To the AHNS Skull Base Surgery Section members,

The July AHNS meeting marks the term end for the current Skull Base Surgery Section officers. For the next two-year term beginning 2021, we have the following slate of candidates:

Running for Section Chair – Ian Witterick, MD, MSc, FRCSC

Running for Section Vice-Chair – Shirley Su, MBBS, FRACS

Please review the statements from the candidates below and cast your vote at the bottom of this page.

Voting will close on Friday, June 18th at 9:00pm Eastern. Thank you for your participation!

For Section Chair

Ian Witterick, MD, MSc, FRCSC

Dear Colleagues, I have been honored to serve as the Vice-Chair for the AHNS Skull Base Section under the leadership of Dr. Ivan El-Sayed (thank you Ivan!). Under Ivan’s leadership, the Skull Base Section has moved forward with education and research initiatives to benefit our patients. There is growing cooperation and comradery in the Section nationally and internationally which I will maintain and expand. We will continue to build the Section, engage membership, and look for opportunities to educate and promote partnerships and multidisciplinary co-operation across institutions. I want to thank all the Section members who have helped lead this charge. To those of you who want to get involved, we would love to hear from you.

By way of introduction, I have a strong interest in skull base surgery and have learned so much from my colleagues in the many specialties interested in diseases of the skull base both nationally and internationally. I have thoroughly enjoyed my involvement with the North American Skull Base Society including leading this organization as President (2017-2018). Currently, I am President of the Canadian Society of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery and Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at the University of Toronto. I look forward to working with all my dedicated skull base colleagues in the AHNS.

For Section Vice-Chair

Shirley Su, MBBS, FRACS

I am a head and neck and skull base surgeon at MD Anderson Cancer Center. My expertise in this field started during my head and neck surgical oncology fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2011 and as a skull base surgery fellow at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 2012. In the 10 years since fellowship, my clinical practice has focused on the management of skull base tumors, and in particular, skull base malignancies. Correspondingly, my research has centered upon developing novel treatments for skull base malignancies.

I have served as the Co-Chair of the AHNS Skull Base Section’s Education Committee for the past 3 years. In this role, I initiated the development of the Section’s website and coordinated several robust educational activities directed toward members and trainees, including themed skull base editions of the AHNS Journal Club that explore current controversies in our field. As Co-Chair, I am working collaboratively within our Section to update the AHNS Fellowship Curriculum and Reading List for Trainees. As well as being a member of the Education Committee for the North American Skull Base Society, I serve as the Chair of the Skull Base Surgery Committee for the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, where I have advocated for increased skull base surgery presence and educational content at the Annual Meetings.

If elected as Vice-Chair for the Skull Base Section, I will work with the Section’s membership and AHNS leadership to serve the needs of our members and to promote the mission of our society. My priority is to promote head and neck surgeons as experts in the evidence-based management of anterior skull base malignancies and AHNS as a resource for members, trainees, and patients. Towards these objectives, I will seek opportunities to engage our members in patient care and educational initiatives in the Skull Base Section and within the broader AHNS framework.