Published: April 1, 2019

Candidate Statements – President-Elect

What are the strengths of the Academy that will lead us forward in our specialty and how will you capitalize on those strengths? What do you think is the most important item in the Academy’s strategic plan?

Q: What are the strengths of the Academy that will lead us forward in our specialty and how will you capitalize on those strengths? What do you think is the most important item in the Academy’s strategic plan?

VOTE
FOR ONE
OF TWO

Carol Bradford President Elect

Carol R. Bradford, MD, MS

It has been an honor and a privilege to be an active member of the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery for my entire career. It has been a true joy to participate actively in the activities of this organization, most recently as an elected member of the Board of Directors.  If elected, my primary objective will be to serve the Academy’s stakeholders. Our stakeholders include our members, learners (students, residents, fellows), patients and families, and local, regional, national, and global communities.

The strength of the Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery is our engaged members and dedicated leaders. We have a clear vision for the future: to be the global leader in optimizing quality ear, nose, and throat patient care. As President-elect, I would ensure that the Academy leverages its robust efforts in quality, patient education, and future workforce to become the trusted source of educational content for ear, nose, and throat care. We need to ensure that we enable team-based otolaryngology care and that all members of the future global workforce find value in being a part of the Academy. We seek to continue to exceed expectations with our robust educational portfolio, including the ongoing transformation of our Annual Meeting. I truly enjoy the networking and educational activities of our Annual Meeting, in which I have actively participated for over 25 years. Recently, I have provided seminars on leadership lessons, crisis management, managing conflict, and unconscious bias. As the Chief Academic Officer of Michigan Medicine, I oversee both educational and global activities. It would be an honor to facilitate extending the impact of educational and global initiatives for our members.  Furthermore, I would ensure that we fully leverage Reg-entSM, the Academy’s ENT Clinical Data Registry, to improve the quality and value of the care we provide.

It is vital that we make meaningful progress toward realizing all of the Academy’s strategic goals, including the new initiatives of understanding the future needs of otolaryngology education and practice, ensuring wellness for our members, assessing current and future workforce needs, enabling global activities, and creating robust patient educational platforms.

With that said, I am passionate about ensuring the wellness of our workforce. At my home institution, I chaired a year-long Civility and Wellness Task Force, and we are now launching a Wellness Office. There are many facets in a journey to achieve and sustain wellness. Limiting the administrative burden of the EHR is significant, as is finding meaning, purpose, and joy in work. Like the all too familiar saying, “Put on your own oxygen mask before helping others,” we need to take care of ourselves first. If elected President, I would enhance Annual Meeting programs and activities that address wellbeing with the goal of enabling all of our members to thrive.

Michael Seidman President Elect

Michael D. Seidman, MD

The Academy’s strength, simply put, is YOU! The dedication to your patients, practices, education, research, advocacy, and humanitarian efforts is palpable. YOU are our core asset, and to capitalize on this strength I will foster engagement, commitment, and unity.

ADVOCACY. This action enables everything we do. We chose medicine to provide the best care for our patients, yet the challenges that loom before us appear antithetical to that goal. Having had practice experience in diverse settings provides a unique perspective, allowing me to affect meaningful change through advocacy involving private payer issues, scope of practice containment, quality, MOC, etc. Success in these areas will enhance quality care, facilitate our own wellness, and return joy and meaning to the practice of medicine.

I have been active in the Academy and Foundation since 1986, starting as a resident, then Chair of the BOG and a member of the BOD (2013-2017). I was elected to the executive board twice and have served on over 25 committees, often as chair, led searches for distinguished positions in the Academy, and served on multiple task forces. I am proud to have presented at every Academy, meeting over the past 30 years, missing only one because of Hurricane Irma, and to have testified before Congress and the DOD. These research, educational, advocacy, and patient-directed activities were recognized by my receiving the Distinguished Service Award twice (50 points x 2) and the Clinical Practitioner Excellence Award.

My commitment spans decades as a grassroots advocate at the local, state, and national level, working with and informing our elected representatives in Congress and Senate, using email, phone, and personal visits on behalf of our patients and Academy. I serve as a State tracker (535 program and “I-Go”), have been a lifelong ENT PAC contributer, and am a founding member of the Hal Foster Endowment.

As president of our state society I helped create the first Audiology Board after promulgating an acceptable scope of practice bill that was fair for physicians, audiologists, HADs and our patients. Our governor appointed me to lead the board for eight years. I have also served the ANS, AOS, and the TRIO society in leadership positions and remain actively involved. This service demonstrates my ability to lead our Academy to benefit you and our patients through collaboration with the entire “house of otolaryngology” while celebrating everyone’s uniqueness.  “We Are One” truly represents our charge!

