American Head & Neck Society

Advancing Education, Research, and Quality of Care for the Head and Neck oncology patient.

Published on by AHNS Webmaster

Coming Together in Crisis: The Conversations We Need to Have – Learn More at COSM 2021

Join the American Head & Neck Society at this year’s virtual COSM as we focus on “Coming Together in Crisis – The Conversations We Need to Have: COVID, Disparity, Ethics, Education, our Future”.

The virtual COSM meeting is taking place April 7-11, 2021 with AHNS sessions taking place on Wednesday, April 7th and Thursday, April 8th.

We hope you can join our live sessions and be a part of the conversation as these important topics are discussed.

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

  • COVID 19: The Approaching Storm with Ehab Hanna, MD
  • COVID Recap with Maie St. John, MD, PhD
  • COVID-19 and the Effects on Cancer Surgery: The Tsunami after the Earthquake with Jonathan Irish, MD, MSc, FRCSC
  • COVID Caused Clinic and OR Challenges: Strategies, Successes and Failures
  • Multidisciplinary Care Post COVID: Did We Evolve or Simply Pivot?
  • Enhanced Challenges of Global Medicine During and After COVID
  • Research and Clinical Trials: Coping, Evolving and Succeeding during the Pandemic
  • Publishing in the COVID Era: Did We Over or Under Compensate?
  • A Personal Experience with Bevan Yueh, MD
  • Open Forum: A Time to Share – Be a part of the conversation!

Thursday, April 8, 2021

  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Facts, Challenges and Actions
  • Providing ‘Truly’ Equitable Care Across Diverse Populations, Cultural Competency, Financial Toxicity
  • Core Ethical Principles: Explanations and Applications
  • Should There Be More Surgeons in Palliative Care Fellowships or More Palliative Care in Surgical Fellowships? A Round Table Discussion
  • Head and Neck Fellowships: Have We Evolved?
  • What is the Future of Educational Activities: Virtual or In-Person and Out-of-Date?
  • Inspiring and Educating Medical Students and Residents: More Than Just Replacing Ourselves
  • How Do We Crash the Ceiling for Woman in Head and Neck Surgery? An Action Plan is Needed, Faculty Development, and Retention

All-Access Registration Fees:
*A $35 administration fee will be added to all categories, excluding Residents and Medical Students

Category
Member – $150*
Non-Member – $200*
Allied Health $125*
International – $125*
International (Low/Middle Income) – $75*
Active Military (Non-Member) – $175*
Resident – $100
Medical Student – $75

COSM is offering one fee for access to all 9 Societies’ presentations, panels, and posters, in addition to the virtual COSM Exhibit Hall. Up to 118.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ and MOC points will be offered.

Following the live virtual meeting, content will also be available for on-demand viewing to all registrants.

Questions?

SAVE THE DATE!
Mark your calendars for the AHNS International Conference on Head & Neck Cancer taking place July 22-25, 2021 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, IL. For more information, please visit https://www.ahns2021.org/.

Published on by Jeffrey Myers

A Giant of Head and Neck Surgery has Passed

It is with great sadness that I write to you about the passing of one of the true giants of the field of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, Dr. Robert Byers passed away Saturday, March 6, 2021 at 3 AM.  There will be no funeral, but there will be a Memorial Service which will be announced later this month.

Robert Maxwell Byers, M.D. was born in Union Hospital, Baltimore Maryland on September 24, 1937. He grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the small town of Elkton. Very active in the varsity sports of baseball, basketball and track during his high school years, he continued his athletic participation at Duke University along with his pre-med studies. He entered the University of Maryland Medical School in Baltimore in 1959 where he excelled in his medical studies and received membership in AOA and the Rush Honor Medical Society. The highlight of his sophomore year was his 1961 marriage to Marcia Davis, a high school sweetheart. During his junior year, he was commissioned an Ensign in the United States Naval Reserve and later rose to the rank of Captain in 1986.

In 1963, Dr. Byers begin his general surgical residency with Dr. Robert Buxton at the University Hospital in Baltimore. Five years later, as a fully trained general surgeon, he went to the Republic of Vietnam with the 1st Marine Division where he received a unit commendation medal and a combat action ribbon. On return to the United States, he spent a year at Quonset Point, Rhode Island Naval Hospital as Chief of Surgery. In 1969, the American Board of Surgery certified him. After discharge from the Navy in 1970, he and his family moved to Houston, Texas where he began a fellowship in Surgical Oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center under the guidance of Drs. R. Lee Clark, Richard Martin, Ed White, William MacComb, Richard Jesse and Alando J. Ballantyne. This move proved to be a decisive event, as he never left. His career in Head and Neck Surgical Oncology was born nurtured and matured during the 31 years of his academic/clinical practice at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. In 1974, his fourth son, MacGregor was born.

