Daniel Chelius, M.D., Int. ‘06, Res ‘10, FAAP, FACS, associate professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, is nationally recognized as a leader in both the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and in the developing field of complex pediatric head and neck tumor care. Dr. Chelius graduated from Baylor College of Medicine with honors in 2005 before completing otolaryngology residency at Baylor in 2010 and pediatric otolaryngology fellowship at the University of Kansas/Children’s Mercy Hospital. Dr. Chelius has long been a servant-leader in organized medicine including terms as president of the Houston Society of Otolaryngology, chair of the AAOHNS Young Physician’s Section and many appointed positions on national committees, taskforces and guideline development initiatives. In 2019, he was named AAOHNS Annual Meeting Coordinator and will serve five years on the AAOHNS Board of Directors organizing the world’s largest annual otolaryngology meeting. In his first years as coordinator, he has been well regarded for innovative programming in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and for organized, intentional efforts to bring underrepresented voices to this international platform. For his longitudinal service to the AAOHNS, he received the Distinguished Service Award in 2021. Dr. Chelius was recruited to Texas Children’s Hospital in 2015 to found and direct a new pediatric head and neck tumor program. Embracing a philosophy of seamless, collaborative multidisciplinary care and decision making, Dr. Chelius co-leads a team of clinicians from across medical, surgical and ancillary specialties to care for children with complex head and neck tumors through outcomes–driven care pathways. Under his leadership, the program has seen increasing national and international referrals, research productivity and collaborative multi-institutional efforts. Primarily for his work on this program, he received the Baylor Early Career Award for Excellence in Patient Care in 2018 and the Texas Children’s Hospital Excellence in Surgery Award in 2019. In addition to complex tumor care, Dr. Chelius is a sought-after general pediatric otolaryngologist, having been elected annually to Texas Super Doctors since 2013 and having received multiple patient satisfaction awards at Texas Children’s Hospital. Shortly after returning to the Baylor faculty, Dr. Chelius was appointed as Baylor’s Alpha Omega Alpha Councilor. During his five-year tenure, the Baylor chapter overhauled its selection processes with an eye toward increased equity and instituted new service programs to support undergraduate medical education. Dr. Chelius has received multiple medical student and resident teaching awards at Baylor and Texas Children’s Hospital for both his clinical teaching and didactic lecturing. In the Head and Neck Anatomy and Neurosciences courses, he aspires to create what his students now know as “tip-link protein moments” of inspiration in the pattern of his own Baylor teaching heroes. Dr. Chelius’s greatest inspirations are his wife, Amber Pyeatt, M.D. ’05, and their three children.
