International Guest Speakers
Professor Neil Sharma
Neil is a Consultant Head and Neck/Thyroid/Parathyroid Surgeon at University Hospital Birmingham (UHB) and Honorary Clinical Professor of Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Birmingham.
Neil has a strong interest in all aspects of head and neck surgery. His main focus is on surgical oncology, and in particular surgery of the thyroid and parathyroid glands. He has a high volume thyroid surgery practice, carrying out over 150 thyroid operations per year. He specialises in complex and revision thyroid surgery for benign and malignant disease, including advanced differentiated thyroid cancer, medullary thyroid cancer, thyrotoxicosis, retrosternal disease and surgery for those with a genetic predisposition to thyroid cancer. He leads the thyroid cancer service at UHB and runs the regional genetic thyroid oncology clinic, receiving referrals from around the country. He also works at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, operating on children affected by thyroid and parathyroid disease, and is then able to continue their care and follow up at UHB once they reach 18 years old. He is an active member of the British Association of Endocrine and Thyroid Surgeons, for which he also sits on the Executive Committee, the British Association of Head and Neck Oncologists, ENTUK, British Thyroid Association, Society for Endocrinology, American Thyroid Association, European Thyroid Association, European Society of Endocrine Surgeons and the International Association of Endocrine Surgeons. He is the Chief Investigator for the NIHR funded multi-centre RABBIT trial, investigating the role of radiofrequency ablation for benign thyroid nodules and co-investigator on a number of other trials at various stages of set up.
Neil graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2002, and completed his higher surgical training in Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery in 2017. He was awarded his PhD in 2014, for work examining the role of a novel proto-oncogene in the aetiology of thyroid cancer, and continued post-doctoral research in Birmingham while completing his clinical training. He served as President for the Association of Otolaryngologists in Training between 2016 and 2017. Neil received further advanced Head and Neck, Endocrine and reconstructive surgery training under the internationally renowned surgeons Nick McIvor and John Chaplin in Auckland, New Zealand, before returning in 2018 to UHB.
Mr Ricard Simo, LMS, FRCS, FRCS (ORL-HNS) PhD
Ricard Simo is a Consultant Otorhinolaryngologist Head, Neck and Thyroid Surgeon at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital. and Honorary Senior Lecturer at KCL Medical School. He graduated from the University of Barcelona in 1988, trained in Nottingham, Manchester and Philadelphia.
He provides a dedicated tertiary head and neck oncological and thyroid surgery service at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital. He is the Surgical Thyroid Oncology Lead and the Surgical Head, Neck and Thyroid Oncology Research Co-Lead. He has published over 180 original articles, 28 chapters and UK national head, neck and thyroid cancer guidelines. He edited Springer Atlas in Head and Neck Surgery in 2024. He is the Vice-Chair of EBEOR-HNS, Board Member of the CEORL-HNS, Past President of the European Laryngological Society, Past Audit Lead of ENT H&N UK and a faculty member of several national and international courses.
He is married with 2 children and loves nature and triathlon.
Vincent Vander Poorten, MD PhD MSc
Consultant, Full Professor and Clinical Head of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at the University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Section head of the section Head and Neck Oncology of the Department of Oncology of the faculty of Medicine at KU Leuven.
Guest Professor in Head and Neck Oncology, University of Pisa, Italy. Adjunct Professor in Head and Neck Oncology and Salivary Gland Surgery, University of Southern Denmark at Odense, Denmark. Areas of clinical and research expertise are head and neck oncology and surgery, with a specific focus on salivary gland and thyroid surgery, endoscopic and external approaches to the anterior skull base, transoral laser microendoscopic surgery and, since 2010, robotic Head and Neck surgery.
President of the Multidisciplinary Salivary Gland Society (MSGS); Vice Chair, International Advisory Section, American Head and Neck Society (AHNS); Executive Board Member of the Asia-Pacific Society of Thyroid Surgery (APTS) and Member of the Executive Committee International Federation of Head and Neck Oncological Societies (IFHNOS).
Prof. Dr. Andreas Dietz, MD PhD MSc
Since April 2004, Prof. Dr. Andreas Dietz is Chair of the ENT University Clinic Leipzig. He is full-trained ENT and head and neck surgeon and has special qualification in plastic surgery and Oncology. His scientific work is reflected in numerous studies and translational projects on head and neck cancer. He is internationally known as an expert in this field.
