2024 Annual Report: Message from Leadership

Douglas D. Backous, MD, AAO-HNS/F President (2023–2024) and James C. Denneny III, MD, Executive Vice President and CEO (2014–2024)

As we reflect on the achievements of 2024, we are filled with a sense of gratitude for the continued dedication and innovation of our members, staff, and volunteers. The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and its Foundation (AAO-HNS/F) has always been at the forefront of advancing the field of otolaryngology through our three pillars of strength—advocacy, education, and research and quality.

This year has been no exception and saw an even greater commitment from our collective otolaryngology community to our vision of being a global leader in optimizing quality ear, nose, and throat patient care. Furthermore, we have taken bold steps forward in our mission to engage our members and help them achieve excellence and provide high-quality, evidence-informed, and equitable ear, nose, and throat care through professional and public education, research, and health policy advocacy.

Read the AAO-HNS/F 2024 Annual Report 

In 2024, we continued to adapt to an ever-changing healthcare landscape, driving impactful initiatives to benefit the practice of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, investing in today for tomorrow. To do this, it was essential that we continued to innovate and create opportunities for all members of the Academy to contribute and empower innovation and patient care. We sought to accomplish these goals through listening to and identifying the needs of otolaryngologists in all practice settings and addressing them through the following strategies and programs:

We held the inaugural OTO Forum April 5-6, 2024, with resounding success and exemplifying our commitment to focusing on needs and empowering private practitioners to develop the program designed to equip them with the tools and insights they need to thrive in an ever-evolving healthcare landscape.

The AAO-HNSF 2024 Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO^SM drew in a record-breaking number of attendees, including the largest international contingency to date by continuing recent trends creating an innovative, extraordinary experience and opportunity of shared science, education, networking, and mentorship.

After an in-depth review, the Board of Directors approved a technological upgrade for Reg-ent^SM that will expand our data acquisition capabilities to include unstructured and ancillary data to maximize potential and collect the data sets necessary to achieve our initial goals of identifying and defining “best care” for the conditions that otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeons treat.

A partnership with the academic otolaryngology community allowed the Foundation to create and launch the Otolaryngology Core Curriculum. The flexibility and utility of this game-changing education product, which was rolled out on July 1, 2024, will also have important value to our private practice physicians and their staff including advanced practice providers as well as to the global otolaryngology community.

On the advocacy front, the Academy saw an increase in member participation. We successfully represented our specialty in several regulatory and legislative challenges and made our voices heard with decision makers on Capitol Hill. We have worked diligently to address the challenges our members face in practice and policy in both the short term and going forward, ensuring that the importance of otolaryngology is recognized by legislators, payers, and stakeholders.

One of the more monumental tasks facing the AAO-HNS/F this past year was searching for the incoming Executive Vice President and CEO, who would be serving in that role after the retirement of James C. Denneny III, MD. (Read The Legacy of a Leader: An Innovative Visionary in a Time of Transition, in the November 2024 Bulletin) In July 2024, after many months of work by a committed and thorough EVP/CEO Search Task Force, we announced the selection of Rahul K. Shah, MD, MBA, who officially assumed the role December 1, 2024.

Our accomplishments go well beyond this and are amplified by the ongoing platforms, programs, and services we provide for the specialty that answer the call for knowledge sharing, networking, and skill development. The pages within the 2024 Annual Report highlight these efforts that aim to meet the current needs of our members as well as to help shape the future of our specialty.

The Academy is not a building that sits in Alexandria, Virginia—it is representative of a group of people from all over the world, gifted and trained in what we believe is the finest specialty in medicine. This community of people joins forces to take care of patients with the best possible outcomes and do so with respect and dignity.

The Academy is our home base, a place where we come together—from varied backgrounds, life journeys, interests, training, and beliefs—to not only advance our specialty, but to change the lives of patients and their connections to the world.

Throughout the AAO-HNS/F 128-year history, it has always been the unity among our 13,000+ and growing members, in the name of patient care, that has been the cornerstone of all our efforts, programs, and services. Together, we have amplified the voice of our profession and continue to work toward securing the resources and policies needed to deliver the best care to our patients.

The work we accomplish from year to year is a direct result of every individual who has donated their time, expertise, knowledge, and financial contributions. As we look ahead to 2025 and beyond, we know we are well positioned to further elevate our voice for the practice of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery and patient care because of the ongoing investment our leaders, volunteers, members, and staff make to the work of the AAO-HNS/F.

Together, we are one. Together, we can change the world—one patient, one diagnosis, and one treatment plan at a time. Thank you for your continued commitment to our vision and mission.