William Baber

M B, Ch B. FRCS, FRACS
The Hearing Research Foundation, Auckland, NZ

I qualified M B, Ch B in 1968 in Otago and did my postgraduate Fellowship in ORL Surgery at The Royal National Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, Gray’s Inn Road, London under Professor Harrison. I returned to Auckland in 1974, obtained the FRACS and then completed a travelling Fellowship in Neuro-Otology  in Denver and Los Angeles.
 
In Auckland in 1984, with Dr Christopher Furneaux, Neurosurgeon,  we pioneered, in NZ, the translabyrinthine approach for the removal of vestibular schwannomas. In 1986, with the backing of the Deafness Research Foundation, I placed the first cochlear implant in NZ, working with Dr Ron Goodey.
 
I became Clinical Director of ORL at WDHB in 1998 until 2016. I have been a trustee with the DRF, now the Hearing Research Foundation, since 1980 and on the board of the Northern Cochlear Implant Trust since its inception. I was President of NZSOHNS 2008/9 and have been the academic convenor for several NZ conferences.
 
I have presented numerous papers on otologic matters at meetings both in NZ and overseas, making many friends of my otologic colleagues, both local and international, many of whom I have been privileged to work with.
 
Cochlear implant surgery has been enormously rewarding for the positive effect it has on people’s lives and I count myself incredibly lucky to have been given the opportunity to be part of the program in NZ, both professionally and in management. It is also very rewarding to watch the younger generations of surgeons come through with wonderful skills and knowledge that further promote our understanding and treatment of hearing loss and balance disturbance.

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