Richard T. Miyamoto, MD, MS, FACS, FAAP, is the Arilla Spence DeVault Professor Emeritus at Indiana University.  He was Chairman of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery for 27 years (1987-2014).  He is a 1966 graduate of Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois with a B.S. in Chemistry and received his M.D. degree at the University of Michigan in 1970.  Dr. Miyamoto served a straight surgical internship and later was a resident in surgery at Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan from 1970 to 1972.  In 1975, he completed an otolaryngology residency at the Indiana University School Medicine.  After spending two years in the military service as a Major in the United States Air Force Medical Corps, he spent a year with the Otologic Medical Group at St. Vincent Hospital as Fellow in Otology and Neurotology under Dr. Howard House and Dr. William House.  He received an M.S. degree in Otology at the University of Southern California in 1978.  He has been awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology. 

 Dr. Miyamoto was a co-investigator in the first-ever national clinical trial of cochlear implants established by his fellowship mentor, William House.  Dr. Miyamoto performed his first cochlear implant in 1978.  This trial led to the first FDA approval of cochlear implants.  The NIH then supported Dr. Miyamoto’s research with RO1 grants and NIH continued their support of Dr. Miyamoto’s research program for the next 25 years.  Dr. Miyamoto served two separate terms on the NIDCD Advisory Council.  He presented the “NIH Director’s Sixth Astute Clinician Lecture” at the National Institutes of Health Lectureship on November 3, 2003. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Cochlear Implant Alliance in 2021. 

 Dr. Miyamoto was President of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, President of the Association of Academic Departments of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, President of the American Neurotology Society, President of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, and President of the Otosclerosis Study Group.  He was Vice-President of the Triological Society and a trustee of the Bloedel Hearing Research Center at the University of Washington.  He has served on the Advisory Council of the American Otological Society, Chairman of its Research Foundation , and has received the American Otological Society Award of Merit.  Dr. Miyamoto was President of Alpha Omega Alpha of the Indiana Chapter and the Founding Advisory Board Chairman of St. Joseph Institute—Indianapolis.  He had served as an Associate Editor for Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery and also for JARO as well as serving on eight additional editorial boards.  Dr. Miyamoto served as a Director of the American Board of Otolaryngology for 10 years and was certified in Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery and also in Neurotology.  He served for 6 years on the Residency Review Committee.  

 Dr. Miyamoto is a member of several honorific societies:  the Cosmos Club, Alpha Omega Alpha, the Royal Society of Medicine, the Collegium Otorhinolaryngologicum Amicitae Sacrum and the National Academy of Medicine.