Melissa Wingo is a Board-Certified Physician Assistant recognized by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants and licensed by the State of Illinois. She works alongside Drs. Bastian, Richardson, and Hoesli as an experienced laryngology physician assistant, beginning in 2017.
Melissa completed her undergraduate training at Millikin University, earning a Bachelor of Commercial Music. She continues to sing professionally with various groups and bands throughout the Chicagoland area. Her MS in Physician Assistant Practice is from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.
She has undertaken extensive training as a fellow in laryngology at Bastian Voice Institute and with the help of her prior musical training, has mastered the Bastian Diagnostic Model for laryngology, which requires what Dr. Bastian calls “intelligent ears and a capable voice.” She has also participated in the care of a very large, tertiary-care population of patients with diverse voice, swallowing, and airway disorders. She is particularly heavily involved with treatment plan completion, and follow up of persons with sensory neuropathic cough, inability to belch (retrograde cricopharyngeus dysfunction or R-CPD), and post-surgical care (vocal cord microsurgery, vocal cord implants, tracheotomy and laryngectomy). She is co-author with Dr. Bastian of a ground-breaking peer-reviewed open source manuscript on R-CPD that can be easily found by googling “bastian belch.”
Melissa is a member of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, the Illinois Academy of Physician Assistants, and the Society of Physician Assistants in Otorhinolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery. She attends conferences regularly to remain on the cutting edge of treatments available in this field.