To the members of the AHNS Salivary Gland Section,
The May AHNS meeting at COSM marks the term end for the current Salivary Gland Section officers. For the next three-year term beginning at the close of the meeting, we have the following slate of candidates:
Running for Vice Chair
David M. Cognetti, MD
Mirabelle Sajisevi, MD
William R. Ryan, MD
Please review the statements from the candidates below and cast your vote at the bottom of this page. Thank you for your participation.
For Section Vice Chair
David M. Cognetti, MD
Mirabelle Sajisevi, MD
William R. Ryan, MD
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Statement from Dr. Cognetti:
I am honored to be nominated as a candidate for the AHNS Salivary Section Vice Chair. The charge of the Salivary Gland Section is to increase education, awareness, training, and research of benign and malignant disorders of the salivary glands; a mission that I have been committed to throughout my career. I envision this role as an opportunity to expand this commitment by supporting the Section Chair and AHNS in achieving their charge. I hope to leverage my experience and collaborative nature to work with AHNS leaders and Section members in developing innovative approaches to the treatment, teaching, and study of salivary gland disorders. The charge further mandates that the mission is accomplished by partnering with other societies and organizations dedicated to the care of the patient with salivary gland disorders. I was part of a small group who assisted in the creation of the Salivary Gland Committee at the AAO-HNS and would be excited to be a conduit of collaboration. Below are select activities pertinent to the charge of the Salivary Section.
Education: current chair of the Education Committee of the Salivary Gland Section of AHNS; former chair of the Head and Neck Surgery Education Committee of the AAO-HNS; content creations include online modules, podcasts, book chapters, and webinars.
Awareness: Strong advocate of minimally invasive and aesthetic approaches to salivary gland disorders, including advocating to patients, colleagues, professional societies, and industry.
Training: Invited faculty presenter at many national sialendoscopy training courses and host/co-director of annual (5 total) hands-on sialendoscopy training course at Jefferson.
Research: numerous publications on salivary gland disorders; Congress Co-Chair of 5th International Salivary Gland Congress.
I appreciate your consideration.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Statement from Dr. Sajisevi:
I am honored to be nominated for Vice Chair of the Salivary Gland Section of the American Head and Neck Society. This opportunity reflects my dedication to the AHNS mission at both the regional and national levels and includes excellence in patient care, education, and research. The field of candidates for this position is humbling and incudes outstanding physician leaders who also serve as mentors to me personally.
My involvement in the AHNS is significant. I currently serve as co-chair of the research sub-committee of the Salivary Gland Section and am a member of the AHNS Endocrine Section, where I fostered several collaborative, multi-institutional research studies. In addition, I am a member of the AHNS Mucosal Malignancy Section, where I contributed to a recently published AHNS review on oral cavity cancer surgical and nodal management. My next focus is serving on the Neck Dissection Classification Committee charged with updating neck dissection terminology. As Vice Chair for the Salivary Gland Section, I envision further collaborative research initiatives with engagement of our members that address important questions and improve patient care.
I have made a significant contribution to education at the local and national levels. At the national level, I serve on the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Education Committee. My work has contributed to curated teaching materials, including item writing, focused lifelong Education Xperience (FLEX) content, and the new otolaryngology core curriculum. At the local level, I am the Program Director for the Otolaryngology Residency Program at the University of Vermont (UVM) Medical Center. At UVM, I created an annual resident course on Head and Neck reconstruction and microvascular surgery. In 2023, I was honored by UVM Larner College of Medicine GME with the award for “Educator of the Year.” I aspire to continue implementing teaching innovations for our next generation of head and neck surgeons.
I strive to promote state of the art cancer care at my home institution. I spearheaded the development of our transoral robotic surgery program. In addition, through interdisciplinary collaboration, I have developed a clinical trial protocol for de-escalation of adjuvant therapy for HPV associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. As the Principal Investigator for this study and multiple other clinical trials at our institution, we are able to offer cutting-edge treatment options to the patients we serve.
