C. Gaelyn Garrett, M.D.

Assistant Professor
The Vanderbilt Voice Center
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Department of Otolaryngology

The Voice Doctor

Dr. Garrett is a clinical doctor, a surgeon, a researcher, and a teacher. She treats patients in the Voice Center, performs surgery, does research, and instructs medical students. The patients she sees at the voice center vary from singers to other professional voice users, which include teachers, lawyers, and receptionists. Her research is about how to use laser technology to treat voice and airway problems.

Wow! Look at the Vocal Chords

A: Part of the evaluation of a voice patient is looking at the vocal cords. If you are just looking in someone's mouth and have them say "Ah" you will not see the vocal cords. We have fiber optic technology where we can use flexible and rigid telescopes to look at the vocal cords without discomfort. It gives us a video picture which we can look at together. The instrument you see is a laryngeal video stroboscope. The video part is obvious. In the strobe portion, we have patients hold a stethoscope bell on to their necks. As they say "eeee," the microphone picks up their voice frequency. When we synchronize a flashing light with their voice frequency, it gives us a pseudo-slow motion view of the vocal cords vibrating. It is one of our main diagnostic tools for voice problems. We also use it before and after operations to see how patients are progressing.

Choosing Medicine as a Career

Q: Why did you choose medicine as a career?

A: I am the only one in my family in a science-oriented field. I don't come from a medical family background. I have always enjoyed problem solving, especially non-abstract problem solving. When I was growing up, I helped my Dad fix the car. I always built models with my brother, ship models and things like that. I have also been involved in sports. I have always been a "doer," an activity-oriented person. When I went to high school, the sciences were more interesting to me. I wanted to put that to work in a people-oriented field. If you can enjoy what you are doing and help people at the same time, that is ideal.

Q: Did you know you wanted to be a doctor when you left high school?

A: I have been asked that many times. It seemed like a natural progression for me. When I went to college I immediately geared my curriculum towards medical school. I just never wavered from that. Fortunately I made it through freshman chemistry, the "weed-out" course, and here I am.

Q: What about women going into medicine?

A: I have never come across any problems. In my medical school the enrollment was 50/50 men to women, although more men than women choose surgery as a career. My particular specialty is a wonderful one for women. Fifty percent of my practice is surgery and fifty percent is outpatient medicine. A woman has as much chance of becoming a physician as a man.

Q: What is your education and training?

A: I went to college for 4 years. I got a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry. Then I went to medical school for 4 years. After medical school, I spent 5 years in training as a resident in Otolaryngology, head and neck surgery. I learned to perform many kinds of operations including tonsillectomy, sinus, ear, growths on the vocal chords, and surgery for cancer. When my residency was complete, I was selected for a one-year fellowship at the Voice Center, which completed my training.

Q: Are there other careers at the Voice Center?

A: In the Voice Center we have nurses, speech and language pathologists, voice coaches, audiologists, receptionists, secretaries, and patient technicians. Hearing is important for voice, especially in young children who learn to speak by imitating the voices they hear.

How to Keep A Healthy Voice

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