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eNews from the American Head & Neck Society
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MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
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Dear Colleagues,
I hope you are enjoying the start of fall, even though our "new normal" is quite different than what we have been accustomed to. I continue to be so impressed by what the American Head and Neck Society (AHNS) is doing. Although we haven't been able to meet in person, we continue to bridge the gap with educational content virtually. I hope to see you during our first Webinar, entitled "Instructional Course: Trends in Management of HPV Positive Cancers." To register, please visit https://www.ahns.info/webinar-registration/.
As you can see from this eNews, our society members and leaders have not slowed down its passion and commitment to our society, even during a world-wide global health crisis. Kudos to the Curriculum Development and Maintenance Service that continues to educate our fellows with online Tumor Boards. Congratulations to all our newly matched fellows! All applicants were matched with a position and I am so proud of the men and women who are entering our specialized field. I know there is greatness in their future, and I can't wait to call them a colleague!
One of my main priorities during my presidential term is to focus on patient advocacy. I was so impressed with the Endocrine Section's very successful Twitter chat in celebration of Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month. Also, we partnered with the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance to produce a webinar entitled, "Becoming a Survivor Champion." The speakers were so engaging and the feedback from survivors was invaluable (please see photo of the webinar). I am so grateful for our continued partnership with such an impactful organization.
Our six sections are working hard on a variety of initiatives that support our mission. Please read more in this edition and also make sure to join. It is a great way to be more involved in our society. The current sections are Endocrine, Mucosal Malignancy, Reconstructive, Salivary Gland, Cutaneous and Skull Base. Membership in a section is easy and free! Just log in to your membership account and join as many (or as few) as you would like.
Thank you for your dedication to the AHNS!
If you have any suggestions or comments for our society, please do not hesitate to reach out to me through our AHNS headquarters office (christina@ahns.info).
It is a great privilege to serve as your president and please stay healthy and safe!
Cherie-Ann Nathan, MD President, AHNS
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From the Curriculum Development & Maintenance Service:
Beginning in April of this year, the CDMS launched a series of Virtual Tumor Boards, created for AHNS-Accredited Fellowship programs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With many of the Fellows unable to perform surgeries, the Tumor Boards were designed to maintain the level of education which the AHNS Fellows routinely receive during their training. With the commencement of the 2020 Fellowship year, we now offer the tumor boards twice a month. All sessions have been recorded and are now available on the AHNS website - You can see past sessions and the schedule for the 2020-2021 Fellowship year by clicking HERE.
Sincerely,
Babak Givi, MD
Chair, Curriculum Development & Maintenance Committee
From the Advance Training Council:
AHNS and ATC are very pleased to announce the 2021 Fellowship Class
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From the Cancer Prevention Service
Dr. Carole Fakhry, has been busy on multiple fronts. AHNS Virtual Educational Series takes place Wednesday, October 14, 2020.
The session is an hour long.
Please click here to register.
Learning Objective: Attendees will be able to review and discuss the role of deintensification for HPV+ cancer.
Faculty:
Carole Fakhry, MD, MPH Johns Hopkins University - Moderator
Robert Ferris, MD, PhD, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center - Speaker
Sue Yom, MD, PhD, University of California San Francisco - Speaker
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From the Development Service:
During these unprecedented times of great need, philanthropic funds have provided an inestimable source of resources with which to rebuild fortitude. As we look forward to and prepare for AHNS 2021, we need all AHNS members and service leaders' support to reach out to their industry and philanthropic contacts and highlight what the AHNS stands for and all we can offer. We also encourage all our members to write us with innovative ideas and approaches to continue to generate revenue for our cherished society.
Thank you,
Robert Ferris, MD and Maie A. St. John, M.D., Ph.D.
AHNS Development Service Chair and Vice-Chair
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From the Women in Head and Neck Surgery Service:
Margaret F. Butler Outstanding Mentor of Women in Head and Neck Surgery Award.
In 1906, Dr. Margaret Butler was appointed as the first female otolaryngology chair in the United States at Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMCP), Philadelphia. As a respected otolaryngologist and an ambassador of the specialty, Dr. Butler provided a blueprint for generations of future female otolaryngologists. The purpose of the Margaret F. Butler Outstanding Mentor of Women in Head and Neck Surgery Award is to recognize individuals who have demonstrated leadership in promoting gender diversity in the field of Head and Neck Surgery and its related endeavors. A secondary goal is to encourage the training and mentorship of future women leaders in our specialty.
