Dr. John Emmett joined Dr. John Shea, Jr., at the SHEA EAR CLINIC in 1976, beginning his medical and surgical career in the treatment of patients who have ear, hearing and balance disorders. Dr. Emmett often chuckles to himself when reflecting back on the road that led him to the SHEA EAR CLINIC. Rather than taking a direct path to the SHEA EAR CLINIC, Dr. Emmett took a meandering course along life's country lanes with stopovers at various universities. These stopovers turned out to be life-changing directions that finally led to the SHEA EAR CLINIC and a fulfilling career of helping in the care of patients who have ear problems.

Dr. John Emmett was born and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was influenced in his high school years by his relatively close proximity to Cape Canaveral during the early space exploration era. Upon graduation from high school, where he served as president of his senior class, Dr. Emmett entered Georgia Tech with a major in aerospace engineering. After serveral years of study in the engineering curriculum, Dr. Emmett realized that he was much more interested in life sciences than he was in the more abstract details involved in aerospace engineering. He changed his major to applied biology, graduating from Georgia Tech with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1965. Dr. Emmett was offered numerous graduate fellowships and elected to accept a graduate fellowship / teaching position at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. It was during this graduate study in biochemistry and physiology that Dr. Emmett decided to pursue a career in medicine.

Dr. Emmett began his medical career at The George Washington University, D.C., in 1966, where he continued to simultaneously work toward his master's degree of science at Baylor University, a degree that was awarded to him in 1968. While a medical student at The George Washington University, Dr. Emmett established himself as a student leader by serving as vice president of his freshman class and president of his sophomore, junior and senior class.

Yet another chapter of Dr. Emmett's life was opened when he received his medical degree in 1970. Dr. Emmett received the Hoffman LaRoche Award (highest award given at graduation) and the Alexander A. Horwitz Award for excellence in surgery. Dr. Emmett laughingly recalls that, just as he was influenced during his high school years by the rockets he watched in the night skies of Florida, a lecture to his medical school by Dr. Christiaan Barnard influenced Dr. Emmett's next career choice. Dr. Barnard had just successfully performed the first heart transplant, leading Dr. Emmett to think about becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon. Dr. Emmett applied for, and was fortunate enough to be given, a position in the prestigious cardiothoracic surgery program at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. During his two years of surgery training at Duke University, l rotated through a number of surgical subspecialties and became very interested in head and neck surgery. This led to his move (eight miles down the road) to the University of North Caroline at Chapel Hill where he completed his third year of general surgery and three years of specialized training in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery. It was during his otolaryngology training that he was exposed to ear surgery and performed his first microsurgical procedure on the ear using an operating microscope. As Dr. Emmett puts it, "From that moment on, I was `hooked' on the microsurgical techniques involved in surgery of the ear."

It was during those early, exciting years of his ear surgery training that Dr. Emmett struck up a long-distance "pen pal" association with Dr. John Shea, Jr., who would ultimately become his master teacher in the art and science of the care of patients with ear, hearing and balance problems. The association proved to be a unique learning opportunity for Dr. Emmett because Dr. Shea, Jr., is considered by most colleagues worldwide to be the "father of modern ear surgery." At Dr. Emmett's request, Dr. Shea, Jr., mailed him a videotape or manuscript describing how to do a certain operation in which Dr. Emmett was being trained. Following two extended visits to the SHEA EAR CLINIC during his otolaryngology reidency, Dr. Emmett was made an offer to join Dr. Shea, Jr., in practice. Dr. Emmett recalls the light-hearted telephone .conversation with his dad when he informed him that, after "bouncing" from his desires to be an astronaut, heart surgeon, and head and neck surgeon, he was going to spend the rest of his life doing ear surgery. His dad replied with the question, "Which ear?"

Dr. Emmett is married and has two daughters, Kathleen and Susan, both of whom have followed him into the medical field. Kathleen graduated from the University of Georgia and is now Head of Development for the Hospice of Palm Beach County, which is the third largest hospice organization in the country. The mission of a hospice is to care for the terminally ill patient. Susan graduated from Princeton University and is now attending medical school. Dr. Emmett has said on numerous occasions that one of the biggest joys in life is to have such a wonderful and loving family.

Since joining the SHEA EAR CLINIC, Dr. Emmett has performed over 13,000 major ear operations and has been recongnized both nationally and internationally as one of the foremost ear surgeons of his generation. A summary of his academic career (Curriculum Vitae) is over 50 typewritten pages in length.

He has authored or coauthored over 50 professional articles in refereed medical journals and book chapters. He has been honored by being elected to serve as President of the Memphis Society of OtolarynogologyHead and Neck Surgery and as President of the Tennessee Academy of Otolarynoglogy-Head and Neck Surgery. He has been an officer in numerous national professional organizations, which include Vice President of the Southern Section of The Triological Society and President of the Otosclerosis Study Group. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Deafness Research Foundation and on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the American Tinnitus Association. Dr. Emmett was elected to membership of the prestigious American Otological Society and The Triological Society. Dr. Emmett is the recipient of the Honor Award of the American Academy of Otolarynogology-Head and Neck Surgery for his contributions to the field of otolaryngology. In addition to lecturing nationally and internationally on a regular basis, he considers himself, most of all, a student of otologic surgery. He continues to read, take, as well as teach, continuing education courses, and visit surgeons around the world in his quest to bring home to the patients at the SHEA EAR CLINIC the very latest and finest in the diagnosis and treatment of ear, hearing and balance disorders.

On annual basis for over a decade, Dr. Emmett has been selected by consensus of his peers to be included in The Best Doctors in America listings. Only about 4% of all doctors in the United States are honored in this way by their colleagues as the results of a nationwide survey in which doctors cast more than one million votes.

When Dr. Emmett is asked to sum up his life as an ear surgeon, he is quick to point out that his life as a surgeon in more that the practice of medicine. It is part of his life's ministry. He states, "The biggest privilege and thrill of all is to serve in God's healing ministry."