He was President of the German Society for ENT - Head and Neck Surgery (DGHNO-KHT) from 2019 to 2020 and is speaker of the interdisciplinary group of Head and Neck Cancer of the German Cancer Society (IAG-KHT). He holds visible positions on numerous international committees like membership of the Board of Directors of the European Head and Neck Society. He is speaker of the board of the Innovation Center for Computer-Assisted Surgery (ICCAS) Leipzig. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Global Online Fellowship Initiative at Sloan Kettering Memorial Cancer Center in New York and conference president of ECHNO 2027 in Berlin.
He is honorary member of the Royal Belgian, the Austrian, Hungarian, Czech ENT Society and the Indian Head and Neck Foundation. Andreas Dietz is author/co-author of more than 400 pub-med listed publications (h-index 58). He coordinates the German S3-Guideline for oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer. Andreas Dietz was honored with the DGHNO-KHC Medal of Merit, the Order of Merit of the Free State of Saxony in 2022 and with the EHNS Award in 2023.
Prof. Isabel Vilaseca, MD PhD
Prof. Isabel Vilaseca, MD PhD, is a Senior Consultant at the Otorhinolaryngology Department of the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and current Director of the Surgical Area.
She is Professor at the School of Medicine of the University of Barcelona, Group leader of the Consolidated Research Group Head and Neck Clínic (AGAUR). Her research has focused on the knowledge and treatment of head neck cancer with special emphasis in early diagnosis and minimally invasive surgery.
She has implemented transoral resection techniques for pharyngolaryngeal tumors, including transoral laser microsurgery, ultrasonic and robotic surgery, and also has worked in the evaluation of functional outcomes after surgery.
No of publications: +130. H-Index (WoS): 33. Total citations: +5.000. In 2023 she received the prestigious Oskar-Kleinsasser Award-Storz Prize from the European Laryngological Society in recognition of a career of excellence and in 2024 she was recognised with the CoMB Professional Excellence Award in Hospital Care.
Mark E. Zafereo, Professor MD
Dr. Mark Zafereo is a Professor of Head and Neck Surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas where he is Section Chief of Head and Neck Endocrine Surgery and Associate Medical Director of the Head & Neck Center.
Dr. Zafereo serves as Treasurer of the American Thyroid Association, and on the American Head & Neck Society Research and Education Foundation Board of Trustees. He has previously served on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and the International Thyroid Oncology Group.
Dr. Zafereo leads several national multicenter clinical trials on neoadjuvant therapy followed by surgery for anaplastic and medullary thyroid cancers. He has published significantly on Thyroid and other Head & Neck cancers, speaking nationally and internationally. His clinical practice focuses on patients afflicted with thyroid cancer and parathyroid neoplasms.
Professor Justin Roe, MBE PhD FRCSLT
Justin is a Consultant and Professional Lead for Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust (RM) in London. He is also a senior member of the Applied Health Research Group and leads the survivorship theme for the International Centre for Recurrent head and Neck Cancer (IReC) at RM. From 2016-2026, he established and led a dedicated SLT service at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust supporting the National Centre for Airway Reconstruction and complex laryngology service and continues to manage a busy laryngology practice in the private sector. He is a Professor of Practice in Speech and Swallowing Rehabilitation in the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London.
Justin has been an investigator on several research studies, including NIHR portfolio studies. He is chief investigator on the NIHR-funded CONSIDER Study. He has published extensively and contributed to key policy and position papers, acting as an expert adviser to several national organisations. He was the Allied Health Professions Council Member for the British Association of Head and Neck Oncologists and is currently SLT Council Member for the British Laryngological Association. He is President of the UK Swallowing Research Group. Justin was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists in 2018 and an MBE in the 2022 Queen's New Year's Honours in recognition of his contribution to the SLT profession.
Terry Day MD, FCS
Dr. Day currently serves as the National Director of Head and Neck Oncology for the Sarah Cannon Cancer Network and provides multidisciplinary head and neck cancer care at Head and Neck Specialists of South Carolina. He earned his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma and completed his residency at Louisiana State University, followed by fellowships in head and neck oncologic surgery at the University of California, Davis Medical Center and in craniomaxillofacial surgery at Inselspital–Bern in Bern, Switzerland. Following his fellowship training, Dr. Day joined the faculty at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the Departments of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery and Neurosurgery. He later joined the Medical University of South Carolina, where he was named Professor, Vice Chair, and Director of the Division of Head and Neck Oncologic Surgery. He also served as Director of the Head and Neck Tumor Center at Hollings Cancer Center and held joint appointments in the Departments of Craniofacial Biology and Stomatology, as well as the College of Graduate Studies.
