Gene Brown, MD, RPh AAO-HNS/F PresidentAs your incoming President of the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery and its Foundation (AAO-HNS/F), I'm energized to serve in this role and look forward to what we can accomplish together this year. The strategic planning session that was conducted earlier in 2025 identified key priorities and highlighted an important opportunity—leveraging our specialty's unity as a strategic advantage. When we work together effectively, we're better positioned to influence and drive change within our field.
Dr. Brown presenting at the NC & SC ACS Joint Annual Meeting, July 11-13, 2025, in Asheville, North Carolina.I recently had the opportunity to speak with our colleagues in North Carolina and South Carolina at their joint society meeting about specialty unity, and the positive response was electric. The conversations that followed reinforced what we already know—we're part of something bigger. We're strengthening a movement that will continue to reshape how our Academy and our specialty show up in the world. The question isn't whether we can create sustainable change—it's how effectively we can build on our strong foundation to make it happen.
The fact is that our world spins in chaos. The current political climate, combined with a healthcare economy rife with opportunistic players, creates a perfect storm of disruption. Every day brings new changes, and the constant upheaval has attracted swarms of external business interests, investors, and administrators seeking profit from our profession's instability. As healthcare's share of gross domestic product (GDP) grows, government intrusion intensifies. Pharmacy benefit managers and payers are capitalizing on every opportunity to expand their control and profits.
This chaos has arrived precisely when physician burnout has reached crisis levels. Our services are being commoditized while we navigate an ever-expanding maze of regulations. Artificial intelligence and administrative "box checkers" train us to jump through hoops—many of which are literally on fire. With 82% of us now employed and practice margins under relentless pressure, the remaining independent practitioners and the department chairs alike, look nervously over their shoulders.
As our specialty faces these external pressures, we simultaneously battle internal fragmentation. We are becoming increasingly specialized—75% of fifth-year residents indicated pursuit of fellowship training in the AAO-HNS 2023 Workforce Study. Although sub-specialization advances our clinical capabilities, it creates new challenges for maintaining our unity. Subspecialty societies increasingly provide specialized continuing medical education, creating silos within our specialty. As costs rise and margins compress, maintaining multiple association memberships becomes financially challenging, making our Academy's role as the unifying voice even more critical.
Ten years ago, James C. Denneny III, MD, our former EVP/CEO, launched the Academy’s mantra, "We Are One"—a principle that remains central to who we are and continues to drive our work. His words ring ever truer today as we face new forms of fragmentation.
The challenges ahead will test our specialty's resilience as they have before. Congressional partisanship has reached untenable levels, making meaningful healthcare reform nearly impossible. Payers continue usurping physician autonomy, imposing ever-more restrictive rules. We watch colleagues leave medicine at younger ages, unable to withstand the gauntlet of players seeking to exploit every crack in our professional armor—invading like viruses seeking vulnerable epithelium. In this environment, specialty unity remains not just aspirational, but essential for our continued effectiveness.
The AAO-HNS/F stands as our specialty's “Big Tent.” Your Academy possesses the resources, talent, and voice to represent our collective interests most effectively, as always. We continue driving the stakes deep and keeping this Big Tent firmly planted over the heads of otolaryngologists and otolaryngology. No other association has the infrastructure nor the wherewithal to represent our cause on the national level while also expanding our international outreach to unite the global otolaryngology community in optimizing quality ear, nose, and throat patient care.
As a specialty with more than 13,000 members, we need to continue to stand united. Other threats are just too real to overlook and not address. Our response ultimately protects patient care, and this is where we must continue to draw the line. As investors and regulators barge their way in between patient and physician, we must stand tall. We cannot afford to let others direct care, and we cannot afford for our services to be commoditized and our access to be further restricted. We need all otolaryngologists to be members in this Academy, in this united front. Our voice resonates loudest when we stand together, as it always has.
Serving as your President during these pivotal times is both a profound honor and an urgent responsibility, building upon our Academy's long tradition of leadership during challenging periods. I am deeply committed to continuing the long-term vitality of our specialty and to ensuring that every newly trained graduate can pursue the fulfilling career they have dedicated years to achieve. These exceptional professionals deserve practice environments where they can fully leverage the expertise they have worked tirelessly to develop.
My goal is to continue advancing both access to and quality of care for our patients while maintaining our profession's position of strength because patient care must never be compromised. The challenges we face today are unprecedented in some ways, but our Academy's commitment to meeting them remains unwavering.
Thanks again for the honor and the opportunity to continue this important work. I look forward to working with all of you along the way.
I hope you will join me and your colleagues in Indianapolis to carry on these important discussions!
Calling All U.S. Academy Members:Support ENT PAC and Protect Our Seat at the Table
ENT PAC* is our voice in Washington, and if we don’t speak up for ourselves, no one else will. From supporting key congressional leaders to backing physician advocates in Congress, ENT PAC ensures otolaryngologists have influence where healthcare policies are made. Every dollar strengthens our ability to protect patient care and our profession's future.
*Contributions to ENT PAC are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Contributions are voluntary, and all members of the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery have the right to refuse to contribute without reprisal. Federal law prohibits ENT PAC from accepting contributions from foreign nationals. By law, if your contributions are made using a personal check or credit card, ENT PAC may use your contribution only to support candidates in federal elections. All corporate contributions to ENT PAC will be used for educational and administrative fees of ENT PAC, and other activities permissible under federal law. Federal law requires ENT PAC to use its best efforts to collect and report the name, mailing address, occupation, and the name of the employer of individuals whose contributions exceed $200 in a calendar year.
Gene Brown, MD, RPh
Dr. Brown presenting at the NC & SC ACS Joint Annual Meeting, July 11-13, 2025, in Asheville, North Carolina.
