The American head and neck society: advocacy for patients

Prof Dennis Kraus - North Shore-LIJ Cancer Institute, New York, USA

Can you describe the work of the American Head and Neck Society?

The American Head and Neck Society is one of the largest organisations in the world which is dedicated to the care of patients with head and neck cancer. There are a number of missions for the organisation; the organisation is tremendously interested in the education of surgeons and oncologists who are going to provide care for head and neck cancer patients for years to come. We support a number of research endeavours, we provide mentorship and lastly we like to think that we are a place where patients with head and neck cancer know that they can come for support.

Do you help with advocacy?

We’re tremendous advocates for patients with head and neck cancer. There’s an annual screening day that gets done through a number of organisations, both in the United States and around the world. We’re very involved with things like tobacco cessation, become very involved in alcohol prevention, alcohol abuse prevention. Then we’re also playing a significant role in the emergence of this new disease, the human papilloma virus related cancer. So I think those are all one of many issues in which we’re able to advocate on behalf of patients and provide better understanding of this multitude of diseases.

Can you tell us about your upcoming meeting?

We’re very excited, next July, 17th through 20th, our every four year international meeting will be in Seattle. Unlike our annual meeting we try to bring together not only surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, radiologists, virtually anyone who plays any role in the management of patients with head and neck cancer. Often these meetings number several thousand individuals. We think it’s a very exciting forum and we think it’s a tremendous opportunity for education and interaction with your colleagues.