Why Teamwork and Specialty Unity Matters

Carol R. Bradford, MD, MS
AAO-HNS/F President“We are stronger together than we are alone.” 

- Walter Payton

We held our most recent Specialty Unity Summit virtually on June 5, 2021. Participating organizations included representatives from the AAOA, AAO-HNS, ABOHNS, ABEA, AHNS, ALA, ANS, AOS, ARS, ASGO, AADO, OPDO, SUO, AAOA, and TRIO. We discussed important topics such as the future of meetings, residency training in otolaryngology, the transition from undergraduate to graduate medical education, and specialty collaboration with payers. From my perspective, specialty unity has never been stronger or more important. As we emerge from the pandemic, we recognize that our world has changed in ways we never imagined. We must innovate and work together to prepare for and build our specialty’s future in the post-pandemic world. We need to better understand how the AAO-HNS/F and otolaryngology subspecialty meetings of the future will continue to meet the needs of all our present and future national and global meeting participants. How can we best deliver education content that both present and future stakeholders need as well as opportunities for networking? To this end, we will be launching a Future of Meetings Task Force this summer. This task force will follow up on the Future of Education Task Force that redesigned our education offerings with great success. The new task force will deploy member and attendee surveys to determine how we should position ourselves to meet the needs of all our constituents in the future. 

Consistent with our “We Are One” philosophy, there will be a combined Presidents' Reception for the presidents and past presidents of all otolaryngology societies on Saturday evening, October 2. I am very excited that we will be able to hold our AAO-HNSF Annual Meeting in person, October 3-6, 2021. I cannot wait to see all of you in Los Angeles! It has been a long year and a half, and I really miss the community. The meeting will offer many new features, including ENTrepreneur Faceoff that will be presented by the Drugs and Medical Device Committee in a “Shark Tank” style. We will also have the “Great Debates” series during the meeting, and a personalized education track for all attendees. 

We really need each other in order to succeed. Our members represent all demographics, all practice types, and our global community. We must learn from one another so that we can realize our core purpose: to engage our members and help them achieve excellence and provide high-quality, evidence-informed, and equitable ear, nose and throat care. We will lead the way in advocacy for legislative, regulatory, and payer issues for otolaryngologists. We will work to support and improve the efficiency and success of otolaryngology practice. We will continue to lead and collaborate with the global otolaryngology community to advance otolaryngology through education initiatives. 

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” - Andrew Carnegie

I am very confident that we will realize our core purpose, our ambition, by working together as a team.