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Dr. Drew Horlbeck didn’t grow up with big ambitions of becoming a doctor. Without financial support from his parents or an idea of what he wanted to pursue as a career, Horlbeck put himself through two years of college at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign while balancing a job before he started looking for alternatives. He enlisted in the army, training as a combat medic and serving in the infantry in Germany for two years.   Afterward, Horlbeck returned to Illinois and re-enrolled in school, only this time he knew he wanted to pursue medicine. He also became a straight-A student. “What the military teaches you is when you walk away from something, whether it’s a class or a test, you really want to feel like you gave it your best shot,” he says. He carries the same ethic into every operation.  Horlbeck decided to focus on neurotology, a subspecialty of the ear, nose and throat (or, otolaryngology) field that focuses on hearing imbalance disorders. After graduating from medical school, he completed his residency at UC San Diego Health in California, followed by a fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.  He then served in the U.S. Air Force for six years as a lieutenant colonel in San Antonio. During that time, the American Academy of Otolaryngology honored him with the Distinguished Award for Humanitarian Service in 2007 for work on mission trips in Paraguay, Chile, Ecuador, Honduras, El Salvador and Jamaica.   After another 11 years of providing care at Wolfson Children’s Hospital and Nemours Children’s Specialty Care in Jacksonville, Horlbeck jumped at the opportunity to join a friend’s private practice, the Ear, Nose & Throat Associates in Fort Myers. There, Horlbeck provides cochlear implants—including recent technologies like the Earlens, a more precise device that delivers a broader spectrum of sound—to address hearing loss. In one day, he may treat a 6-month-old baby and an 80-year-old adult, with the goal of helping both “stay part of the hearing world or become part of the hearing world,” he says.  Horlbeck lives in Fort Myers’ Laguna Lakes, and on less humid days, he takes advantage of the 20-minute walk to work. The father of three also embraces life on the Gulf as a member of Freedom Boat Club, through which he enjoys renting a boat and spending weekends on the water with his family. “The weather is great, the people are great and there’s tons to do,” he says of Fort Myers. “I’m not going anywhere.” —Alyssa Morlacci 

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