Dr. Day is deeply committed to patient advocacy and professional leadership. He serves as Chairman of the Board for the international nonprofit Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, Inc., and in 1998 founded the inaugural international Oral and Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week, which has now spanned more than 25 years of education and advocacy efforts worldwide. His leadership roles include serving as President of the American Head and Neck Society, as a member of the inaugural Council of the International Academy of Oral Oncology and completed a four-year term on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery. He has also served as a Senior Examiner for the American Board of Otolaryngology and as a member of the National Cancer Institute Head and Neck Steering Committee, the RTOG Head and Neck Subcommittee, and the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Head and Neck Working Group. Additionally, he was the first statewide director of the Council of the South Carolina Cancer Alliance.
An accomplished clinician-scientist, Dr. Day has been active in both clinical and translational research as a principal investigator or co-investigator in more than 25 clinical trials. He has received numerous research grants and public health advocacy awards, edited four textbooks, and authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications. He remains committed to global health education and clinical outreach, participating in volunteer efforts in Haiti, Africa, and other developing healthcare settings worldwide. Outside of his professional work, Dr. Day enjoys spending time with his family, exploring new cultures around the planet, running on the beach with his dog, and snowboarding in fresh powder.
Dr Grainne Brady
Dr Grainne Brady is a Clinical Academic Speech & Language Therapist at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. Dr Brady has authored multiple peer-reviewed and invited articles with funding support from the National Institutes of Health Research (NIHR) with support of the International Centre for Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer (IReC) and the Royal Marsden Charity. She has also authored or co-authored a number of book chapters.
Dr. Brady is a specialist advisor on Head and Neck Cancer to the Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists, previous Chair for their Clinical Excellence Network in Head and Neck Cancer and current Secretary for the UK Swallow Research Group (UKSRG). Dr Brady is an accomplished clinician and educator who lectures nationally and internationally on dysphagia and communication rehabilitation in head and neck cancer.
Dr Brady’s National Institute of Cancer Research (NIHR) funded PhD work focused on function and quality of life (QoL) outcomes in recurrent head and neck cancer (HNC) including complex/ shared decision making. Her wider research interests include optimising function, QoL and patient experience in primary and recurrent HNC and service design using co-design.
Professor Richard John Shaw
I am an Academic Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon specializing in head and neck cancer and reconstruction. I graduated from the Universities in Bristol and Glasgow with primary degrees in dentistry and medicine. After surgical training in Glasgow, I undertook higher training in OMFS and a head & neck oncology fellowship in Liverpool at the world-famous Walton/Aintree Unit. Integrated within this clinical training, I completed my research thesis in the University of Liverpool as a RCSEng Research Fellow, as well as DoH Genetics in Healthcare Fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Centre USA. I was appointed to Liverpool University and Aintree in 2007, gaining a personal chair in 2012.
Liverpool Head & Neck Centre
I am the chair of the Mersey Head & Neck Oncology Group (MHNORG), the research arm of Liverpool Head & Neck Centre. MHNORG is an expanding and vibrant multidisciplinary collaboration of clinicians and scientists committed to improving understanding and treatment of malignancies of the mouth, throat and larynx. I have honorary chair in OMFS in the University of Hong Kong, and have been visiting Professor at AC Camargo Sao Paulo, MD Anderson Cancer Centre Texas, McGill University Montreal Canada.
Clinical Interests & Research
My clinical role is as a head and neck surgeon specialising in oral cavity, microvascular reconstruction, osteoradionecrosis and premalignancy. I have innovated in composite, chimeric and perforator free flaps, sentinel node biopsy and the management of oral dysplasia and lead several multicentre randomised controlled trials. My research interests
are:
- Premalignancy, prevention and early detection of oral cancer and cancer epigenetics
- Late effects, particularly late radiation toxicities such as mandibular osteoradionecrosis
- Clinical & surgical management of oral cavity malignancy
Leadership Roles
I was associate director of our NHS research network, NIHR CRN(Cancer) from 2014-2021 with specific remit for advancing surgical oncology trials and the role of surgeons in the national cancer portfolio. I am president of the International Academy of Oral Oncology 2023-25, & conference chair of the IAOO International Congress to be held in Liverpool in 2025.
