Invited speakers

Paolo Battaglia

Paolo Battaglia, MD, PhD, is Associate Professor and Chief of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Sant’Anna Hospital in Como, University of Insubria (Varese/Como, Italy).
His clinical and research focus lies in endoscopic skull base surgery, sinonasal oncology, and multidisciplinary head and neck tumor management.
He serves as Course Director of the RhinoEdu Programs and ENTer Seminars, promoting advanced surgical education and international academic collaboration.

Jolie Lien Chang

Dr. Jolie Lien Chang, M.D. is a Professor of Clinical Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. She serves as Division Chief of both the UCSF Divisions of Sleep Surgery and General Otolaryngology and as Director of Resident Research for the department. Her clinical expertise includes head and neck surgery, sleep apnea and snoring surgery, hypoglossal nerve stimulation, and minimally invasive salivary gland procedures. A leader in academic medicine, Dr. Chang has authored over 80 peer-reviewed publications and multiple textbook chapters, advancing knowledge in sleep surgery and salivary disorders. She is an elected member of the American Board of Otolaryngology Exam Council and the Board of Directors of the International Surgical Sleep Society. She is an associate editor for the journal the Laryngoscope and the lead author on the 2023 International Consensus Statement on Obstructive Sleep Apnea with 130 international authors. She has provided extensive service to national and international professional organizations, including leadership roles within the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, the Triological Society, and the International Surgical Sleep Society. Dr. Chang’s work has earned her numerous honors, including the UCSF Francis A. Sooy Award for Clinical Excellence, the AAO-HNS Honor Award, and election into the UCSF Academy of Medical Educators.

Meredith Holcomb

Meredith Holcomb, AuD, CCC-A is a Professor and the Director of the Hearing Implant Program at the University of Miami. She has 20 years of experience as a cochlear implant audiologist for pediatrics and adults. Dr. Holcomb is the Co-Chair for the Joint Committee for Infant Hearing, and she currently serves on the Audiology Advisory Board for Advanced Bionics, Med El, Hemideina, and Akouos. She is a consultant for Cochlear and has recent research grants with Med El, Cochlear, and Regeneron.

Chris Holsinger

Floyd Christopher Holsinger, MD, FACS
"Chris”
Professor, Chief Head & Neck Surgical Oncology , Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, Stanford University Palo Alto, CA
Dr. Chris Holsinger is Professor of Head and Neck Surgery at Stanford University. His research focuses on surgical innovation, AI, and clinical trials. He serves as surgical principal investigator for RTOG920 and coordinated surgeon-credentialing for ECOG 3311, a prospective clinical trial to study robotic head and neck surgery. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Surgical TaskForce of the NRG Oncology's Head and Neck Committee.
His interests extend beyond robotics, however, and include new technologies for augmenting the surgical vision and improving intra-operative decision-making. Recently, he co-founded Photonic Medical Technologies to translate these innovations into practice for open surgery.
Dr. Holsinger’s surgical practice focuses on the surgical management of thyroid as well as head and neck cancer. His areas of research interest include endoscopic head and neck surgery, including transoral robotic surgery and transoral laser microsurgery, as well as time-honoured approaches of conservation laryngeal surgery and supracricoid partial laryngectomy.
Board-certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology, Dr. Holsinger is a member of numerous societies including the American College of Surgeons, American Head and Neck Society, the American Thyroid Association, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Thomas Hummel

Thomas Hummel does research in the chemosensory systems at the Smell and Taste Clinic of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of the “Technische Universität” Dresden in Germany. This includes an olfactory/gustatory dysfunction clinic also involving patients with neurodegenerative causes of olfactory loss, and investigations in the intranasal trigeminal system. Investigations in these areas are performed using electrophysiological (olfactory event-related potentials, recordings from the mucosa of the nasal cavity), psychophysical, and imaging techniques (MRI).

Dr. Hummel received his medical education in at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. There, he also went through a special medical program in Pharmacology and Toxicology (“Habilitation”) which was guided by Dr. Gerd Kobal. As a post-doc he stayed in 1994 at the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA. Further, from 1997 to 1998 Dr. Hummel was Assistant Professor at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA where he worked at the Smell and Taste Center under guidance of Dr. Richard L. Doty. Since 1998 Dr. Hummel started a Smell and Taste Clinic at the Department of ORL of the University of Dresden where he sees approximately 1000 patients per year. He is author/co-author of more than 800 peer-reviewed, original publications, more than 80 reviews in the chemosensory area, over 50 chapters and editor of three books in the scientific literature.

