 I'm Dr. Bert O'Malley and welcome to this ribbon-cutting virtual event. I wish we could all be there in person, but one day and shortly this will happen. As some of you know, I was chief of ENT of the department at that time of division of otorhinolaryngology head neck surgery over 20 years ago. I actually came to Maryland in 1999 as the chief and left in 2003. A lot has happened since my time away. I've seen the department grow tremendously to the leadership transition with Dr. Strom and colleagues to now Dr. Taylor at the helm. The department has grown clinically, scientifically, has grown on a local, regional and national level, and I couldn't be more excited to be back as now a member of the team and as president and CEO of the medical center to build even a further collaboration and success across the ENT program and other programs within our institution. In seeing the growth of the department, one thing I did realize when I came back is that the physical plan hadn't changed that much. I think I remember the same, I asked Dr. Taylor, I said, isn't this the same or aren't these the same colors that were in the clinic and on the paint on the walls 20 years ago and well kept up nicely. There was some need for updating clearly and Dr. Taylor corroborated that finding. So I think and we all felt Dr. Taylor leading the way with his team that the clinic needed an update. The patient care facilities needed to be at the level of the success of the department and the services being provided and it was time for an update. So I'm very excited that this renovation occurred and bringing new state-of-the-art facilities to build upon the state-of-the-art program in ENT that exists. So I'm excited to be part of this. I'm excited to see this growth in the department and also now to introduce Dr. Taylor. Dr. Taylor is our professor and chair and someone I think he came in 2001 as my third hire when I was chief. But I'll let Dr. Taylor and Dr. Wolfe duke it out of it to figure out who actually was the third hire. But regardless the great team we had then and now the even greater team that's been recruited and the leadership complement that exists in the department has brought this this entire program to a whole another level. So Dr. Taylor Harvard Medical School grad Michigan residency and fellowship and an MPH as well over the time. It's great to have you at the helm. I'm happy that you are my chair and I look forward to your comments to follow here. So thank you everyone. Here's to Dr. Taylor for his comments. I'm very excited to welcome you to the Odle-Rhinolaryngology new renovated clinical space and I'm excited for a number of reasons. This has been a core example how a department in our hospital can come together really for the purpose of providing service to our patients and we're pleased to see over 15,000 patients on an annual basis. The thing that has me most excited is that this new renovated space allows us to provide a service for our patients in a way that is enhanced and will improve the patient experience and the way we were not able to before. Moreover it'll give our providers an additional improved quality of life to be able to do the services that we've come here to do and that is to take care of patients. Before we were able to see patients in six clinical rooms. We've been able to add an additional seven and improve other areas that provide better patient safety and privacy and better and faster care. So we're hopeful that our patients who come to the University of Maryland to have an experience for whatever their clinical need is around Odle-Rhinolaryngology will not only have the very best quality of service that we've always provided but that their experience and their journey through our organization will be of the finest quality that they can have and in a way that we have not been able to provide before. In this new space we are able to have not only the first-ever allergy clinic for adults but we're able to provide services for kids to geriatrics. We're also pleased that we've had the generous donation of a family that's near and dear to our department the climbing family dedicate the waiting room in our new renovated space. We couldn't be more excited to have patients to continue to flow into our building and get the care that they need in a way that is going to be in a state-of-the-art space that they can enjoy the care that they get and so welcome come one come all thank you very much we're excited to welcome you in to the department of Odle-Rhinolaryngology new renovated clinical space this is new state-of-the-art space that we've been very excited to conceptualize and bring to reality what it will do is it'll allow us to not only see patients with decreased waiting times but we'll be able to make sure that the patient's journey and experience when they come to see the physician is better and I'd like to show you the space we've been very thankful to have the generosity of the climbing family to actually dedicate the waiting room in this new clinical space and their generous gift will not only allow us to see this project through but it will also help with new state-of-the-art equipment that is needed as we continue to provide care and new technologies become available the room that we're going to see at this time actually is designed to be able to tolerate a patient who might not be ambulatory who might need to be on a stretcher and they still need acute and important odle-hinolaryngology care and the kinds of procedures and patients that we'll see in this room include patients with diseases of the sinuses pediatric ear nose and throat conditions as well as otology which is really the care of specifically hearing diseases and related issues and with the microscopes that we have we're able to have the ability to do procedures that often would need to be done in the operating room and we'll be able to facilitate that same kind of care right here again in a patient-centered way additionally we have mobile units in the space that allow us to do endoscopy minimally invasive diagnostics and the other important procedures that allow patients to be able to have enhanced quality of life from your nose and throat standpoint in the new renovated space we've added on an additional six rooms where we can see patients primarily for any kind of ear nose and throat problem we have state-of-the-art cleaning facilities to be able to clean instruments that are being used on a daily basis and of course we have computers and nurses station in this area to be able to access the important details and material that we need to give comprehensive care to patients another area that i'm very excited about and it is the first adult allergy service that is provided at the University of Maryland and it is done through the department of otorhinolaryngology and so whether or not you need allergy testing or allergy shots it can be done in our renovated state-of-the-art space patients also will be able to be treated for conditions like penicillin allergies to be desensitized this is a service that was not able to be provided and with global warming and increase allergens allergies are going to be continued to be something that we need to provide care for this is one of the rooms that actually a person would come to be diagnosed and see what allergies they might have environmental allergies and then once having made the diagnosis we can design a treatment plan that allows them to have immunotherapy so that ultimately even the goal is that they will be able to get off of all allergy medications and be able to have an allergy free existence if you will so this is the first again adult service for allergies that we've been able to have at the University of Maryland and we're excited about that so we will now be able to increase our throughput to see patients with this renovated space by over 100 percent and what that does for the patient experience it allows them to be able to come and have an ear nose and throat appointment sooner and while they're here they're able to be able to have a more facile journey through so shorter wait times and so forth so we're excited for what it's going to be able to do for the patient experience and also for our providers and staff it allows us to be able to kind of depressurize the experience and will and really focus on every patient who comes through our doors and so um we're uh also uh having growth in our faculty and so to be able to accommodate all the subspecialties of otolaryngology and to be able to do it in a way that is great for the patients we couldn't be more thrilled about that