Heath D. Skinner, MD, PhD
Heath D. Skinner, MD, PhD is Professor and Claude Worthington Benedum Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Chief Medical Officer of the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Radiation Oncology Network. He specializes in the study and treatment of head and neck cancer and is a board-certified radiation oncologist as well as a physician-scientist. His focus remains on providing excellent and compassionate patient care and seeking to integrate clinical trials into clinical practice to improve the lives of his patients.
Dr. Skinner maintains an active, translational research laboratory focused upon identifying novel, clinically targetable biomarkers of resistance to radiation. His group utilizes large-scale analysis of clinical specimens as well as experimental screening approaches to generate novel targets for study, which are then investigated to elicit insights into the underlying biology of treatment resistance. This work is designed to lead to the rational design of clinical trials using agents currently under investigation, minimizing the time from discovery to patient benefit. It has led to the completion of two clinical trials evaluating the ability of the common diabetic agent metformin to sensitize tumors to radiation, as well as multiple targetable biomarkers at various stages of trial development.
Heath completed a combined MD/PhD program at West Virginia University, followed by a residency in Radiation Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he remained on faculty until joining the Hillman Cancer Center in 2018. Over the course of his career, his laboratory has been continuously funded, including multiple active R01s supporting his research. He has published more than 145 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Nature Cell Biology, Cancer Cell, Oncogene, Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, and JAMA Oncology. In addition, he has written multiple book chapters and invited reviews and has been an invited speaker at both national and international scientific and clinical meetings. Dr. Skinner is also the overall PI for the University of Pittsburgh Head and Neck SPORE, which provides close to 12 million dollars in funding for the Head and Neck translational and clinical research program at UPMC.
Dr. Skinner is active in national committees guiding oncologic clinical practice and research, including the NCI Head and Neck Steering Committee, which reviews all cooperative group trials in Head and Neck cancer for final approval. He serves as Chair of the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program Panel and Chair of NCI’s Nanomedicine in Cancer Review Panel. He was a co-chairman on the NCI TP53 Clinical Trial Planning Committee, which produced ECOG 3222, a multi-institutional randomized trial evaluating xevinapant in resected head and neck cancer. He is also the PI of TRILOC (NCT05388773), an investigator-initiated trial of radiation de-escalation in head and neck cancer.
His educational and scientific contributions have been recognized by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Radiation Oncology, the American Board of Radiology, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the latter being an elected honor society for physician-scientists.
Dr. Skinner and his wife Lesly have five children, ranging from 2 to 12 years of age. Outside of medicine, he is an avid, if unhurried, runner – having completed multiple 50-kilometer trail runs and is currently training for his first 50-mile ultramarathon – and enjoys spending time with his family.
Nancy Y. Lee MD
Nancy Y. Lee MD, FASTRO is Vice Chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology focusing on Experimental Therapeutics. She is also the Proton Service Chief and the Chief of the Head and Neck Radiation Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is also the Associate Director of the Prevention Interception Program at MSKCC. She is also the Multimodality Section Head of the Early Drug Development Service. Dr. Lee has appointments in both Radiation Oncology Department as well as Early Drug Development Group and currently is the Section Head of the Multimodality Therapeutic Section within Early Drug Development.
Dr. Lee was born in Taipei, Taiwan, grew up until age 9 and then immigrated to USA. She is an internationally renowned academic physician whose research, publications (almost 300 peer reviewed papers), 3 of the best-selling target delineation books, and lectures have helped radiation oncologists across multiple radiation oncologists harness the powers of IMRT and proton therapy. She has dedicated her career to embracing technology, modernizing clinical practice, and bringing radiation oncology to the forefront of cancer medicine. She is also active in the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer where she is a co-author of a consensus statement on immunotherapy use for head and neck cancer and has established multiple industry relationships to take command of trials combining novel therapeutic agents with radiation. Dr. Lee has served on multiple ASTRO committees and editorial boards. At MSKCC, she has been a tireless advocate for patients and dedicated herself to the education of trainees (receiving multiple ARRO teaching awards and mentoring over 100 radiation oncologists around the world to successful careers of their own in academic and private practices across the country.
