Trio Transitions: The outgoing and incoming presidents share their goals for the society

Robert Ossoff, MD

Question: What goals do you plan to focus on during your tenure as president?

Answer: I understand that the impact that any president can have in a one-year term is significant but guarded. One has to be realistic in terms of what they want to bite off. Change is inevitable, and we all have to embrace it. Some of the change I want to catalyze during my term as president will be continued by those who succeed me.

I want to ensure that the Triological Society will continue to provide the best educational programs for its members and for the non-members who attend our meetings. This will include education in the standard lecture format, as well as panel discussions, interactive forums, historical perspectives, and enhancements to our ongoing poster presentations. I also want to embrace and harness newer tools of education so that we are not just offering the most up-to-date information, but offering it in the most up-to-date ways to facilitate the learning process.

I want to reach out to the specialty to really make them aware of society meetings and membership, and the advantages of both. That especially includes young professionals. We want them to make society membership part of their three to five-year strategic plan and objective post-residency, or their two to four-year goal post-fellowship.

Q: What strategies do you plan to employ?

A: [They] would include reaching out to the specialty in a variety of ways. One is to have members, officers and myself as president work with other otolaryngology associations and societies around the country and [in] Canada. For example, by making presentations at local and regional society meetings, we can do collegial outreach, provide materials to encourage people to seek membership or come to our scientific sessions and utilize our web-based educational materials.

There’s also an opportunity to speak with resident sections at various meetings around the country and to work with program directors and department chairs to urge them to sign up their residents for resident membership in the society. At this point, all residents receive The Laryngoscope courtesy of the society [and publisher], and I’d like to see them get more involved if at all possible. The society has a large amount of money to fund residents to travel to meetings, and I want to continue to do that—and expand the travel grant program, if possible. There was a time when many chairs wouldn’t send residents to a meeting if they were presenting a poster, but now chairs appreciate the importance of a poster presentation at national and sectional meetings.