September 13, 2006

Turlock - Turlock physician Donald E. Doyle, MD, has 30 years of experience in ear, nose and throat surgery, also called Otolaryngology, but most don’t know that he also has 30 medical device patents in his name and hosted health-related television programming for several years. 

Dr. Doyle’s medical product designs are listed on his website at www.doylemedical.com. The two most famous are the Doyle Intranasal Airway Splint and the Doyle Nasal Pack, both still in use, primarily for surgical procedures for the nose.

He says the inspiration for his first invention occurred while performing surgery during a medical residency program. The surgeon in charge was forced to improvise a splint for the patient’s nose from a sterile coffee can lid because there was nothing else available.

Seeing a need, Dr. Doyle designed the airway splint and had it patented in 1974. It went on the market in 1975. About 50 million of his products have been sold worldwide.

From 1979 to ‘83, he hosted a weekly satellite TV show, “Mostly Medicine,” broadcast to the 48 contiguous states, did radio programs on health and was in 30 TV commercials.

Dr. Doyle relocated to Turlock from the Los Angeles area in August. He has joined the medical staff of Emanuel Medical Center and the practice of Dr. Joseph Romeo and Dr. William Anderson in California Cosmetic Head and Neck Surgical Associates. He plans to focus on ear, nose and throat general surgery as well as cosmetic surgery, which also is Dr. Anderson’s specialty.   

“I hope to learn some things from him,” Dr. Doyle says.  “I’m also looking forward to the great produce in Turlock.”

Dr. Doyle initially came to California in 1967 as an intern at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He served a general surgery residency there in 1968 and from 1970-71, followed by a six-month dermatology residency at Wadsworth VA Hospital in 1971. From 1972-75, he did his otolaryngology and head and neck surgical residency at White Memorial Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles.

In addition to working in Emergency Rooms in eight hospitals from New York City  to Los Angeles, Dr. Doyle was in private practice in LA from 1975-92 and then in his home state of Mississippi for the next ten years. In 2002, Dr. Doyle joined Prime Partners Medical Group in Temecula, Calif.

He has put aside inventing and the limelight for now, preferring to spend time with his family. Dr. Doyle’s wife Linda is a former flight attendant and they have two children, a son, 16, and a daughter, 11.

Dr. Doyle is Board Certified in both otolaryngology and cosmetic surgery. He can be reached at his office at 1801 Colorado Ave., Suite 160, (209) 216-3300.