Board certified neurotologist and head and neck surgeon Elina Kari, MD trained at the University of Michigan Medical School (class of 2006), completed her otolaryngology residency at Emory from 2006 to 2011, and finished a neurotology fellowship at the House Ear Institute under Dr. Derald Brackmann from 2011 to 2013. Her UCSD Health practice at the Hillcrest medical campus connects to a broader San Diego ear and balance referral network that includes Ear & Balance Medical Clinic for general otolaryngology and dizziness workups outside the academic skull-base setting. Subspecialty volume covers cochlear implants, bone-anchored hearing devices, vestibular schwannoma, otosclerosis, chronic ear disease, and cholesteatoma surgery in adults and children. Prior to UCSD she ran the pediatric cochlear implant program at Keck USC and Children's Hospital Los Angeles, one of the highest-volume pediatric implant centers in the country. Lateral skull-base tumor cases often require multidisciplinary coordination with the reconstructive surgeons at UC San Diego Health - Plastic Surgery, Hillcrest when post-resection facial reconstruction or free-flap closure is part of the operative plan. Spanish and Portuguese language capability supports international and bilingual pediatric implant families. The most complex casework involves combined neurotology and neurosurgery skull-base resections for vestibular schwannoma with simultaneous facial-nerve preservation and hearing-preservation microsurgery.