Jeffrey Blumberg, MD, FACS is an Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery, Co-Director of the AHNS accredited Advanced Surgical Oncology and Microvascular Reconstruction fellowship, and Head & Neck Microvascular Reconstruction lead at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC, USA).  He completed his otolaryngology training at Yale University (New Haven, CT, USA) followed by advanced training in ablative head and neck surgical oncology, endocrine surgery, and microvascular reconstruction at the University of Toronto (Toronto, ON, Canada).  His areas of clinical expertise include microvascular reconstruction, surgical treatment of head and neck SCC, novel treatment approaches to well differentiated and anaplastic thyroid cancer, and surgical innovation across surgical specialties.  In addition, Dr Blumberg has maintained a keen focus on global health/surgery since university and continues to seek avenues to build sustainable partnerships.  

Mihir R. Patel, MD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr Patel started practicing at Emory in 2014.  Dr Patel focuses on minimally invasive surgical techniques to treat head and neck cancers. His interest in preserving functional outcomes for patients led to fellowship training in transoral robotic surgery (TORS) at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to receiving TORS training, Dr Patel completed a fellowship in minimally invasive, endoscopic skull base surgery at The Ohio State University Skull Base Center. Prior to entering the medical field, he was a chemistry teacher in Brooklyn, New York where he taught low-income students and offered free after-school tutoring lessons. Dr Patel was inspired to become a doctor by a student he tutored who died from cancer. Dr Patel is an active member of the American Head and Neck Society (AHNS). Within AHNS, he is honored to be a part of the TORS committee responsible for developing the curriculum for head and neck fellows. This course focuses on the nuances of TORS, including patient selection, intra-operative decision making, and managing complications.

Kevin is Ewing Professor of Audiology, Director of the Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness (ManCAD), Deputy Director of the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre and theme lead for Hearing Health. An honorary Consultant Clinical Scientist at Manchester NHS Foundation Trust.

Kevin is the only audiologist to be awarded NIHR Senior Investigator status.  A Principal Fellow of the British Society of Audiology, Expert Advisor for the NICE Centre for Guidelines, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for the Australian National Acoustic Laboratories. Chair of the North West Regional Advisory Committee for NIHR Research for Patient Benefit.

Kevin was brought up near Edinburgh where he studied Medical Sciences before gaining his MSc in Audiology at the University of Southampton (1986), PG Dip Management Studies at Brunel University (1997), and PhD in Audiology at the University of Southampton (2002).

A state registered clinical scientist with experience in all areas of adult and paediatric assessment and rehabilitation. Before entering academia, he was an audiology healthcare professional and worked at a variety of locations across the UK including Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Southampton. He has spent extended periods of time at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Gabrielle (Gaby) Saunders is based at the University of Manchester, UK where she is a Senior Research Fellow at Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness (ManCAD) and the Director of the Hearing Device Research Centre funded by the Manchester Biomedical Research Centre. Her research focuses on auditory rehabilitation and is broadly designed to optimize outcomes of hearing-related interventions, including teleaudiology, hearing screening, assistive technology and education, using principles of person-centred care and health behaviour psychology. Her hope is that her research will help towards making clinical care be evidence-based, family-centred and personalized.