On May 20-21, the Duke Department of Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences (HNS&CS) held its first "Promoting Healthier Connections with the World" Global Health Conference.
The in-person conference aimed to bring together Duke University's global health expertise and experience with international partners and collaborators to strengthen shared clinical, research, and education initiatives. It also invited other professionals and trainees to help address global OHNS challenges. International representation included attendees and speakers from the US, Israel, Tanzania, Vietnam, Haiti, Rwanda, South Africa, Chile, Switzerland, Qatar, Singapore, and Kenya.
The special guest panel included adjunct professors in HNS&CS: Deb Tucci, MD, MBA, who is now the director of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), and Blake Wilson, PhD, the former co-director of the Duke Hearing Center at Duke University Medical Center and the 2013 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award recipient for his part in the development of the modern cochlear implant, a device that restores hearing to individuals with profound deafness.
This conference celebrated over 15 years of continuous engagement between the department and colleagues in Vietnam, and also with Hadassah University in Israel. Presentations highlighted partners in low- and middle-income countries and their work in addressing various topics such as capacity building and implementation of hearing health, head and neck cancer care, and surgical education.
We wish to express our gratitude to the following industry sponsors: Sanofi-Regeneron, Stryker, Vivo Surgical, Medtronic, and Integra for their commitment to global health. The academic institutions that supported this conference were the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation Endowment Fund, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke Hubert-Yeargan Center, and Office of Duke-NUS Affairs. Additionally, we would like to thank Debbi Schwartz and Alicia Yacoby for their generous contributions as private donors.
Special thanks to the Conference Chair, Dr. Walter Lee, MD, MHS, and Scientific co-chairs Dr. Robbie Patterson, MD, MPH, and Nosa Osazuwa-Peters, as well as to the planning committee: Trinitia Cannon, Eric Formeister, Eileen Raynor, David Kaylie, Liana Puscas, Chris Tobias, Nosa Osazuwa-Peters, Aleksandra Zabiran, and Lori Allsbrook. Special thanks to conference coordinator, Sylvia Garrett.
Please see the full list of excellent talks and speakers here.