One Year in: Going Farther Together
Reflecting on lessons learned, celebrating progress made, and looking forward to continued unity through OTO Forum 2026 in Louisville.
Rahul K. Shah, MD, MBA
AAO-HNS/F Executive Vice President and CEO
I've now completed my first year as your EVP/CEO, and it has been defined by hearing from you and visiting with as many of you as possible. I've had the privilege of visiting with hundreds of you—not just in your practices and at your institutions, but also at meetings, state society gatherings, and dinners across the country. Each interaction teaches me something new, but the constants remain unchanged—the excellence of our physicians, the high quality of our care delivery teams, and the superb outcomes you achieve day in and day out for your patients. What's particularly exciting is witnessing firsthand the profound impact you make in your communities, serving as pillars of healthcare and trusted voices for your patients.
My goal throughout this year has been to ensure we remain one specialty, yet even I've stumbled myself. I know, see, and feel the constant temptations and forces that try to splinter us—from external pressures to internal tendencies toward fragmentation. I've occasionally inadvertently emphasized differences rather than demonstrate and advocate for our unity. It's a reminder that our commitment to "going farther together" requires constant vigilance, even from those of us leading the charge.
This is precisely why keeping our true north matters. When we collectively subscribe to representing all otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, we stand strong. When we unify our voice, we amplify our impact. It's with this commitment to unity that we're taking concrete steps to meet you where you practice and strengthen the bonds across our specialty.
It's with great enthusiasm that we announce that registration is open for the AAO-HNS/F 2026 OTO Forum, which will be held in Louisville, Kentucky, March 20 – 21. Traditionally, we've hosted this practice-focused meeting—centered on the business of medicine—in Alexandria, Virginia. As the meeting approaches its third year in its current form, we as an Academy feel strongly that to be successful, we must go out and meet you where you practice. Louisville provides an ideal destination where we can learn from each other regarding the business of medicine, practice efficiency, advocacy, emerging technologies, and ensuring that otolaryngologists remain the leader of team-based care. This aligns perfectly with our Strategic Plan goal of unifying our specialty while modernizing how we serve you.
As Past President Ron Kuppersmith, MD, MBA, often reminds me, our job as an Academy is to advocate, innovate, and collaborate. OTO Forum in Louisville will help us achieve all three goals—advocating for all otolaryngologists, helping us innovate to drive new care models and technologies, and doing this through collaboration. This commitment to bringing the Academy to you, rather than always expecting you to come to us, represents our commitment to how we think about member engagement and value delivery.
In December, 16 leaders representing our societies came together for the inaugural One OTO Summit—building on the foundation of our Specialty Unity Society. This summit represents a tangible step toward unifying our voice as a specialty, bringing together leaders from across our subspecialty societies to identify common ground and coordinate our collective efforts. We are excited to share more about One OTO as soon as possible. This initiative directly advances our Strategic Plan's first goal: "Otolaryngology-head and neck surgery is a unified specialty dedicated to high quality, equitable care." One OTO isn't just another meeting—it's a structural commitment to decreasing fragmentation and amplifying our collective voice.
We've reviewed feedback from the 2025 Annual Meeting, and it was overwhelmingly positive—filled with mutual enthusiasm and optimism for our field moving forward. Our commitment as an Academy is to build upon that momentum from Indianapolis and further advance it in Louisville and ensure 2026 OTO Forum furthers our strategic objectives of unifying our specialty and modernizing your Academy.
The Academy Flywheel continues to spin faster. Each practice or institution visit, each partnership cultivated, each advocacy win, each member who engages—all contribute to the momentum. My first year has reinforced what I shared in my Day One column: we don't just plan for transformation; we execute it daily.
As I reflect on this first year, I'm grateful for your patience with my stumbles, your engagement with our initiatives, and your commitment to our shared mission. The work of unifying our specialty isn't easy, and it requires all of us to adopt this collective mindset. But when we get it right, when we truly speak with one voice and act as one specialty, we become unstoppable.
As the African proverb that guided my industry partnerships column reminds us: together, we go farther.
See you in Louisville.
