Professor, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery; Surgical Director for Clinical Outcomes; Director of Pediatric Otolaryngology Quality Improvement
Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Ohio State
Dr. Kris Jatana is a Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Ohio State University. At Nationwide Children’s Hospital, he serves as Director of Pediatric Otolaryngology Quality Improvement, Medical Director of Compliance, and the Surgical Director of Clinical Outcomes. Dr. Jatana has authored >130 manuscripts and book chapters. He served as Chair of the Pediatric Otolaryngology Council for the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program-Pediatric, leading national quality and safety projects around pediatric tracheostomy, acute tonsillar hemorrhage, esophageal button battery, and thyroidectomy. Dr. Jatana has developed several pediatric medical devices that have been awarded multiple technology grants and patents. He was a principal investigator on novel research that resulted in the current injury mitigation strategies recommended by the National Capital Poison Center’s Button Battery Ingestion Triage and Treatment Guideline, and for over a decade, he helped lead both national and global multidisciplinary button battery task forces or committees. Dr. Jatana’s advocacy efforts were instrumental in the passage of Reese’s Law, a new U.S. legislation passed in August 2022, to make button battery compartments and packaging more secure. Prior to that, he also helped Australia to pass similar safety legislation. In addition, Dr. Jatana is medical director of the Global Injury Research Collaborative (www.globalirc.org), a new smartphone app used to collect novel injury data from medical professionals worldwide. He is a recognized medical expert for consumer product ingestion and choking hazards and has directly influenced the design of toys and other products globally distributed in the billions each year.