About Dr. Birns

FullSizeRender (1)

Dr. Birns received his B.A. at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1971 and his medical degree with honors in 1975 at the University of Southern California School of Medicine (USC).

He completed his internship and residency in Head & Neck Surgery at UCLA from 1975-1980 and became board-certified in Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery in 1980.

From 1980 until 2005, Dr. Birns was on faculty at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and is a charter member of ASPO, the American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology. Dr. Birns is a clinical Professor of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at the USC School of Medicine and has also served as a visiting Assistant Professor at UCLA.

Dr. Birns is a diplomate of the American Board of Otolaryngology, a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, a specialty fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

He is a member of the Society for Ear, Nose and Throat Advances in Children, the American Broncho-Esophagological Association, the Los Angeles County Medical Association, California Medical Association, and the Los Angeles Pediatric Society.

Dr. Birns is on the medical staff of Providence Tarzana Medical Center and Valley Presbyterian Hospital.

As a father and now a grandfather, Dr. Birns has always taken a great interest in children's well-being, both physical and emotional.

In the early 1980’s he led the campaign to change the policy at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to allow parents into the recovery room after surgery.

He also changed the rules to minimize or discontinue the preoperative blood tests, which were routinely obtained. Today these policy changes have become standard in most hospitals around the country.