Yakubu Karagama is a Consultant Laryngologist at the Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital, London.

He completed his higher surgical specialist training in the Northeast Deanery, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK in 2007 and obtained his certificate of specialist training from General Medical Council (GMC) the same year.

He is an internationally renowned laryngologist and leads the voice, airway and swallowing service at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, London.

Yakubu is the founder and director for London and Manchester International Phonosurgery, Laser Laryngeal Surgery, Transnasal Oesophagoscopy (TNO) and Dysphagia Courses. He is keen on voice research and has obtained an MSc in advanced voice research in 2005 at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne.

I am an Investigator within the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and National Cancer Institute in the Intramural Research Program. My laboratory research program focuses on the development of novel immunotherapy combinations for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and recurrent respiratory papillomatosis. We utilize syngeneic pre-clinical models to generate mechanistic pre-clinical data to serve as the rationale for early phase clinical trials performed at the NIH Clinical Center. My laboratory program is also responsible for the immune correlative study of all head and neck cancer clinical tissues obtained from head and neck cancer clinical studies. Through these assessments we aim to understand predictors of response to immunotherapy and to develop new treatments that overcome mechanisms of resistance to effective treatment. My laboratory team consists of PhD staff scientists, post-baccalaureate biologists, technicians, and fellows. Our clinical research team is responsible for the coordination of clinical trial referrals and management of patients on NIDCD and NCI clinical protocols. I am a co-Principal Investigator of the T-cell Receptor Discovery Laboratory tasked with developing a library of therapeutic TCRs with diverse MHC restriction elements for otolaryngic disorders such as head and neck cancer and recurrent respiratory papillomatosis. I also am responsible for the inpatient Clinical Otolaryngology Consultation Service at the NIH Clinical Center.

Sarah Wallace OBE FRCSLT is a Consultant Speech and Language Therapist specialising in Critical Care and Dysphagia with over 30 years’ experience. She holds lead SLT roles with the Intensive Care Society (ICS) and the National Tracheostomy Safety Project and has been an RCSLT Specialist Advisor for 21 years. Sarah leads and contributes widely to national policies and guidelines for the ICS, RCSLT and NCEPOD relating to communication and swallowing, FEES, tracheostomy and COVID. She has many publications from her research into intubation related laryngeal injury and rehabilitation in ICU, dysphagia and dysphonia post Covid and aerosol generating procedures and has an AJSLP Editors award and IJLCD top cited article. Sarah trains SLTs internationally to develop FEES and ICU services in countries such as Singapore and Chile as well as across the UK and is a volunteer for the NGO Speech Therapy Cambodia. Her collaborative work on tracheostomy patient quality improvement has been adopted by NHS England and international teams and won awards from the BMJ and ICS. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic she has played a key role in the RCSLT Covid-19 Advisory Group, the COVID-19 SLP Global Group and the ICS Rehabilitation Collaborative. Sarah was awarded an OBE in the Queens New Year’s Honours list 2020/21 and a fellowship of the RCSLT in 2021 for her contributions to the NHS.

Natalie Watson is a Locum Laryngology Consultant at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust with a passion for laryngology and singing. She has a Masters in Clinical Education, for which she was awarded a distinction from King’s College London. Natalie qualified with two distinctions from Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ Medical School and was awarded the prestigious Jelf medal. She obtained an intercalated Honours BSc in Neuroscience having received the Health Foundation Student Research Fellowship. Currently, she is in the PERFORM working group looking at respirable particles emitted during singing, woodwind and brass instruments, exercise, speech and language therapy exercises and inputting this data into computational fluid dynamic modelling. This project is funded by an EPSRC Grant, sponsored by Public Health England and results directly communicated to the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

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Professor Sauid Ishaq FRCP, PhD

Gastroenterologist Russells Hall Hospital

Birmingham City University, Birmingham (BCU), United Kingdom

Sauid Ishaq is visiting professor BCU and interventional endoscopist and consultant physician in Dudley Group of Hospitals. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London. He is member of the BSG, ESGE His main interest includes advance endoscopy procedures such as Zenker diverticulum and under water colonoscopy. He introduced flexible endoscopic treatment of Zenker Diverticulum (FESD) in UK in 2011 and provide National tertiary service. His academic research is mostly on Zenker diverticulum. He has published widely and led the first guideline on Zenker diverticulum from ESGE platform. He is regular speaker on international endoscopy meetings and had performed liver demonstration of FESD.

See his scientific work- Sauid Ishaq (researchgate.net)

Mr Donne has been a consultant at Alder Hey for 10 years. He was trained in Manchester and did a Fellowship at Evelina Childrens Hospital in London. He has done a PhD in molecular biology of Human Papillomavirus and respiratory papillomatosis. He treats all paediatric ear, nose and throat conditions. His specialist area is congenital and acquired airway conditions. He is the clinical lead for the National Respiratory Papillomatosis registry. This is an area of current research and has published in this field. He has set-up a paediatric voice clinic with a Speech and Language therapist (Mrs Dawes).

