Miller School Leads and Headlines American Neurotology Society Fall Meeting

Fred F. Telischi, M.D., FACS, MEE, chair of the Department of Otolaryngology, professor of neurological surgery and biomedical engineering, and the James R. Chandler Chair in Otolaryngology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, led his first fall meeting as president of the American Neurotology Society (ANS), September 10 in Philadelphia. The ANS is the largest and premiere subspecialty society in the world dedicated to ear and skull base surgeons.

This first in-person ANS meeting since the start of the pandemic also featured a keynote Franklin M. Rizer Memorial Lecture by Hillary Snapp, Au.D., Ph.D., chief of audiology and associate professor of otolaryngology at the Miller School, titled “Single-sided Deafness: On the path to binaural hearing.”

“During my opening remarks, I talked about our reorganizing the society and the conferences to be more diverse and inclusive,” said Dr. Telischi. “Inviting Dr. Snapp as the first audiologist, and the third women, in ANS’s history to deliver the Rizer Memorial Lecture at a meeting of ear and skull-based surgeons helped to pave the way to increased interactions among our subspecialties and more interdisciplinary discussions.”

Speaking about single-sided deafness, an evolving area of emerging importance and ongoing investigation, reflects the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, said Dr. Snapp.

“It was an incredible honor to be the one selected to give that lecture,” said Dr. Snapp. “I have spent my career managing patients with single-sided deafness, as well as studying them as a clinician-scientist. The attendees seemed incredibly enthusiastic. I spoke to people at great length, and many people reached out with questions and were pleased to learn they had new or different perspectives on how to manage single-sided deafness, as a result of the lecture.”

Miller School faculty also had other important roles at the ANS fall meeting.

Simon I. Angeli, M.D., director of the UHealth Ear Institute and professor of clinical otolaryngology and neurosurgery at the Miller School, moderated the panel “Acquired Cholesteatoma: Old Foe, New Approaches.”

ANS offers up to three $25,000 early research awards each year to encourage and support academic research in sciences related to otology and neurotology, to prepare clinician-scientists. It was announced at the 2022 meeting that one of this year’s recipients was Aida Nourbakhsh, M.D., Ph.D., a PGY-2 clinical resident at the Miller School, for her grant, “Molecular Mechanisms of Hypofractionation and Radiation Resistance in Vestibular Schwannoma.”

Michael E. Hoffer, M.D., professor of otolaryngology and neurological surgery at the Miller School and editor-in-chief of the newly launched Otology & Neurotology Open, presented an update on the new and exciting peer-reviewed publication, which is the official, gold open-access scientific journal of the American Otological Society and American Neurotology Society.

The Miller School’s leadership and participation in ANS recognizes and reflects the school’s excellence in the subspecialties of ear and skull-based surgery and hearing disorders, according to Dr. Telischi.

“We’re extremely well recognized in the field, and our reputation is far-reaching in terms of our expertise and consistent contributions over many years,” Dr. Telischi said.

Tags: American Neurotology Society, audiology, Department of Otolaryngology, Dr. Fred Telischi, Dr. Hillary Snapp, Miller School of Medicine, Otology Neurology Open, Single-sided deafness