2020 was the second year of the Award. We received 13 outstanding nominations. Notably, four nominees were international candidates, from India, the Philippines and the Republic of Moldova. The five member Award Committee independently ranked each candidate on published criteria such as leadership, consistent track record, mentorship and measurable impact. The aggregate ranking was then used to determine the winner. All 13 nominees were leaders in our field and have made great contributions towards gender diversity and equity, making this a highly competitive year. The winner, Dr. Cherie-Ann Nathan, will be honored with a congratulatory video announcement and will be recognized in person at a later date.
Thank you,
Amy Chen, MD, MPH and Trinitia Y. Cannon, MD
AHNS Women in Head and Neck Surgery Service Chair and Vice-Chair
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From the Cutaneous Malignancies Section:
The Mission of the AHNS Cutaneous Malignancies Section is to advance the research, education and evidence-based, quality care for our cutaneous H&N cancer patients through the development of a robust multi-institutional data registry and associated prospective trials & guidelines.
The Cutaneous Malignancies Section welcomes any interested AHNS members who wish to participate in the activities of the section. There are currently approximately 150 AHNS members who have joined the section to date, and one of our goals for the 2020-2021 year is to actively solicit new members to our section (Karen Choi: Membership). In particular, we would like to especially reach out to our international members who have a clinical interest in cutaneous malignancies and may practice in areas of the globe with a heavy burden of cutaneous cancers.
For our current and prospective section members, we provide the following report of recent activities of our section, and a few of the section's goals for the next year.
Given recent United States Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the PD-1 inhibitor cemiplimab to treat advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC), a position statement put forth by the American Head and Neck Society (AHNS) is required to provide evidence based treatment recommendations for utilization. Recently, we performed a survey of AHNS members regarding the role of PD-1 inhibitors for the treatment of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, and we are currently reviewing the survey results. The goal of the AHNS clinical consensus statement is to provide evidence-based treatment recommendations for utilization of PD-1 inhibitors for advanced head and neck cSCC. We anticipate publication of this position statement later this Fall.
Two additional new position statements are also in the works, including recommendations for a standardized cSCC pathology template (Marcus Monroe), and a statement on the role of MOHS for cutaneous melanoma (Scott Mclean).
Another research goal for the year is planning for a multi-institutional sentinel lymph node biopsy trial for cutaneous SCC (Kevin Emerick).
Recently, a group made up of mostly CMS members and led by editors Cecelia Schmalbach and Kelly Malloy, completed work on a special issue in the Otolaryngology Clinics of North America on "Cutaneous Head and Neck Cancer". Publication date is Jan 2021.
Lastly, Brian Hughley and TJ Ow have recently created new and updated content for the AHNS website. The skin cancer materials and images will be available online, including informative content for patients, physicians, and students. Go-live date for the updated web content is September, 2020.
Despite the disruptions of the coronavirus pandemic, our members have managed to continue the important work of the AHNS Cutaneous Malignancies Section. We would welcome any suggestions, ideas, or questions you may have.
Sincerely,
Cecelia E. Schmalbach, MD, MSc, FACS
Chair, AHNS Cutaneous Malignancies Section
Steven Wang, MD
Co-Chair, AHNS Cutaneous Malignancies Section
From the Reconstructive Surgery Section:
The Reconstructive Section continues to be actively involved in 3 main areas of research, education, and mentorship. We currently have over 8 clinical projects in various phases from conception to publication and completion. One particular study titled "Burnout in microvascular reconstructive otolaryngology - head and neck surgeons: modifiable workplace factors" was submitted for publication and awaits review. In the area of education, we are undertaking the development of consensus statements and guidelines in the areas of medical modeling, management of osteoradionecrosis, and perioperative management of patients following free flap surgery with attention to ERAS protocols. Our mentorship program continues to grow and is under further phases of development utilizing 2-way social media platforms for rapid communication. We continue to welcome further involvement and participation
from the membership-at-large.
Sincerely,
Urjeet A. Patel MD FACS
Chair, Head and Neck Reconstructive Section
From the Endocrine Section:
Click HERE to read our full current Endocrine Section newsletter.
Greg Randolph MD FACS FACE
AHNS Endocrine Section Chair
This represents an interval report on the Endocrine Section activities.
