Peter G. Volsky, MD, FACS
Assistant Professor, Otology, Neurotology, and Skull Base Surgery
Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Eastern Virginia Medical School
As Dr. Peter Volsky embraces advances for otology and neurotology patients of all ages, he also is helping shape the next generation of ENT specialists by investigating the best methods to teach complex surgical techniques.
An Assistant Professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS), Dr. Volsky is a skilled provider, head of otology curriculum development, and a presenter at regional, national, and international conferences. He volunteers as a Sentara Ambulatory Care Center provider and in Honduras, where EVMS has provided ENT care internationally for over a decade.
“Hearing and balance are things that most people take for granted,” he notes. “Yet when there’s a problem, it really impacts quality of life. It’s an honor to have an opportunity to help these patients on their journey.”
In one of his areas of expertise, cochlear implants, Dr. Volsky has been an early adopter of patient-specific surgery as part of the institution’s Cochlear Implant Program. This emerging approach combines visualization tools and detailed mapping data on each patient’s unique cochlea to tailor-fit electrodes.
By aligning the insertion angle based on cochlea depth and regions of residual hearing, the goal is to preserve critical structures and improve patient outcomes. “We’re still studying if this method is superior over the long term,” Dr. Volsky cautions. “Anecdotally, however, I have seen patients experience rapid rehabilitation progress. It looks very positive.”
Future advances might include robot-assisted electrode insertion, intra-operative auditory monitoring and/or medication-delivery devices, he adds.
As Course Designer for EVMS Otology Conferences, Dr. Volsky has presented locally on topics such as vestibular schwannoma management and cochlear implantation in older adults. The conferences encourage multi-disciplinary engagement and occur monthly, with in-person and virtual options for interested community providers to participate.
Selected for Alpha Omega Alpha membership as a faculty inductee this year, Dr. Volsky is a popular instructor and mentor whose work has included clinical trials on medications for hearing loss.
This past May, Dr. Volsky presented the results of a systematic review and comparative analysis at the 9th Quadrennial Conference on Vestibular Schwannoma and other CPA Tumors, an international symposium. As the senior author of the work, Dr. Volsky led a collaboration between investigators at EVMS and University Health Network in Toronto. His mentee and first author of the work matched to an otolaryngology residency this year.
Dr. Volsky’s students presented posters on the same topic, along with a second poster on Dizziness and Vestibular Disease in the Tidewater region, at the American Otologic Society/Combined Otolaryngology Spring Meetings in Boston.
In practice at EVMS Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeons, Dr. Volsky delights in seeing patients who have gained hearing: “You can have conversations. They tell me about the new sounds they can hear and how they can talk to their families. That’s priceless.”
A Miami native, Dr. Volsky majored in History with honors at Duke University and graduated from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He completed his residency at EVMS and a fellowship in Otology and Neurotology at Pittsburgh Ear Associates.
Dr. Volsky spent five years as a sub-specialist in private practice in Florida and joined EVMS in 2020 to pursue teaching and research. He and his wife, a Hampton Roads native, have four children; he also is pursuing pilot training in his off hours.
Quick to credit his EVMS colleagues for their ongoing support and expertise, Dr. Volsky enjoys collaborating with specialists outside his department on multi-disciplinary patient cases, with an emphasis on vestibular schwannoma and skull base tumors.
“I work with really great people, and I love watching residents’ skills develop in real time,” he says. “I’m grateful to be part of such a strong team.”
