Dear Colleagues,

Last month I had the honor of accepting the appointment to AHNS President during our annual meeting in Austin and I am thrilled to lead a society that has been a passion of mine for many years. The AHNS is thriving as an active and engaged organization, poised to help further our mission in advancing education, research and quality of care for the Head and Neck Oncology patient.

I am grateful for the support and guidance of Past President Dr. Ehab Hanna, who helped position the AHNS 2.0 and I know we will continue to work on many of the initiatives he has launched. Thank you, also, to Dr. Brian Burkey, who served as AHNS Secretary for six years and has now been elected to Vice President, and welcome to Dr. Susan McCammon, who is the new AHNS Secretary. The AHNS has a strong and committed leadership team focused on promoting the welfare of our patients, empowering our membership and serving the community-at-large.

We will continue that mission and hope to grow and extend our reach outwards. This year, I will focus on patient advocacy, as well as action items that involve a true multidisciplinary approach. In the coming months, you will hear more from our patient care division on integrative oncology and survivorship. We will be investigating building more partnerships with patient focused organizations, as well as strengthening our relationships with our international colleagues. Capping off my presidential year will be what I know will be a memorable and educational international conference in Chicago, July 18-22, 2020, where we will have a special APP track tailored for our applied practitioners. This truly intertwined methodology will only strengthen our approach to patient care and I welcome your involvement and engagement in these initiatives.

I am excited to see that our blog, Heads Up!, is up and running on the AHNS web site (https://www.ahns.info/category/blog/). We are always looking for posts and please submit them to the AHNS office ([email protected]) if you would like to contribute. Posts could be on any topic and should be about 800 words or less.

If you have any suggestions or comments for our society, please do not hesitate to reach out to me through our AHNS headquarters office ([email protected]). It is a great privilege to serve as your president and I look forward to a productive and exciting year.

Thank you for your membership,

Cherie-Ann Nathan, MD
President, AHNS

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Cherie-Ann Nathan

Dr. Cherie-Ann Nathan is a leading head and neck cancer surgeon. She is Prof. & Chair of the Dept. of Oto/HNS &the Director of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology and Cancer Research, Feist-Weiller Cancer Center Louisiana State University Health - Shreveport (LSU Health Shreveport). The National Cancer Institute has funded her translational research since 2000 and her focus is on targeted therapy for head and neck patients. Dr. Nathan is recognized nationally and internationally for her seminal work on molecular analysis of surgical margins. She has pioneered multi-institutional clinical trials using mTOR inhibitors in HNSCC patients. She has also received NIH funding for chemoprevention of cancer with curcumin and has a patent for a curcumin chewing gum. More recently she also received an NCI grant on cutaneous Squamous cell cancer.  She serves on the NCI head and neck steering committee and the American Cancer Society HPV steering committee. Dr. Nathan has published extensively, has over 180 publications in peer-reviewed journals, and has authored multiple textbooks and encyclopedia chapters. She is married to Dr. Raghu Nathan, a pulmonary and critical eye care specialist with whom she has two boys.

Latest posts by Cherie-Ann Nathan (see all)

• AHNS Leadership - July 24, 2020
• AHNS Endorses ACS Statement on Recent Violence and Protests - June 3, 2020
• New AHNS COVID-19 Offering on AHNS Web Site - May 7, 2020