COSM 2009: Six Societies Address Hot-Button Issues

Don’t miss the William F. House Lecture, The Future of Innovation and Discovery in Neurotology, presented by Lloyd B. Minor, MD, from Johns Hopkins University. There will also be an outstanding panel on current concepts in tinnitus management. The panel will be led by Carol A. Bauer, MD, from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, and will consist of a team of well-known experts in tinnitus research-both basic and clinical.

There are two recipients of the Neurotology Fellow Award, who will each give a talk pertaining to their research. Kevin D. Brown, MD, from Iowa, will present Bridging the Divide-Schwann Cell Potentiated Spiral Ganglia Neurite Growth. Jerry W. Lin, MD, from New York, will present Characteristics of Channel Faults in Failed Cochlear Implants. The Trainee Award will be awarded to Hideko Heidi Nakajima, MD, from Boston, for her presentation Experimental Evaluation of Round Window Stimulation Using the Floating Mass Transducer.

American Otological Society (AOS)

Joseph B. Nadol, Jr., MD, President of the AOS, tells ENT Today that there will be lots to choose from in the AOS program. With 24 selected free papers, two panels, and two invited basic science lecturers, attendees will certainly keep busy.

An important theme that will run through this year’s AOS meeting will be emerging nonsurgical management protocols for otologic disease, said Dr. Nadol. He added that the Program Advisory Committee has identified several areas where there are professional practice gaps, and has attempted to address these gaps in the sessions.

The selected papers, panels, and lecturers [were chosen] in an effort to provide a deeper understanding of advances in otology and neurotology currently and in the future, both in surgical and nonsurgical treatments, including management protocols, implantable devices, and diagnosis and management of vestibular disorders. I am sure it will be an exciting and highly educational meeting for members and guests, he said.

The guest of honor, Robert J. Ruben, MD, from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, will present a paper on The Promise of Otology. Also, there will be two basic science lectures worthy of note. The first will be by Scott Plotkin, MD, from the Department of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, titled The New Frontier: Targeted Therapies for NF-2-Related Vestibular Schwannomas. The second lecture will be presented by Alec N. Salt, PhD, from the Department of Otolaryngology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and will explore techniques for local drug delivery to the inner ear.