After 25 years of service to the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine and UAB Health System, William Carroll, M.D., a widely recognized leader in head and neck oncology, will retire at the end of 2021.

Carroll joined the Department of Otolaryngology faculty in 1996, was named section director for Head and Neck Oncology in 2008, became the John S. Odess Endowed Chair in 2017 after being selected as interim chair in 2015.

Carroll has dedicated his career to research, education, and patient care. He has published more than 150 manuscripts in scientific journals, written 14 book chapters, served in numerous leadership positions in national and regional professional societies and committees, and often participates in national academic/clinical meetings as a featured presenter.

He began his career at the Medical College of Georgia, where he earned his medical degree before beginning his postdoctoral training in otolaryngology head and neck surgery at the University of Michigan. Before joining the UAB faculty as an associate professor of surgery, Carroll served as assistant professor of surgery at the University of Michigan Hospitals and as section chief of Otolaryngology at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Ann Arbor.

Under Carroll’s leadership, the Division of Otolaryngology became its own department in 2015. The Department of Otolaryngology continues to grow and thrive in research, education, and patient care. The department’s labs have received more than $1 million from the NIH and other sources. The residency program has grown to four residents per year. The head and neck oncology program is a national leader in surgical volume.

Carroll plans to focus on working with the newly appointed interim chair, Bradford A. Woodworth, M.D., of the Department of Otolaryngology, and other faculty to ensure the department’s continued success and development.

“I’m convinced our department is poised to do great things under Dr. Woodworth’s capable leadership,” said Carroll.

Woodworth will begin serving as chair of the Department effective Dec. 1. He said he is excited to lead a department where outstanding faculty want to spend their careers.

“I will continue the Department of Otolaryngology’s mission of outstanding clinical care for the people of Alabama and surrounding regions, while also improving the depth and breadth of our basic and translational research enterprises,” says Woodworth.