A/Prof Ryan Winters

Originally from the United States, Dr Ryan Winters was recruited to Newcastle in 2022, and is now very fortunate to call Newcastle his home. He completed his undergraduate degree in Genetics and Cell Biology via the Honours College at Washington State University, and his medical degree at the University of Vermont (the seventh-oldest medical school in the USA). This was followed by Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery specialty training at Tulane University in New Orleans, the second-oldest training programme in the country, in 2013. He passed his American Board of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery Certification Examination in 2014, and completed a fellowship in Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery and Craniomaxillofacial Surgery at the State University of New York, becoming Board-Certified by the American Board of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery. He then became a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, as well as a Fellow of the American Academy of Paediatrics, and subsequently completed an additional fellowship in Head & Neck Surgical Oncology and Microvascular Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. Since that time, he has focused his practice in three areas: 1) facial plastic and reconstructive surgery, 2) head and neck cancer surgery and major head & neck reconstruction, and 3) paediatric head and neck surgical conditions. Dr Winters achieved Fellowship in the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 2023, one year after migrating permanently to Australia.

Dr Winters is an active surgeon with Mèdecins Sans Frontiéres/Doctors Without Borders, as well as other Non-Governmental Organisations including the United Nations, LIGA International, Mercy Ships, MRDC International, Healing the Children Northeast, Razom Ukraine, and The India Project, Inc., where he serves on the board of directors. He is an internationally-known expert in, and is a sought-after speaker regarding, complex facial reconstruction, cleft lip and palate surgery, management of atypical facial clefts, and the management of facial trauma (both bony fractures and soft-tissue repairs). He has worked in this regard in Mexico, Haiti, Peru, Nigeria, Guinea, India, Ukraine, and South Sudan, always emphasizing building local surgical capacity by partnering with local, in-country, surgeons and physicians, rather than simply operating and leaving after a short time.

Common facial plastic surgery operations performed by Dr Winters include scar revisions, facial bone fracture repairs, functional and aesthetic rhinoplasty, functional and aesthetic blepharoplasty and brow-lifting, facelifts and other aging face surgery, functional and aesthetic otoplasty (ear-pinning surgery), cervical liposuction and fat transfer.  Common head and neck cancers treated by Dr Winters include facial skin cancers (especially those in aesthetically-sensitive areas such as the lips, nose, eyelids, face, neck, and ears), mouth, tongue, gum, sinus, and other oral cavity, and oropharyngeal cancers (Dr Winters performs both trans-oral robotic surgery and trans-oral laser microsurgery), laryngeal cancer (including endoscopic laser, robotic, and partial laryngeal surgery), thyroid and parathyroid cancers and benign diseases, as well as surgery for parotid and salivary gland cancers and masses. Dr Winters also performs both static and dynamic facial reanimation surgery for patients affected by facial nerve paralysis from cancer, trauma, stroke, or other causes. Finally, Dr Winters has a robust paediatric practice, and is passionate about cleft lip and palate and other craniofacial conditions, but also the management of sleep disordered breathing and sleep apnoea in all children, as well as recurrent tonsillitis, recurrent ear infections and speech delay in children, neck masses in children, thyroid and parathyroid masses in children, and (together with his partner, Paediatric Otolaryngologist Dr Niall Jefferson) the management of complex anatomical airway and aerodigestive problems in children.

He maintains active public appointments at the John Hunter Hospital and other public hospitals throughout the local area. He operates privately at Warner’s Bay Private Hospital, Hunter Valley Private Hospital, Newcastle Private Hospital, and Lingard Private Hospital.