I am a consensus builder and facilitate inclusiveness and unity. While we may not always agree on details, it is critical to encourage a voice for all stakeholders and encourage the opinions of others. Separately we are weaker; together, we are stronger and can accomplish anything. One of my students wrote, “The profession of medicine is the marriage of science with compassion, but the ultimate reward lies in a physician’s ability to empower others.” Advocacy is critical to our future success and empowerment. I would be humbled if chosen to serve as your next president, and promise to do so with integrity, commitment, and respect.

 

 

More from April 2019 – Vol. 38, No. 3
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Candidate Statements – Audit Committee
What is your particular experience or interest that would make you an affective member of the Audit Committee of the Academy?
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Candidate Statements – Nominating Committee: Academic
How will you select candidates for Academy leadership that best represent our diverse membership? What experience do you have that will aid in selecting leaders that will advance the mission of the Academy?
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Candidate Statements – Nominating Committee: Private Practice
How will you select candidates for Academy leadership that best represent our diverse membership? What experience do you have that will aid in selecting leaders that will advance the mission of the Academy?
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Candidate Statements – Director-At-Large: Private Practice
What do you see as the essential task of the Directors and in what ways are you well suited to the role? What do you think is the most important item in the Academy’s strategic plan?
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Candidate Statements – Director-At-Large: Academic Practice
What do you see as the essential task of the Directors and in what ways are you well suited to the role? What do you think is the most important item in the Academy’s strategic plan?
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‘Meet Our Academy Member Donors’ Online brochure
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Women in Otolaryngology Day
This year, on March 3, many in the otolaryngology community celebrated the Women in Otolaryngology (WIO) section and its members. This day, which we hope will occur every year on the Sunday after the Otolaryngology Training Examination/In-Service exam, bolstered an already growing community within our specialty. Around the country, local WIO groups met for social, educational, and supportive events.
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Humanitarian Service: Facial reconstructive surgery in Belize
“Life is about people.” Those are the words that my grandfather used to tell me, and I’ve evaluated my own life based on my interactions with other people. I went into facial plastic and reconstructive surgery so that I would be able to make a personal difference in many people’s lives, whether it was repairing congenital anomalies, facial trauma, skin cancers, or aesthetic concerns.
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Physician safety is patient safety: Good surgical ergonomics to optimize patient care
Physicians selflessly provide care to their patients over the course of a 30 to 40-year career. Ideally, we stay healthy and rarely get sick or suffer a serious injury.  However, we are not immune from physical infirmity and—like a professional athlete—simply often choose to “play through the pain.”
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What you need to know about MIPS Year Three (Y3)
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented extensive updates for Y3 of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Key programmatic changes for 2019 address eligible clinicians, technology requirements, performance categories, scoring methodology, measures, and objectives, as well as thresholds and bonus points.
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Your Academy around the world
Since its inception, the AAO-HNSF has cultivated ties to national otolaryngology societies and similar organizations around the world. AAO-HNSF assigns great importance to these relationships, which collectively advance the otolaryngology specialty in ways no one society can achieve alone.
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What’s in a name?
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Just what the doctor ordered
The Administrator Support Community for ENT (ASCENT) is the only association dedicated to supporting the leaders in the unique specialty of otolaryngology practice management. Formerly known as the Association of Otolaryngology Administrators (AOA), ASCENT has a long history of providing resources, networking, and education to administrators, managers, supervisors, and coders in otolaryngology practices that helps the practice, physicians, and ultimately the patient.
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Engagement Opportunities Series: Become an Advocate for the Specialty
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One click to advocate
Effective grassroots advocacy starts with you! AAO-HNS members can reinforce the Academy’s legislative efforts on Capitol Hill by calling, emailing, and tweeting their members of Congress. This additional layer of constituent-based outreach amplifies the specialty’s position when Congress debates major healthcare issues.
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Advocacy in action: An overview of federal and state legislative priorities
The American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) is committed to the enactment of legislation that will strengthen the delivery of, and access to, quality healthcare. In 2019, the AAO-HNS anticipates action on the following issues at the federal and state levels:
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UK simulation-based otolaryngology-head and neck surgery “Boot Camp”
Medical training has shifted over recent years to a focus on developing trainee competence and proficiency according to predetermined approved standards. A challenge has been to deliver this training paradigm within a time-restricted program, which has had a significant impact, especially on surgical specialities where developing expertise relies heavily on appropriate clinical exposure.
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Otolaryngologists can affect change by working together
Advocacy in the medical association world is a broad term that encompasses a wide range of activities across many fronts with the end goal of defining and delivering the best healthcare outcomes for our patients. Typically, areas that receive the highest attention and resources include federal and state legislation, regulatory agencies, and private payer issues.
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Your vote, your future
This month’s edition of the Bulletin features statements from our candidates for AAO-HNS/F leadership positions. Please read and consider them as we approach our annual election, which opens in May. I would like to thank our AAO-HNS Nominating Committee for presenting all of us a superb slate of candidates.