Published: November 3, 2017

Roger D. Cole, MD, MA, named Chair-Elect, Ethics Committee

The Board of Directors (BOD) appointed Roger D. Cole, MD, MA, to the position of Chair-Elect, Ethics Committee at the AAO-HNSF 2017 Annual Meeting & OTO Experience in Chicago, IL.


Roger D. Cole, MD, MARoger D. Cole, MD, MAThe Board of Directors (BOD) appointed Roger D. Cole, MD, MA, to the position of Chair-Elect, Ethics Committee at the AAO-HNSF 2017 Annual Meeting & OTO Experience in Chicago, IL. To fill the role, a search committee, led by Michael D. Seidman, MD, was commissioned to find a final candidate for the non-voting, ex-officio position. The Search Committee nominated Dr. Cole, and the nomination was approved by the BOD.

Dr. Cole is chief of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery and the Clinical Ethics Fellow for the W. G. (Bill) Hefner Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salisbury, Charlotte, and Kernersville, NC. He has served on the Academy’s Ethics Committee since 2011, and served as the North Carolina representative to the Board of Governors prior to that. Dr. Cole will serve as the chair-elect from October 1, 2017, to September 30, 2018, then as chair of the Ethics Committee for a four-year term beginning on October 1, 2018, with the completion of the term of the current chair, Susan D. McCammon, MD.

The Ethics Committee is charged with upholding the procedural guidelines for all AAO-HNS/F disciplinary proceedings and reviewing all Academy and Foundation activities from an ethical perspective, raising the sensitivity of Academy members to ethical issues, developing a mechanism to assess possible breaches of our Code of Ethics (including all its appendices), and making policy recommendations regarding ethical issues to the AAO-HNS/F BOD for its action.

Specific areas of responsibility include:

  • Assist the president-elect in reviewing committee applicants for potential conflicts of interests for committee members and committee chairs.
  • Review and raise any possible conflicts of interests during the AAO-HNS/F Boards of Directors meetings.
  • Anticipate change and proactively establish committee direction and/or policies to address issues and meet the needs of Academy members, the profession, and the organization.
  • Review the committee charge with members at the start of each meeting. Submit recommended changes to the appropriate BOD.

More from November 2017 – Vol. 36, No. 10