During his tenure at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center he rose through the ranks from Assistant Professor in 1972 to Associate Professor in 1976 and, finally, Professor and Surgeon in 1981. In 1998, he was honored with the Distinguished Alando J. Ballantyne Chair of Head and Neck Surgery. He was the author or co-author of over 200 published papers, book chapters and monographs. He gave invited lectures all over the world. In 1999, he was selected to give the Hayes Martin Memorial Lecture at the 5th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer (A copy of this lecture can viewed by clicking here). He was President of the American Radium Society and President of the Society of Head and Neck Surgeons both in 1995 – 1996. His research interests and his expertise were focused on cancer of the oral cavity, head and neck cancer in young people and treatment of the neck involved with metastatic cancer with a particular interest in various neck dissections. Dr. Byers was a member of many prestigious societies of which the Southern Surgical Association, the Texas Surgical Society, the American College of Surgeons and the Society of Surgical Oncologists are but a few. He was a peer reviewer for many medical journals and on the Editorial Board of three. During his 31 years at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center he participated in the surgical education of over 300 residents and fellows, many of who have gone on to become prominent members of the specialty.

As a former trainee, I can honestly say that he greatly shaped my thinking about oncologic problems and attention to technical precision and hemostasis in the operating room.  Almost every time I operate, I hear his voice saying, “cut on the patient side”.  He was always on the patient’s side!  I know that he has impacted many other past trainees and colleagues in the same positive way, and we will all miss him.

Jeffrey Myers

Jeffrey N. Myers is a head and neck surgeon, Chair, Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Alando J. Ballantyne Distinguished Chair of Head and Neck Surgery, and translational scientist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. President of the American Head and Neck Society from 2016-2018. Dr. Jeffrey N. Myers received his medical (MD) and doctoral (PhD) degrees from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and he then completed his residency training in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. He subsequently completed fellowship training in Head and Neck Surgical Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he has been on the faculty ever since. Dr. Myers leads a basic and translational research program and his primary research interests are in the role of p53 mutation in oral cancer progression, metastasis and response to treatment.

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Published on by AHNS Webmaster

Myers’ Family Summer Travel Fellowship in Otolaryngology Application is Open

Diversity Summer Travel Fellowship in Otolaryngology for under-represented minority medical students 

This program is sponsored by the American Head and Neck Society Research and Education Foundation, thanks to the very generous contributions of Dr. Eugene Myers and Dr. Jeffrey Myers, as well as other AHNS donors.  It is intended to expose an under-represented minority medical student to the field of Head and Neck surgery specifically and Otolaryngology in general. Please click the link here to watch the RFA video to disseminate to your URM M1 and M2 candidates of the AHNS Myers’ Family Summer Travel Fellowship in Otolaryngology.

 

A grant of $5,000 will be awarded to a medical student to cover travel, lodging and food expenses for the summer experience.  This summer program offers the interested candidate the opportunity to work in a Department of Academic Excellence in Head and Neck Surgical Oncology that has an approved Fellowship Training Program from the Advanced Training Council of the AHNS.  Participants will be assigned to a clinical faculty mentor and will rotate on his or her clinical service and have the chance to participate in the care of Head and Neck Cancer patients in the outpatient setting, inpatient environment, as well as the operating room.  Summer fellows will also have the opportunity to perform basic, translational, clinical, or population based research under the guidance of a chosen/assigned research mentor.

 

The grant of $5,000 includes the recipients roundtrip airfare, cost to travel to the meeting, transportation to and from, food and hotel stay expenses at the AHNS Annual/International Meetings. At the AHNS Annual/International Meeting the student will share their Summer experience via PowerPoint presentation and can network with AHNS members.

 

Ideally the candidate is between year 1 and 2 of medical school. Some applicants between year 2 and 3 may have the ability to participate as a fellow award winner but this depends upon their medical school year academic calendar. Our Myers’ Family Summer Travel Fellowship in Otolaryngology FAQ page can be found by clicking here.

Published on by AHNS Webmaster

New Grant Opportunity from SU2C in Head and Neck Cancer: LOI Deadline March 22, 2021

Head and neck cancer is a blanket term used to describe several different types of cancers.
About 65,000 new cases, not counting thyroid cancer, are diagnosed in the U.S. every year.
A number of causes of these cancers have been identified, potentially offering new
opportunities to screen for the cancers and create new treatments for patients.

For example, the incidence of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in people with
Fanconi anemia is 500- to 700-fold higher than in the general population. Additionally up to
70% of certain head and neck cancers are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.
Genetic defects that cause Fanconi anemia, as well as genetic changes resulting from HPV
infection, both adversely affect DNA repair systems, which can lead to cancer. This similarity
provides investigators with different perspectives on a common problem and the opportunity
to collaborate in new and innovative ways.

Head and neck cancers can appear in the nasal cavity, sinuses, lips, mouth, salivary glands,
thyroid gland, throat or larynx. Experts estimate there are about 550,000 cases of various
kinds of head and neck cancer diagnosed around the world each year, with 300,000 annual
deaths due to the cancers. Research has also shown that Black people have higher
incidence of head and neck cancer and a lower 5-year survival rate compared to white
people. Black patients are also typically diagnosed with more advanced head and neck
cancer.

To unlock potential new treatments, Stand Up To Cancer, with the generous support of the
Fanconi Anemia Research Fund, the Farrah Fawcett Foundation, the American Head and
Neck Society, and the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, is offering up to $3.25 million in
grants to fund research to find new treatments for head and neck cancer. The team will have
a special focus on head and neck cancers associated with Fanconi anemia and HPV. Applicants will need to ensure that people from medically disadvantaged backgrounds are included in all phases of their proposed research.

Further information and a link to the application

visit StandUpToCancer.org/HeadandNeck.