About the Nikhil J. Bhatt, MD International Humanitarian Award
The AAO-HNS Foundation supports otolaryngologists around the world who demonstrate a unique commitment to the specialty as part of our continued effort to foster a global otolaryngology community.
The AAO-HNSF Nikhil J. Bhatt MD International Humanitarian Award honors a non-U.S. otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeon who has selflessly treated people for whom access to care would have been financially or physically prohibitive. The Award is in fulfillment of the AAO-HNSF’s aim to foster a global otolaryngology community, and made possible through the generosity of Nikhil J. Bhatt, MD, a longtime advocate of AAO-HNSF international affairs.
The 2025 nomination cycle is now closed. Award recipients will be announced in June 2025.
2024 International Humanitarian Award Recipient
Mahmood Bhutta, DPhil, FRCS, has been named the recipient of the 2024 AAO-HNSF Nikhil J. Bhatt, MD International Humanitarian Award. Dr. Bhutta is a professor of Sustainable Healthcare and the Inaugural Chair of ENT Surgery at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, United Kingdom. He provides care to patients in low-resource areas who are affected by chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM).
Dr. Bhutta was the lead otolaryngologist for a collection of seven Cochrane Reviews on the medical treatment for CSOM. A Cochrane Review is a systematic review that attempts to identify, appraise, and synthesize all the empirical evidence that meets pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer a specific research question. He also co-led a revision of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) primary ear and hearing care manual and introduced the Objective Structured Clinical Examination into the training of WHO healthcare workers.
Additionally, he trained the first otolaryngology surgeons in Cambodia at the Children’s Surgical Centre in Phnom Penh. The team he trained was made up of all women—a fact celebrated throughout the country as well as internationally as an example of women’s empowerment. That team has now trained other emerging otolaryngology surgeons. Dr. Bhutta is currently partnering with local clinical teams to research and implement models of community-based care for patients with CSOM in rural communities of Zambia and Malawi, as well as in the Rohingya refugee population in Bangladesh.
The AAO-HNSF Nikhil J. Bhatt, MD International Humanitarian Award honors a non-U.S. otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeon who has selflessly treated people for whom access to care would have been financially or physically prohibitive.
Previous Recipients:
- 2023: Tashneem Harris, MBChB, FCORL(SA)
- 2022: Thana H. Nassir, MD, PhD, FICMS | Iraq
- 2021: Niels van Heerbeek, MD, PhD | Tanzania
- 2020: Marlinda Adham, MD, PhD | Indonesia
- 2019: José Manuel Colmenarez Mendoza, MD | Venezuela
- 2018: Professor Mohan Kameswaran | India
- 2017: Johanna Sembergman, MD | Venezuela
- 2016: Nega Kiros Hagos, MD | Ethiopia
