Richard "Rick" Kopke, M.D., joined the staff of the Hough Ear Institute (HEI) and its affiliate, Otologic Medical Clinic, in 2004, having retired after 22 years in the U.S. Army. During that time he built an international reputation as an expert in the field of inner ear medicine. He also received the Legion of Merit, one of our country’s highest awards.

Dr. Kopke is board certified in otolaryngology. He has subspecialty certification in neurotology. 
He is the Chief Executive Officer of the institute and serves as Medical Director of the INTEGRIS Cochlear Implant Clinic at HEI.

Dr. Kopke’s undergraduate and medical degrees are from the University of Washington in Seattle. He received Fellowship training in Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery and Neurobiology from the prestigious Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

In his medical practice Dr. Kopke sees adults and children with ear, hearing and balance problems. He provides medical and surgical treatment for these problems as required. His surgical expertise includes procedures such as ventilation tubes, tympanoplasty, and mastoidectomy for chronic otitis media and cholesteatoma. He performs cochlear implants for profound and total deafness and surgery for other implantable hearing devices, such as the Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) device. He also does more involved procedures such as acoustic neuromas and vestibular nerve sections.

Dr. Kopke also devotes a great deal of time to research at the Hough Ear Institute. He and the HEI team are working on potential treatments and cures for sensorineural loss and balance problems. Their research efforts at present include regeneration of hair cells in the inner ear which could someday restore hearing and eliminate the need for hearing aids. Also being studied are novel approaches for delivery of therapeutic genes and medicines to the inner ear using magnetic nanoparticles
 
A variety of clinical trials, begun by Dr. Kopke, are underway in the military to prevent and treat acute acoustic trauma and sudden hearing loss. Another study for the near future here at the ear institute involves therapy for chronic sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus.

Dr. Kopke is a clinical professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. He has written numerous articles that have been published in peer-reviewed journals. He has presented papers and taught courses at the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) and various national and international research meetings. His Triological Society thesis earned the prestigious Edmund Prince Fowler Award from the AAO-HNS.