Faculty

Dr. Saral Mehra serves as Chief of the Section of Head and Neck Surgery, Director of the Head and Neck Tumor Board, and the Fellowship Director for our Internationally renowned Advanced Training Program in Head and Neck Oncologic and Reconstructive Surgery. He has received teaching and clinical accolades from within the Institution and beyond, including the 2023 Yale Cancer Center Award for Excellence in Clinical Care (awarded to only one-two physicians a year). He is proud to be part of an incredible Head and Neck Tumor Center of Excellence at Yale delivering cutting edge multi-disciplinary care to patients throughout Connecticut and beyond. Learn more about Dr. Mehra>> Dr. Mehra’s clinical practice focuses on treating patients with Head and Neck, Salivary, and Thyroid diseases, particularly tumor and cancer. His expertise also includes advanced reconstruction and rehabilitation. He sees patients with all stages of cancer, from early stage to far advanced and recurrent cancers of the head and neck. He makes use of the latest in minimally invasive techniques such as transoral laser and robotic surgery. He also has special interest in minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment of salivary disease with use of salivary endoscopy. His primary research interests are in measuring and improving the quality of life in patients being treated for head and neck cancers, as well as leveraging his Business education to perform Health Services research with the goal of measuring and thus improving the quality of care delivered to such patients. Dr. Mehra has over 100 peer-reviewed publications, a number of book chapters, and regularly presents original research at National and International meetings. He is an active Member of the American Head and Neck Society. Dr. Mehra earned his Medical Degree from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, and a Masters in Business Administration from Columbia Business School. He then went on to a residency in Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital / Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He completed his training at Mt Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center with a highly coveted Fellowship in Head and Neck and Thyroid Cancer surgery, with further sub-specialization in complex reconstructive surgery including the use of free tissue transfer through state-of the art microvascular surgical techniques. During training, Dr. Mehra was awarded the Department’s research award twice, the Department’s teaching award at his graduation, and the Distinguished House Staff award from New York Hospital.

Dr. Judson is a head and neck surgeon, investigator, and educator, who is passionate about the mission of academic medicine. He previously served as Chief Ambulatory Officer of Smilow Cancer Hospital and Program Director of the Yale Otolaryngology Residency. His surgical practice focuses on the treatment of benign and malignant tumors and other surgical disorders of the head and neck. He was an early adopter of trans oral robotic surgery and specializes in minimally invasive surgical approaches including endoscopic laser and tailored open surgeries. He routinely operates on complex and difficult cases and works with a multidisciplinary team of other surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation doctors, and other specialist providers. As an investigator, Dr. Judson started a tumor biorepository that supports multiple laboratory investigations of head and neck cancer at Yale and other institutions. His recent investigation has been on the role of bile acid reflux in hypopharyngeal carcinogenesis and identifying saliva biomarkers of oral potentially malignant disorders and cancers. He was an early adaptor of using large national databases to study uncommon head and neck tumors. He is Associate Editor of the journal Head & Neck. Dr. Judson attended Middlebury College, obtained a master’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated from Jefferson Medical College. He completed a residency at Georgetown University Hospital in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, and a fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Head and Neck Surgical Oncology. Before working in medicine, he was a Peace Corp Volunteer in Sri Lanka and worked as Assistant Deputy Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. He completed a Master of Business Administration degree at the Yale School of Management in 2022.

Dr. Ansley Roche is an Assistant Professor of Surgery (Otolaryngology) and cares for patients as part of the Head & Neck Cancers Multidisciplinary Clinic at the Smilow Cancer Hospital Care Center in Trumbull, and also in New Haven. Dr. Roche received her undergraduate degree from Columbia College, Columbia University in neuroscience and behavior. She then received her medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine and completed otolaryngology - head and neck surgery residency at Emory University. She completed a fellowship in Head & Neck Microvascular Surgery and Thyroid/Parathyroid Surgery at the Mount Sinai Beth Israel Institute for Head, Neck and Thyroid Cancer.Dr. Roche was previously an Assistant Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Zucker School of Medicine, Northwell Health, and was Director of Head and Neck Cancer at Staten Island University Hospital. Her current research is focused on surgical airway education, functional and survival outcomes in patients with head and neck cancer, and quality improvement in delivery of head and neck cancer care. Dr. Roche utilizes a collaborative approach when caring for patients using the most effective, patient-specific treatment options for benign and malignant diseases affecting the ear, sinuses, larynx, pharynx, oral cavity, thyroid and parathyroid glands, and salivary glands, while emphasizing our organ-sparing mission.

Avanti Verma, MD has returned to Yale after completing her undergraduate studies here. She earned her medical degree from New York University where she also completed her residency training in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. During her residency, she developed an interest in caring for head and neck cancer patients and was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society. She subsequently completed fellowship training in Head and Neck Surgical Oncology with Microvascular Reconstruction at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.Dr. Verma focuses on the surgical treatment of patients with both benign and cancerous tumors of the head and neck, including thyroid and salivary diseases. Her clinical practice ranges from advanced reconstruction to minimally invasive techniques such as robotic surgery. She prioritizes the aesthetic and functional outcomes of her patients.