and the first implantable middle ear hearing device (Vibrant Soundbridge®) done in the United States after FDA approval.

Dr. Lassen is an experienced clinician and physician educator. He has been an Oral Examiner for the American Board of Otolaryngology and past-President of the Virginia Society of Otolaryngology and currently serves on that Society's Board of Directors as its Legislative Representative. He is a Consultant to the American Academy of Otolaryngology's Implantable Hearing Devices Committee. Dr. Lassen has authored and co-authored many scientific papers, book chapters, and research protocols and continues to participate in clinical research through the "BEST ENT Network," a practice-based clinical research network of ENT physicians as well as industry-sponsored balance therapy research. He is an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Eastern Virginia Medical School.