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Since arriving in Baton Rouge in 2002, otolaryngologist Elise Scallan Lalonde has become one of the city’s busiest ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeons. Yet, despite her high-volume practice, patients shouldn’t expect to conquer War & Peace in her waiting or exam rooms.

“One patient, who had just pulled out her book, was stunned when I walked in the room on time,” Lalonde says with a laugh. “I have an organized, consistent schedule. I tell patients what we are going to do and then carry it out. I believe in respecting other people’s time.”

After attending LSU undergraduate and medical school, Lalonde chose an ENT residency. “I loved surgical rotations, but I didn’t love general surgery,” she explains. “I liked [ENT] because of its wide base with pediatric and adult patients and both surgical and non-surgical [therapy]. It would later allow me to do what I enjoy doing and be a successful mom as well.”

Lalonde and her husband have three children under the age of seven. “They are the reason I wake up in the morning and come home every day,” she says.

While ENT has the reputation of being primarily concerned with childhood ear infections and allergies, Lalonde and her partners have focus on adult issues and recently introduced an innovative treatment to relieve one of the most prevalent and chronic conditions: sleep apnea.

Besides educating area physicians and patients about the new procedure, Lalonde has also been recruited by Daiichi Sankyo, Schering-Plough and Pfizer pharmaceuticals to train nurse practitioners and pharmacists in the use of their latest antibiotics and allergy medications.

While she values her role in the community’s continuing medical education, Lalonde derives the greatest professional satisfaction from patient interaction. “I enjoy making patients well and knowing they’ve successfully gotten over a disease process or horrible allergies or a surgery,” she says. “The majority will get better with what I do for them.”

What was your first job?

“My dad owned a grocery store and I bagged [groceries for] people since age 7 at Scallan’s Grocery—I was just about tall enough to reach the cash register.”