Her research focuses on developing novel strategies to personalize cancer treatment with the goal to improve tumor cure and quality of life after radiation treatment for head and neck cancer where she has received several NIH R01 funding, including:
(1) Designing/evaluating novel PET and/or MR imaging metrics to select best candidates for radiation dose reduction, currently the de-escalation dose is 30Gy with chemotherapy for select locally advanced Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with ultimate goal of individualizing both radiation and systemic therapy; de-escalation strategies for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, HPV negative tumors; thyroid cancer.
(2) Assessing biologic targeted therapies and using biomarkers such as plasma EBV DNA to individualize treatment for nasopharyngeal, thyroid, and plasma HPV DNA to personalize oropharyngeal cancer; cell free plasma DNA or circulating tumor DNA to direct therapy across different head and neck/thyroid cancer; escalate therapy based on biologic or imaging correlates; and screening for HPV+ oropharyngeal cancer. She is principal investigator for an international NRG trial personalizing treatment for nasopharyngeal cancer using plasma EBV DNA.
(3) Establishing standard treatment guidelines for therapies such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), and proton beam for head and neck cancer and focusing efforts on developing FLASH proton therapy with goal of further toxicity reduction.
Her top priority is to help radiation oncology continue to evolve to elevate patient care. She has over 300 peer reviewed papers, numerous review articles, book chapters. She has numerous NIH funded grants. She believes this requires actively engaging and providing opportunities for practitioners in all different settings and phases of their careers. Outside of work, Dr. Lee is very involved in her church and enjoys traveling with her husband and two boys.
Mario Fernández Fernández MD PhD
Bachelor in Medicine and Surgery at the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (1992). Residency in Otorhinolaryngology at the Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña (2000). PhD degree in Medicine from the Universidad de A Coruña (2000).
Full professor of Radiology and Physical Medicine at the Universidad de A Coruña ( 2000-02) . Head of department of Otorhinolaryngology at the Hospital Universitario del Henares (2008- 2017).
Consultant for Head and Neck Surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center Madrid between 2009- 2017. Assistant General Secretary and General Secretary (2012-2018) Sociedad Española de Otorrinolaringología y Cirugía de Cabeza y Cuello. Head of Head and Neck Surgery, Hospital Universitario “Gregorio Marañón,” (2017-2025) . Associate Professor of Otorhinolaryngology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2018-2025).
Representative for Head and Neck Surgery within the European Head Neck Society (EHNS) (2023-present). Coordinator of the EHNS Academy (2024-present). Chair of Otorhinolaryngology, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Vigo, (2025-present)
Professor Miroslav Tedla
Miroslav Tedla, MD, MPH, PhD is a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at the Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital of the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia.
He is a UK fellowship trained Head and Neck and Thyroid surgeon (Hisham Mehanna, Coventry, 2010) working as an ENT Consultant in the UK in 2012 to 2015. Miro is a member of several international societies, CORLAS member and at the moment serves as a Secretary General of Confederation of European ORL- HNS (CEORL-HNS).
He is also a Board member of European Laryngological Society and the Slovak Society of ORL- HNS. Dr. Tedla is a main author of three textbooks, numerous book chapters, author/co-author of more than 130 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 and Dysphagia.
Dr Ronald Ghossein
Dr Ghossein is the Director of Head and Neck Pathology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York. His research focuses on improving the classification of thyroid carcinomas. He published the first article in 2006 demonstrating the extremely indolent outcome of the encapsulated non-invasive papillary carcinoma follicular variant leading to a reclassification of this entity as non-invasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary like nuclear features (NIFTP). Dr Ghossein is the senior author of the NIFTP article published in JAMA Onc in 2016. He also developed a novel definition of poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma based exclusively on mitotic count/tumor necrosis that led to the concept of high-grade follicular-cell derived non-anaplastic thyroid carcinoma and high-grade differentiated thyroid carcinoma, both entities included the WHO 5th edition. He published the 1st grading system for medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and is one of senior investigator of the subsequent international grading system for MTC. He is member of the editorial board of the last WHO classification of endocrine tumors and the main author of the 5th series AFIP fascicle on thyroid and parathyroid tumors.