Published: August 29, 2018

Board of Governors: ONE team working for your team

I work in a hospital with nine other terrific otolaryngologists who dedicate themselves to their patients and their families. I frequently see my partners make personal sacrifices to support our patients and our entire team.


Sanjay R. Parikh, MD
Chair, Board of Governors


I work in a hospital with nine other terrific otolaryngologists who dedicate themselves to their patients and their families. I frequently see my partners make personal sacrifices to support our patients and our entire team. It often occurs to me that this paradigm mirrors our specialty: a team of surgeons who give selflessly to their patients and to their profession.

Sanjay R. Parikh, MDSanjay R. Parikh, MD

For the past year, I have worked with a team of otolaryngologists in the Board of Governors (BOG) who have dedicated themselves to supporting your team.

The BOG was established 35 years ago to help create a bridge between the leadership of state and specialty societies and the leadership of the Academy so that we may all work in unity to advance our profession. This past year, as BOG Chair, I witnessed a talented group of leaders work collectively on your behalf to do just that.

The BOG has three major committees populated by Academy members who are also leaders in their state or specialty society. Our three committees are:

  • BOG Governance and Society Engagement Committee (Chair, Spencer C. Payne, MD; Vice-Chair, Boris Chernobilsky, MD)
  • BOG Legislative Affairs Committee (Chair, Susan R. Cordes, MD; Vice-Chair, Troy D. Woodard, MD)
  • BOG Socioeconomic and Grassroots Committee (Chair, Lance A. Manning, MD; Vice-Chair, David S. Boisoneau, MD)

These committees work tirelessly with our incredible Academy staff to:

  • Ensure our state and federal legislative agenda matches the needs of our Academy members
  • Support our Academy’s ENT PAC, our political action committee
  • Empower and strengthen our state and specialty societies’ voices in the Academy
  • Listen and bring forward Academy member issues with payers, coverage, and reimbursement
  • Develop new tools for our membership to support payer relations
  • Distribute new knowledge for coding and reimbursement
  • Develop support for physicians who are feeling overwhelmed or burned-out
  • Train and develop a diverse leadership talent pool for our specialty
  • Collaborate with other sections within the Academy (Section for Residents and Fellows-in-Training, Women in Otolaryngology, Young Physicians’ Section)

On top of these committees, Daniel L. Wohl, MD, BOG Member-at-Large, has worked to strengthen the BOG Regional Representative program linking state societies to the BOG, and Samantha Anne, MD, BOG Secretary, has worked with Academy staff to strengthen our social media presence.

Overall, I feel privileged to have collaborated with this extraordinary group of leaders who have worked unremittingly for our profession. I was fortunate to follow in the footsteps of the Immediate Past BOG Chair, Stacey L. Ishman, MD, MPH, who was a role model to me. Although my term as BOG Chair ends soon, I’m not worried about the future state of the BOG or our profession. The next BOG Chair, Ken Yanagisawa, MD, is a star, and I know he will make sure that our team will continue to work for your team.


More from September 2018 – Vol. 37, No. 8