Research Statistics: Factor on Research Gate: 24,281; h-index (on Google): 133; citations (on Google): 76,555

Ashutosh Kacker

Named to Castle Connolly New York Metro America's Top Doctors since 2011, Dr. Kacker is a caring physician who is dedicated to his patients. He uses technical innovation and decades of clinical experience to improve a patient's outcome. He is accessible to his patients and their families at all times and believes in patient and family centric care by involving them in decision making at all times.

Alberto Paderno

Alberto Paderno, MD, PhD, is an Otolaryngologist–Head and Neck Surgeon and Assistant Professor at Humanitas University in Milan, Italy, with clinical practice at IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital. He graduated in Medicine and Surgery and completed his residency in Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Brescia (both cum laude), where he later obtained a PhD in Artificial Intelligence in Medicine. He further refined his expertise as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, focusing on head and neck oncology, transoral surgery, and AI-based computer vision.

His clinical and research activity centers on head and neck oncology, minimally invasive and transoral procedures, and microvascular free flap reconstruction for complex head and neck defects, together with the integration of artificial intelligence and digital pathology to improve cancer diagnosis, risk stratification, and organ preservation. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and contributes to international projects on videomics and biomarker-based early detection. Dr. Paderno serves on scientific committees of major societies and holds editorial roles in leading journals in the field. His work aims to translate technological innovation into personalized, function-preserving care for patients with head and neck cancer.

Michael Pitman

Michael J. Pitman MD is the Lawrence Savetsky Professor of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery at Columbia University Medical Center, where he is the Chief of the Division of Laryngology and the Director of The Center For Voice And Swallowing.

Dr. Pitman is an internationally recognized expert in voice restoration, conservation and care of the professional voice as well as in the care of swallowing and airway disorders. Dr. Pitman is also a biomedical developer and NIH funded clinician scientist. He has numerous publications, grants, and patents for pioneering research in the field of Laryngology, significantly impacting the care provided to laryngology patients. Dr. Pitman lectures extensively both nationally and internationally and he has achieved consistent recognition as one of the “Best Doctors in America”, New York Magazine “Top Doctors”. He has served as President of the New York Laryngological Society, Secretary and President of the American Broncho-Esophagological Society and Chair of the Airway and Swallowing Committee for the American Academy of Otolaryngology.

Jeffrey D. Sharon

Dr. Jeffrey D. Sharon is an associate professor of Otology, Neurotology, and Skull Base Surgery at UCSF. He is also the director of the Balance and Falls Center. He completed a residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Washington University in Saint Louis, and a fellowship in Neurotology at Johns Hopkins. His research interests focus on the vestibular system, with a focus on clinical and translational projects to improve care for those with vestibular disorders. He has a special focus on vestibular migraine, where he has developed and validated the first disease specific patient reported outcome measure, and also completed the first randomized clinical trial of a CGRP blocking drug.

Maria V. Suurna

Maria V. Suurna, MD, FACS, is a Professor of Clinical Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery and Director of Sleep Surgery at the University of Miami Health System and adjunct faculty at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Suurna earned her medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine and completed her residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. She is board-certified in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and a specialty board certified in Sleep Medicine. Dr. Suurna currently serves as the President of the International Surgical Sleep Society and the Coordinator for International Affairs at the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

Miro Tedla

Dr. Miro Tedla, MD, MPH, PhD is a Professor, Chairman and an ENT Consultant at the Department of ORL- HNS at the Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital of the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. He is a member of several international societies, CORLAS member and at the moment serves as a Secretary General at the Presidential Council of CEORL- HNS.
Dr. Tedla is a main author of three textbooks, author/co-author of more than 130 in extenso scientific papers/book chapters and is regularly invited to present at the international venues. His main clinical and research interests include Thyroid and Paratyhyroid Surgery, Head and Neck Cancer, Voice, Airway and Dysphagia.

Jure Urbančič

Jure Urbančič is a Senior Consultant in Otorhinolaryngology at the University Medical Centre (UMC) Ljubljana, with a clinical subspecialty in Rhinology and Skull Base Surgery. He leads the Otorhinolaryngologic Outpatient Services department at UMC Ljubljana.

Dr. Urbančič completed his Doctor of Medicine and PhD at the University of Ljubljana's Faculty of Medicine. He is deeply committed to academia, holding the position of Assistant Professor of Otorhinolaryngology at his alma mater. His dedication to teaching extends to other institutions, including roles as a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Health Angele Boškin in Jesenice and as a lecturer in Anatomy and Histology at the Alma Mater Europaea in Maribor.