General Info

While rotating through various specialties during his medical training, Dr. Michael Simmons became fascinated with head and neck anatomy.Its some of the most complicated anatomy, and yet its all in plain sight, he says. It also involves the full spectrum of patients from babies to senior citizens.Choosing otolaryngology or ear, nose and throat medicine was a step in the journey for a boy growing up in the suburbs of New Orleans who liked science.With the offer of a full scholarship from Loyola University, he stayed in the area to obtain a degree in biological sciences and then earned a medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine. He completed residencies in Surgery and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Louisiana State University Medical Center.By the time his advanced training was over in 1996, Dr. Simmons and his wife, Mary, also a physician, were ready to head north for more seasonal weather. Their search for a family-friendly community brought them to central Missouri.He joined Mid-Missouri Ear, Nose and Throat, which had offices in Jefferson City and at the Lake of the Ozarks. In July 2012, Mid-Missouri Ear, Nose and Throat merged with JCMG.Dr. Simmons also sees patients at JCMG at the Lake ENT & Sinus Surgery in Osage Beach, along with Dr. Hadley Hoyt.Dr. Simmons spends much of his time on the most common ENT procedures tonsillectomies, ear tube placements for children and nasal and sinus surgery.Advances in treating hearing impairments have enabled him to offer another option to people for whom other treatments fail. The Baha, a hearing device implanted in the skull behind the ear, is used for single-sided deafness or in other cases that cant benefit from conventional hearing aids.People love them. Theyve not been able to use anything before this, because traditional hearing aids werent working for them, he says.