Lesley Childs
Lesley French Childs, MD serves as Associate Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and is a Laryngologist as well as the Director of Laryngology at the Clinical Center for Voice Care at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas, USA. She grew up in Austin, Texas and received her undergraduate degree from Yale University. Dr. Childs completed medical school and her residency training at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. She finished a fellowship in Laryngology and Neurolaryngology at Columbia and Cornell Universities in New York City. A classically trained soprano, Dr. Childs has experience singing in various professional chamber ensembles as well as recording for Walt Disney Records.
Session
Singers have a disproportionally high prevalence of self-reported dysphonia compared to the general population and phonotraumatic lesions are significantly more prevalent in performers versus nonperformers. Against this backdrop of high disease prevalence, the stigma of vocal injury in the singer population is pervasive and increases the likelihood of misinformation circulating widely within this community. These factors underscore the need for evidence-based information about phonotrauma in this population rather than a reliance on anecdotal insights or expert opinion. Research at the UT Southwestern Voice Center in Dallas, Texas, USA on over 400 singers with phonotraumatic lesions over a 9-year period revealed much about lesion types and the likelihood for vocal fold surgery, as well as unique associations with singing genre and insights into voice therapy duration. These findings provide a framework for counseling and managing expectations in this unique population.