Visiting Assistant Professor · Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery
Surgeon Informaticist, UI Health · Quality Director, Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery
University of Illinois College of Medicine · UI Health, Chicago
Member, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Emerging Technologies Service, American Head and Neck Society (2026–2029)
Fellowship, Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, Microvascular Reconstruction & Robotic Surgery — University of Pennsylvania
Residency, Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery — Mayo Clinic
MD & PhD in Neuroscience — Thomas Jefferson University
dmerlino@uic.edu · dante.j.merlino@gmail.com · Google Scholar · dantemerlino.github.io
Head and neck surgical oncologist and physician–scientist. My clinical practice covers the surgical management of head and neck malignancy, including transoral robotic surgery and microvascular free tissue reconstruction. At UI Health I also serve as a surgeon informaticist and as Quality Director for the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery.
My research runs along two tracks. The first is applied AI and clinical informatics — evaluating where language models are and are not reliable in surgical care, and building the data infrastructure that makes outcomes measurable. The second is HPV-mediated disease, from point-of-care vaccination in the otolaryngology clinic to prospective study of associated pathology. Earlier, my PhD work mapped the GUCY2C gut–brain endocrine axis in appetite regulation and neuronal injury.
24 peer-reviewed publications (12 first or co-first author) · 2 book chapters, incl. Cummings Otolaryngology 8e · ~$137K in awarded research funding, incl. an NIH F30
- Clinical: Surgical management of head and neck cancer; transoral robotic surgery; microvascular free tissue transfer
- Research: HPV-mediated oropharyngeal carcinoma — vaccination, prevention, and associated pathology; surgical quality and safety
- Informatics: Clinical data pipelines, outcomes registries, and evaluation of language models in surgical care
Applied AI in Otolaryngology
- Benchmarking LLMs against specialty knowledge — first-author comparative assessment of otolaryngology knowledge across large language models, The Laryngoscope (2025). 10.1002/lary.31781
- Detecting provider bias in patient portal messaging — NLP evaluation of otolaryngology portal correspondence, Oral Oncology (2026), with a mentee as first author. 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2026.107921
- Multi-model AI consensus for surgical laterality verification — automated cross-checking of operative laterality; presented at the Penn AI in Medicine Conference and as a late-breaking abstract at the AHNS 12th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer (2026; Abstract 155552).
- AI-assisted head and neck cancer data abstraction — validation of artificial intelligence for electronic medical record data abstraction in head and neck cancer patients; presented in the AI in Head and Neck proffered-paper session at the AHNS 12th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer (2026; S011).
- Institutional AI infrastructure — Epic→Databricks pipelines, outcomes registries, and agentic workflows for research and quality measurement, including local model deployment where protected health data cannot leave the environment.
Three-Dimensional Head and Neck Anatomy Atlas
- Co-founder of a cross-disciplinary effort (Otolaryngology, Neuroradiology, Medical Illustration) building anatomically accurate digital models of head and neck anatomy from radiographic imaging, peer-reviewed literature, and medical illustration.
- Produced virtual reality, augmented reality, and printed 3D models for surgical education.
- Published as a multi-part series in Operative Techniques in Otolaryngology (2022–2023) covering the soft palate, oral tongue and floor of mouth, pharynx, larynx, parotid and facial nerve, and masticator space.
HPV Prevention and Vaccination
- Project manager for the initiation of a point-of-care HPV vaccination program in Mayo Clinic otolaryngology clinics — coordinated providers, nursing, scheduling, informatics, and regulatory filing. Feasibility published in The Laryngoscope (2023). 10.1002/lary.30130
- Co-principal investigator, PAP-OP trial — prospective assessment of HPV-associated anogenital pathology in female patients and female partners of patients with HPV-associated oropharyngeal carcinoma. Funded ($25,436); 70+ patients accrued.
- Mayo Clinic representative to the American Cancer Society HPV Roundtable (2023–2025).
Physician–Scientist Training
- PhD in Neuroscience (Thomas Jefferson University, 2018) in the laboratory of Scott Waldman, MD, PhD — mapped GUCY2C circuitry between the hypothalamus and midbrain and its role in appetite regulation and recovery from neuronal injury.
- NIH F30 (1F30DK103492-01A1), $90,408 — obesity and the GUCY2C gut–brain axis. PhRMA Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, $20,000.
- Neoadjuvant immunotherapy in HNSCC — correlated radiographic and pathologic treatment effect in patients receiving neoadjuvant nivolumab, Frontiers in Oncology (2020). 10.3389/fonc.2020.566315
- Alpha Omega Alpha, junior inductee · TJU Dubbs Scholar Fellowship (full MD/PhD scholarship, 5 awarded per year).
| Venue | Talk |
|---|---|
| Epic Users Group Meeting — Verona, WI, Aug 2026 | Agent Factory: building the healthcare helpers of the future |
| AHNS 12th Int'l Conference on Head and Neck Cancer — Boston, Sat Jul 18, 2026 | AI infrastructure for research & outcomes — building institutional intelligence (invited speaker, AI in Head & Neck Surgery and Oncology pre-meeting course; 9:33 AM) |
| AHNS 12th Int'l Conference on Head and Neck Cancer — Boston, Sun Jul 19, 2026 | Validating the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Electronic Medical Record Data Abstraction for Head and Neck Cancer Patients (AI in Head and Neck proffered-paper session; S011; senior/last author) |
| AHNS 12th Int'l Conference on Head and Neck Cancer — Boston, Jul 2026 | Automated multi-model AI consensus system for surgical laterality verification in otolaryngology (late-breaking abstract; first author/presenter; Abstract 155552) |
| Penn AI in Medicine Conference — Philadelphia, Apr 2026 | Automated multi-model AI consensus system for surgical laterality verification |
Recognized with an honorable mention for the 2025 Penn Medicine Quality & Safety Award (Corporate Quality & Safety) for Standardizing Surgical Consenting and Scheduling.
Resident mentor in the Mayo Clinic Otolaryngology Summer Research Education Program (2023–2025), working one-on-one with trainees from project design through manuscript submission — mentees have gone on to medical school, otolaryngology residency, and first authorship on peer-reviewed work. Book chapter author, Cummings Otolaryngology 8e (Ch. 96, Surgical Therapy of Oropharyngeal Cancer).
- Evaluation and governance of large language models applied to clinical problems
- Databricks and Epic integration for healthcare data pipelines
- Surgical outcomes, predictive analytics, and quality registries
- Agentic workflows and local LLM deployment for protected health data
Python · SQL · Databricks · MLflow · LangChain / LangGraph · Epic Clarity and Caboodle · Google Cloud Platform · LM Studio
- University: dmerlino@uic.edu
- Personal: dante.j.merlino@gmail.com
- Google Scholar: Dante Merlino
- GitHub: @Dantemerlino