These achievements underscore my commitment to collaboration and engagement with the AHNS community and continuing our mission to promote excellence in patient care, education, and research.
I appreciate your consideration.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Statement from Dr. Ryan:
Thank you for the nomination to potentially be vice chair of the American Head and Neck Society Salivary Section. I am excited at the prospect. I believe I have the credentials to fulfill this role in an outstanding manner. I am a full professor in head and neck surgical oncology at University of California-San Francisco, where I am also the head and neck oncologic surgery fellowship co-director. I have enjoyed my academic surgical career for the opportunities it has given me to: 1) care for patients with complex problems in a busy practice, 2) conduct clinical
research and translational research as a part of a team, 3) mentor and teach medical students, residents, and fellows, 4) participate in national societies, especially the AHNS, and 5) have meaningful relationships with the people in these various areas. A significant amount of my clinical volume and academic contributions involves salivary neoplasia, chronic sialadenitis/sialendoscopy, and surgeon-performed ultrasound for salivary disease. Thirty percent of my peer-reviewed publications have had a salivary focus. In 2021, I was guest co-editor for Modern Approach to the Salivary Glands in Otolaryngology Clinics of North America, which was a collection of 15 articles on the management of salivary disease. Last month, I and our clinical fellow and 4 th year resident submitted a chapter on the Update on the Treatment of Salivary Gland Carcinomas for Surgical Oncologic Clinics. I have participated and helped organized the Collaborative for Advanced Sialendoscopy Education (CASE) every year since 2014. I have also served as the co-director of the UCSF Sialendoscopy/Salivary Duct Surgery Course in San Francisco in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2022.
I have been an active member of the AHNS Salivary Committee since its inception. I have taken part in planning and executing the various education efforts of the committee including but not limited to virtual tumor boards, journal clubs, and panels at AHNS meetings. As the chair of the research subcommittee of the AHNS salivary section, I recently helped lead a 41-institution multicenter study of 865 patients showing similar oncologic outcomes for close margins in low grade- and intermediate grade- salivary carcinoma whether they underwent adjuvant
radiation or not. This study was presented at the 11 th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer in July 2023 in Montreal and resulted in a JAMA-OHNS publication in January 2024 for which I was the senior author. Multi-institutional studies are important, especially for salivary oncologic diseases given their relative rarity. Within the AHNS in general, I have a record of service. I recently completed my five-year term on the Advanced Training Council. I have served on various committees such as the Awards Committee, Publications Committee, and multiple AHNS Program Committees (2015, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2024). I have participated in each annual AHNS meeting as a presenter, panelist, moderator, and/or poster judge for the last 13 years. I was the AHNS Chris Obrien Fellow in Australia for a month in August/September of 2022 during which time I visited and gave lectures at 5 institutions and participated in the 2022 Australia and New Zealand Head and Neck Cancer Society meeting. In the potential role of vice chair, I look forward to continuing to advance clinical care, education, research, innovation, mentorship, public outreach, and advocacy related to neoplastic and inflammatory diseases of the salivary glands within the AHNS. Areas we can continue to work on include:
1. Development of position statements and practice guidelines,
2. Educational efforts including online tumor board webinars, journal clubs, curricula, and conference
content,
3. Collaborative research across multiple institutions and with experts outside our field such as
cytopathologists/pathologists, basic scientists, oral surgeons, endocrinologists, and rheumatologists.
4. Engage with our industry partners to improve salivary-based open and endoscopic surgical
instruments and facial nerve monitoring,
5. Increase engagement and opportunity for younger faculty and trainees, and
6. Increase patient and public awareness of salivary diseases.
Specifically, I recommend we develop more multi-institutional studies of salivary tumor management to be
conducted through the salivary section. Also, I think we could work to develop a common curriculum for
sialadenitis management with sialendoscopy-assisted salivary duct surgery with coordinated observerships.
William R. Ryan, MD, University of California-San Francisco (UCSF)
It would be an honor to be vice chair of the AHNS salivary committee. Thank you for your consideration.