Dr. Michael Rutter has been a pediatric otolaryngologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center since 2001, affiliated with the University of Cincinnati, and holds an academic rank of Professor of Pediatric Otolaryngology He specializes in pediatric otolaryngology with an emphasis on airway problems in children, adolescents and young adults with interests including tracheal reconstruction and complex airway surgery. Dr. Rutter received the 2016 Gabriel Frederick Tucker Award from the American Laryngological Association, and the 2018 Sylvan Stool Teaching Award from the Society for Ear Nose and Throat Advancement in Children (SENTAC) for his contributions to the field of pediatric laryngology. In addition to caring for patients, he is also involved in research to find improvements in airway management.

Dr. Rutter has developed several operations (eg, epiglottic petiole repositioning, endoscopic anterior and posterior cricoid split for neonatal vocal cord paralysis), and has significantly modified several others (eg, cricotracheal resection, slide tracheoplasty). Over the years with his innovations and reputation as an airway surgeon, he has popularized operations such as airway balloon dilation and slide tracheoplasty.  Dr. Rutter currently has four patents; one of these in a balloon dilator, for which he receives Royalties. He also designed a stent (marketed with his name on it), but declined Royalties on this.

Academically, Dr. Rutter has been very productive in publishing peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Over the last 10 years he has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles.