2020 Nikhil J. Bhatt, MD International Humanitarian Award Recipient: Marlinda Adham, MD, PhD
This year’s awardee is Marlinda Adham, MD, PhD. Dr. Adham's distinguished academic career includes important leadership positions such as the current General Secretary of the Indonesian Otorhinolaryngology –Head and Neck Society, Past-President of the Asian Society of Head and Neck Oncology, and Founder and Course Director of the Indonesian ORL-Head and Neck Surgery and Oncology Training Program.
In 2006, Dr. Adham organized the annual Thyroid Mission in Southern Maluku. She chose this district because many of the local population have thyroid nodules thought to be caused by iodine deficiency. Most of the patients are poor, live far from the hospital, and have transportation difficulties.
The local hospital-Karel Sadsuitubun and the agency Empowerment of Family Health (PKK) informs the community and primary care physicians by radio to announce the arrival of the Thyroid Mission. The PKK assists in informing, collecting, and preparing the patients for surgery.
Composed of ENT Faculty and residents from various medical centers in Indonesia, the Thyroid Mission stays onsite for one week performing around 50 thyroid surgeries in five days. All specimens are examined by Pathologists in the RSCM Hospital in Jakarta. Patients who are found to have a malignant tumor are followed up with a total thyroidectomy. Dr. Adham’s work with the Thyroid Mission has shaped the spirit of cooperation and sharing to help the unfortunate patients.
A native of Indonesia, Dr. Adham received her medical degree from the University of Indonesia, followed by a residency in otorhinolaryngology. She received her PhD from the Free University in Amsterdam, Netherlands. She is currently a member of the faculty in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Indonesia, Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo (RSCM) Hospital in Jakarta.
2020 Nikhil J. Bhatt, MD International Public Service Award Recipient: M. Shahed Quraishi, MD
This year’s awardee is M. Shahed Quraishi, MD. In 2005, Professor Quraishi founded the ENT Masterclass, a teaching platform for ENT surgeons and allied professionals, which provides ENT training and educational resources through his free multimedia training platform. ENT Masterclass reach spans 15 countries across four continents and is delivered by a volunteer faculty network of over 250 eminent professors/surgeons of ENT from all over the world.
Since 2008, ENT Masterclass has published a yearbook, a 150-page review journal; four annual courses webcast live all over the world; and the “Cyber Textbook of Surgery,” a selection of 450 ENT surgical/training videos from open-source access. His platform also provides an international traveling scholarship and an annual gold and silver medal for best research papers presented by trainees in ENT.
Professor Quraishi’s efforts also include the training and teaching of residents in the United Kingdom. He served as the program director for higher surgical training in South Yorkshire and is a member of the Court of Examiners at the Royal College of Surgeons in England.
In 2017, Queen Elizabeth II presented Dr. Quraishi with the “Order of the British Empire” for his service to medical education and the National Health Service. His excellence in teaching was recognized by the Middle East Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery with the Heinz Stammberger Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2019.
Professor Quraishi is currently an ENT surgeon in the United Kingdom where he has practiced as a consultant since 2004.
AAO-HNSF Board of Directors Selects Mark E. Zafereo, Jr., MD, as Board Coordinator-elect for International Affairs
Mark E. Zafereo, Jr., MD, is an associate professor of head and neck surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, where he also serves as section chief of head and neck endocrine surgery and associate medical director of the Endocrine Center. He has held many roles within the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery and its Foundation over the last 15 years, particularly within the international realm, and looks forward to serving the AAO-HNSF Board in collaborative leadership of the International Program. As Coordinator-elect, Dr. Zafereo will shadow the current Coordinator for International Affairs, J. Pablo Stolovitzky, MD. The Coordinator for International Affairs, which is a four-year term appointment, oversees implementation of the high-profile, important portfolio of AAO-HNSF’s global outreach and programs and ensures alignment with the strategic plan.
Announcing the International Advisory Board (IAB) Chair-elect
The AAO-HNSF call for nominees for Chair-elect of the International Advisory Board (IAB) was highly successful and resulted in the selection of Prof. Muaaz Tarabichi, MD. Dr. Tarabichi is a native of Syria where he grew up and started his medical education. He left Syria in 1980 and arrived in the United States as a political refugee. He then went to Montreal, Quebec, and did his residency at McGill University, during which he received the 1988 AAO-HNS Award for Excellence in Original Investigation for his study on application of finite element methods. He then returned to the Middle East and has been practicing in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for 24 years.
Much of Dr. Tarabichi’s professional life has been centered on innovating, advocating, and teaching endoscopy ear surgery (EES), being widely referred to as the “Father of EES.” He struck a long-lasting friendship with the late Heinz Stammberger, MD FRCS Ed(Hon), during years of travel teaching endoscopic techniques in ear and sinus surgery. This relationship was the seed for their mutual project– TSESI: Tarabichi - Stammberger Ear & Sinus Institute in Dubai (www.TSESI.org). The facility includes a wet lab and state of art broadcasting and video production facilities and offers scholarships including travel and boarding for younger otolaryngologists from around the world.
Dr. Tarabichi’s term as Chair-elect will start at the conclusion of the AAO-HNSF 2020 Annual Meeting & OTO Experience, September 13-16, in Boston, Massachusetts, when current Chair-elect Karl Hoermann, MD, PhD, assumes the IAB Chair position.
Call for Volunteer Faculty for 2021 International and Joint Meetings
Since its inception, the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation has cultivated ties to national otolaryngology societies and similar organizations around the world. The AAO-HNSF assigns great importance to these relationships ,which collectively advance the otolaryngology specialty in ways no one society can achieve alone.
One important means of building global relationships is through Joint Meetings, i.e., conferences or meetings jointly organized or endorsed by the AAO-HNSF and a counterpart otolaryngology entity.
We are accepting applications for volunteer faculty to present at AAO-HNSF International Joint Meetings in 2021. Linked HERE is the AAO-HNSF Volunteer Faculty Application.
For more information, contact International@entnet.org.