Endocrine Section Webinar program -fully underway
Starting in July we will start our new endocrine section webinar series. These are one hour case based presentations with related literature discussion. This program will be led by Nishant Agarwal and Mike Singer the leaders of our Education Committee. The first session on 7/15 was titled: "Bread and Butter" Endocrine Surgical Cases lead by Nishant Agrawal with presenters Babek Givi, Arnaud Bewley and Maisie Shindo with discussant Dave Steward.Our next session was titled: Re-operative Endocrine Surgery on 8/18 lead by Mike Singer with presenters Lisa Orloff, Mike Moore, Dave Shonka and discussant Dave Terris.
Please join us for a joint Latin American and Korean RFA webinar on 10/21 and our joint international webinar on 12/12 with our sister organization the British Association of Endocrine and Thyroid Surgeons (BAETS).
Twitter Chat Session between the AHNS Endocrine Section and ThyCa -lead by Allen Ho
To celebrate Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month, in October we started a series of joint Twitter Chat Session between the AHNS Endocrine Section and ThyCa, an influential thyroid cancer survivor group. The chat was an amazing success - surgeons and endocrinologists fielded questions and learned from the perspectives of thyroid cancer survivors. In just an hour, there were more than 450 tweets for 1.3 million Impressions! Kudos to Allen Ho AHNS Endocrine Section Social Media Chair who has lead this great new and expansive program for the section.
Join us for our next Twitter Chat on Thurs 12/10/2020 (5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern). Remember #AHNSchat! Please email Allen Ho (Allen.Ho@cshs.org) if you will be planning to join the session.
Two new International AHNS White Paper Initiatives underway:
I want to give an update regarding two of our latest initiatives on parathyroid autoflorescence and RFA ablation both of which are global, multidisciplinary and very exciting.
The first is AHNS Endocrine Surgery Section Consensus Statement on Parathyroid Identification and Vascular Assessment: Autofluorescence (AF), Indocyanine Green Fluorescence (ICG), and Other Parathyroid Imaging Technologies. This is being led by Amanda Silver and Fred Triponez and involves a multidisciplinary author panel from around the world including general surgeons, otolaryngologist head and neck surgeons, endocrinologists, basic science optics scientists. This paper will provide a user friendly "how to manual" of parathyroid AF best practice.
The second is Radiofrequency and Related Technologies for Treatment of Benign and Malignant Thyroid Disease: An International Multidisciplinary Consensus Statement of the American Head and Neck Society Endocrine Surgery Section with the Korean Society of Thyroid Radiology, Asia Pacific Society of Thyroid Surgery, European Thyroid Association, Latin American Thyroid Society, Thyroid Nodules Therapies Association and Associazione Medici Endocrinologi. This is being led by Lisa Orloff and Julia Noel and as you see is a collaboration of the AHNS with 6 other international societies. The author panels consists of endocrinologists, general surgeons, otolaryngologist head and neck surgeons as well as radiologists.We expect this to define the landscape of modern RFA ablative endocrine landscape and will provide multiple AHNS "boiler plates" for preop, consent, procedural and postop-outcome parameters.
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AHNS Endocrine Surgery Library:
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Since 2014, the AHNS Endocrine Surgery Section has produced 9 white papers on critical endocrine surgery questions thanks to the commitment and hard work of many of its members.
One paper is the collaboration between AHNS and AACE on pediatric thyroid cancer management lead by Brendan Stack. This paper will be the first to be jointly published in AACE's Endocrine Practice as well as Head and Neck. Another is a project lead by Mike Singer"Salivary and Lacrimal Gland Dysfunction After Use of Radioactive Iodine for Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: Otolaryngology and Endocrine Management--An American Head and Neck Society Endocrine Surgery Section and Salivary Gland Section Joint Multidisciplinary Consensus Statement" which has just been accepted to Head and Neck.
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New Important AHNS Endocrine Section Committee:
I am very pleased to announce the AHNS Endocrine Surgery Section Medical Oncology Advanced Thyroid Cancer committee. Our initial white paper pilot project is an AHNS Endocrine Surgery Section statement regarding the need for mutational testing to guide targeted therapy in advanced thyroid cancers in nearly complete. David Shonka and I are helping to organize this group.
Endocrine Section Research grant initiative:
Bill Armstrong, Brendan Stack and I coordinate research outreach grant efforts with the AHNS in order to expand the current endocrine section research grant program. This year we have for the AHNS Endocrine Section Eisai and Stryker $10,000 each.
Respectfully submitted,
Greg Randolph MD FACS FACE
AHNS Endocrine Section Chair
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