Dr. Backous is a board certified Neurotologist Puget Sound ENT, Proliance Surgeons in Edmonds, Washington. He attended medical school at the University of Washington (1989), did his residency in Otolaryngology at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas (1995), and completed his fellowship in Neurotology in 1997 at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He is also a 2012 graduate of the Executive Development Program from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington in Seattle.
He founded the Center for Hearing and Skull Base Surgery at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, Washington in 2010 and continues to focus on lateral skull base surgery there. He has over 20 years of experience consulting with manufacturers in the medical device and surgical technology spaces, and is the Principal in 17 Consulting. He has worked with the United States FDA in developing a standard for cochlear implant device reliability, which is now implemented and is contributing the developing ISO standard. He has actively practiced in academic, institutional and now private practice settings. He serves on the Board for the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. His medical research interests focus on implantable hearing device program efficiency for improved patient access and program viability and on the economic viability of specialty surgery practice models.
Dr. Backous is married to Julie and they have three adult children. He enjoys travel, golf, waterskiing, hiking and family activities.