Dr. Larry Hartzell attended Brigham Young University where he received his undergraduate degree in Zoology with a human biology emphasis. He spent 2 years as a missionary for his Church in Colombia where he became fluent in Spanish. Dr. Hartzell earned his medical degree at The University of Arizona College of Medicine. He completed a residency in Otolaryngology (ENT) at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He then completed fellowship training in Pediatric Otolaryngology at Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH). He has been the director of the cleft team at ACH since 2012. Dr. Hartzell is an active participant in multiple local as well as national committees and is academically active with many peer reviewed articles in addition to book chapters and other publications. He is board certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery and is a Certified Complex Pediatric Otolaryngologist. He is a member of numerous medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association, American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. His major research interests include cleft lip and palate medical and surgical management as well as velopharyngeal insufficiency. Dr. Hartzell has a strong interest in medical humanitarian mission efforts and has participated in humanitarian efforts in China, Guatemala, Egypt and Ecuador. He is a Professor of Otolaryngology and also the Program Director of the Pediatric Otolaryngology Fellowship at Arkansas Children's Hospital. He also provides surgical care at Arkansas Children's Northwest.

American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery
American Cleft Palate Craniofacial Association
Arkansas Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery
American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology
Society for Ear Nose and Throat Advancement in Children
Society of University Otolaryngologists
American Academy of Pediatrics

Director of Arkansas Cleft Lip and Palate Team
Pediatric Otolaryngologist

Arkansas Cleft Lip and Palate Team Director
ACH Pediatric Otolaryngology Fellowship Director
Member of Medical Executive Committee at Arkansas Children's Hospital
Member of Cleft Committee for AAO-HNS

ACH Pediatric Otolaryngology Fellowship Director

Member of Medical Executive Committee at Arkansas Children's Hospital

Member of Cleft Committee for AAO-HNS

Teaching has been a large part of Dr. Hartzell’s life since childhood. As a young man he was given responsibility to teach his peers through school and church. After entering college, he decided to take a two-year college hiatus to spend teaching the people of Colombia on an ecclesiastical mission. With this background, Dr. Hartzell believes that teaching and learning are critical aspects of becoming a successful modern-day doctor. He aims to be an educator and mentor at every opportunity in his busy clinical practice.
Dr. Hartzell participates in teaching and mentoring on multiple levels consistently. He has lectured to medical students on Pediatric Otolaryngology and cleft care. Larry also mentors in both a formal fashion as well as a more informal manner to premedical and medical students regularly. He also is engaged in these educational activities with other learners from disciplines like audiology and speech pathology among others. Dr. Hartzell also participates in Journal Club, Grand Rounds and didactic lectures to the residents each year. Similarly, he participates in Journal Club and didactic lectures to the pediatric otolaryngology fellows. He also has participated in Pediatric Grand Rounds and PedsPLACE through Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH) to educate the general pediatric community. Dr Hartzell leads an instruction course at the annual meeting for the American Association of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery (AAOHNS) on cleft care. In the last 5 years, Dr Hartzell has also become a regularly invited lecturer for international conferences and was the Co-Director of a regular webinar related to surgical care of cleft lip and palate. Overall, Dr. Hartzell is very active in clinical and surgical instruction of students, residents, fellows and colleagues (local, national and international) whether he is in clinic, the operating room, or a conference room.

Dr. Hartzell’s first exposure to research was during his undergraduate study years at Brigham Young University. He was able to participate in multiple projects in a chemistry laboratory during that time, mostly related to ancient Egyptian Mummies, which exposed him to much of the bench-top research techniques and protocols. His research experience continued in medical school at the University Of Arizona College Of Medicine where he took the opportunity to apply for an NIH student grant that allowed him to once again work in a chemistry lab. This time he studied the brown recluse spider and its relatives isolating the active enzyme in their venom.
 
Upon entering residency in Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery and UAMS, Dr. Hartzell sought out opportunities to further engage in research and was able to become involved with multiple clinical research projects that led to publication and podium presentations as well as posters. This played a part in motivating Dr. Hartzell to pursue his academic interests in fellowship and future employment in the academic institution of UAMS. Dr. Hartzell was productive as a fellow participating in some international meetings and this expanded as he became faculty at UAMS.
 
As a busy clinician, much of Dr. Hartzell’s time has been dedicated to direct patient care as well as his administrative duties as cleft team director and fellowship director among other things. As a result, the amount of time that he has been able to dedicate solely to research has been unfortunately limited. However, through working with students and trainees of multiple levels, Dr. Hartzell has been able to continue to be academically active in the research arena. He continues to present at national and international meetings on the clinical work he is engaged in and the students, residents and fellows he has mentored in this process.
 
His biggest research accomplishments have been the development and maintenance of a new cleft and craniofacial database to allow for quality improvement projects as well as data for a myriad of possible scientific protocols and projects. This is actively being populated and studies generated from this database.

Dr Hartzell has been passionate about outreach and service to the underserved since he was in High School.
At a young age, Larry organized a service project for Battered Women and Abandoned Children for his Eagle Scout project.
He dedicated 2 years during his college years to instead serve a church mission in Colombia.
Prior to medical school, Larry spent a month in Guatemala volunteering in medical clinics and hospitals.
Since then, Larry served in volunteer clinics in Tucson and down at the Mexican border in Nogales.
As a resident and fellow, Larry used his vacation time to join medical/surgical mission trips to China and Guatemala.
As faculty, Dr Hartzell continued to participate in humanitarian missions to Guatemala, Egypt and Ecuador and continues with annual trips.
Dr Hartzell not only wanted to serve people in other countries but even more so close to home. As a result, he has been traveling at least monthly to Northwest Arkansas to save them the drive to Little Rock and bring the care closer to their home. IN the last few years, Larry added to this time by expanding the primary care clinic in southwest Little Rock to include ENT specialty care.