Title: Research Scientist – otolaryngologist
Employer: VA Hospitals, University of California, San Diego
Prior Position: Otolaryngologist/Aerospace Medicine Specialist, US Navy

Dr. Royce Clifford, CDR, MC (FS), USN (ret.), obtained a BS in Honors Biology in 1971 at Urbana, an MD from University of Illinois Medical School in Chicago in 1976, and an MPH at Harvard School of Public Health in 2006. Her ENT residency was in San Francisco, and the MD degree and board-certification opened innumerable doors to engage in the practice of medicine and surgery. She engaged in private practice in Southern California for 16 years, subsequent to which she joined the Navy, obtaining a second board certification in Aerospace Medicine and Preventive Medicine. Her time at Harvard as well as the background in Honors Biology opened her eyes to the possibilities of research and helping populations versus individual patients. Since retirement from the Navy in 2015, she has engaged in research at the VA and University of California San Diego, combining her education in otolaryngology with preventive medicine to study the combined effects of military noise and aging on hearing, tinnitus, and balance.

As an otolaryngologist, Royce conducts research on noise, hearing loss, tinnitus, and the balance system. She is engaged in genomics research focusing on the population causes of tinnitus in the brain and brainstem. With a grant for research into the Million Veteran Program at the VA, she is engaged in identification of genes involved in tinnitus and hearing loss.

Royce would be a great person to talk to if you are interested in clinical research, medicine, or opportunities in the Navy. Contact Christina Swanson at alumnimentor@sib.illinois.edu if you would like to connect with Dr. Clifford.