Phone: 215-955-5652

Each year, an estimated 200,000 people visit physicians for treatment of their lack of or impaired abilities to taste or smell. In its ongoing study of these abnormalities, the Monell-Jefferson Taste and Smell Center provides evaluations to patients with losses or distortions of taste and smell.

Over 1,200 patients have been evaluated since the center opened in 1986 under funding from the National Institutes of Health. Evaluations include sensory testing to objectively measure the extent of the problem, ear, nose and throat examination and, in some cases, an oral health examination. The team of contributing experts includes otolaryngologists, periodontists, an analytical chemist, and a psychologist specializing in sensory measurement. A summary report of all findings is sent to referring physicians.

Additional projects at the center focus on the physiology of smell loss and studies of human olfactory function at the cellular level.

In the News
Philadelphia Magazine Rates Jefferson a Center of Excellence: Smell and Taste (May 2008)