Our Faculty

Dr. Saral 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.  Now at Yale, he currently 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 continued to receive teaching and clinical accolades from within the Institution and beyond.  He is proud to be part of an incredible Head and Neck Disease team at Yale delivering cutting edge multi-disciplinary care to patients far and wide.Learn more about Dr. Mehra>>Dr. Mehra’s clinical practice focuses on treating patients with Head and Neck, Salivary, and Thyroid diseases, particularly cancer including 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. Judson is a head and neck surgeon, investigator, educator, and healthcare leader. His previous positions include serving as Program Director of the Yale Otolaryngology Residency and Chief Ambulatory Officer of Smilow Cancer Hospital.   His surgical practice focuses on the treatment of benign and malignant tumors and other surgical disorders of the head and neck. He was the first in New England to perform 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. He is the principal investigator of the Yale Larynx laboratory, which has functioned since 1972, and currently focuses on the role of bile acid reflux in hypopharyngeal carcinogenesis and identifying saliva biomarkers of head and neck cancer. He was an early investigator using large national databases to study uncommon head and neck tumors and address questions about treatment and outcomes of head and neck cancers that have not been assessed through randomized clinical trials.  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. Pai graduated Summa Cum Laude from Dartmouth College with a major in biochemistry and molecular biology. After graduating Dartmouth, she completed the MD/PhD program at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in which she obtained her PhD training in cancer immunology and vaccines. After completing her residency in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, she joined its faculty from 2007-14. Subsequently, she joined the Division of Surgical Oncology in the Department of Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. Her research interests focus on better understanding how human papillomavirus (HPV) can evade the immune system and how to reactivate the host immune response against the virus and its related cancer cells through novel immunotherapeutic strategies. She is recognized both nationally and internationally as an expert in HPV-associated head and neck cancers and cancer immunotherapy. She is leading several clinical immunotherapy trials and has over 80 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

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.

Dr. Zafar Sayed obtained his medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine. During medical school, he was inducted into the national medical honor society Alpha Omega Alpha and served as chapter president. He then went on to complete a residency in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Northwestern University McGaw Medical Center in Chicago, IL. Throughout his residency, he secured several prestigious research awards for work on stem cell regeneration of the inner ear, including from the Triological Society. In 2017, he completed a fellowship in ablative head and neck surgical oncology at the world class Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY. For six years, Dr. Sayed led the head and neck surgical oncology team at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, NE. While there, he served as Director of the multidisciplinary head and neck tumor board and Principal Investigator for the integrated head and neck tumor repository. He was also heavily involved in clinical research and medical student and surgical trainee education as an Assistant Professor. In 2021, Dr. Sayed was appointed Chief of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the Nebraska – Northwest Iowa Veterans Affairs Medical Center. In 2023, Dr. Sayed joined the Yale University faculty at Smilow Cancer Center. He treats a variety of benign and malignant tumors of the head and neck and has specialization in transoral robotic surgery. His clinical practice focuses on the treatment of advanced skin cancers, aerodigestive tract tumors, salivary gland tumors, thyroid disease, and reconstruction with an emphasis on improving function and decreasing patient morbidity. He is an active member of the American Head and Neck Society.

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.