Professor Paleri has both a private and NHS practice in the Head and Neck Unit at The Royal Marsden and has accrued the largest experience in Transoral Robotic Surgery in the UK. He has pioneered a new robotic technique to remove radiorecurrent and radioresidual cancers and is the first surgeon in the UK to perform robotic free flap reconstructions. He is the primary or co-recipient for £7 million in grant funding, has published over 210 papers, and has edited numerous textbooks in the specialty. Professor Paleri currently serves as President of the British Association of Head and Neck Oncologists, Director of the International Centre for Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer, which was funded by The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, and in the following national bodies: ENT-UK Head & Neck Society, Laryngology & Rhinology Section of the Royal Society of Medicine and Trustee for the Oracle Cancer Trust. He is also Professor of Head and Neck Surgery at The Institute of Cancer Research. 

A/Prof Anne Vertigan is the manager of speech pathology for John Hunter Hospital and Belmont Hospital in Newcastle Australia, and Conjoint Associate Professor in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle Australia. She graduated from Latrobe University in Melbourne with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Speech Pathology, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Newcastle and a PhD through the University of Queensland. She is currently studying a combined masters in Clinical Epidemiology and Medical Statistics. Anne’s clinical load includes acute inpatients, and outpatients voice disorders, chronic cough/VCD, laryngectomy and dysphagia. She is the speech pathologist in the Severe Asthma Clinic at John Hunter Hospital and chair of the Hunter New England Allied Health Research Network and the Hunter New England Research Ethics Committee. Research interests include voice disorders, chronic cough/VCD and voice & upper airway disorders in asthma. Anne has conducted several research projects in the area of chronic cough and PVFM and published the first text book on speech pathology management of these conditions.

Robbi Kupfer is an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Michigan. She completed medical school and residency at the University of Michigan, followed by laryngology fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her clinical practice includes medical and surgical management of complex voice, airway, and swallowing disorders. She additionally serves as the Otolaryngology Residency Program Director and Laryngology Fellowship Director. Her research focuses on improving management and outcomes of airway and voice disorders as well as optimizing recruitment and assessment in otolaryngology training programs.

Ben is a Clinician Scientist and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Oncology at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden and a visiting scientist in Peter Van Loo’s Cancer Genomics and Evolution group at MD Anderson in Texas. His current research is focused on understanding the evolution of resistance to cancer therapies in head and neck cancers, including the use of liquid biopsies. He leads a number of translational studies at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden.

Jonathan Rossiter is Professor of Robotics at Bristol Robotics Laboratory and the University of Bristol.  He is Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies, and previously held EPSRC and Royal Society Fellowships.  He leads the SoftLab research group, developing soft systems and technologies for robotics, healthcare and environmental interaction, with firsts including biodegradable and edible robotics, energy-autonomous pollution eating robots, cephalopod-inspired smart skins, and artificial muscles.  Much of his work involves applying these new technologies to physical and mental health conditions, including wearable rehabilitation and assist suits for sarcopenia and stroke, affective calming cushions to combat anxiety, and implantable soft robotic devices for active airway protection.

Ian Lilly is a Paediatric ENT Consultant at Evelina London Children’s Hospital with a Special Interest In Paediatric Airway

Lucy Hicklin is a consultant ENT surgeon with a special interest in Neurolaryngology. She qualified in 1988 from The Royal Free Hospital and trained in London and the South East. She has been a consultant at St Georges Hospital since 2003. She runs both a general Voice clinic and a Botox injection clinic where she treats patients with Spasmodic Dysphonia and more complex patients with additional head and neck dystonias. Many of the patients need assessment and treatment for dysphagia. She lives in London with her husband and 3 children.

Kate has been a consultant Laryngologist at Poole Hospital Foundation Trust on the South Coast of England since 2013. As fellow to Prof Jean Paul Marie in Rouen, France, she learnt techniques of laryngeal reinnervation which she has continued to develop, research and introduce into the UK. A further laryngology fellowship at the RNTNE focused on airway procedures with Guri Sandhu and Phonosurgery with John Rubin.  She has a comprehensive NHS laryngology service in Poole offering a Laryngology Treatment Clinic and Voice Clinic. She is working at disseminating good practice and educational content via the BLA.

Maggie Kuhn is Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery and Clinical Director of Center for Voice and Swallowing at University of California Davis. Her clinical practice includes complex voice, swallowing and airway disorders across the lifespan. She works closely with a multidisciplinary team to provide comprehensive, contemporary care to the patients of Northern California and beyond. She has focused her research efforts into improving functional outcomes of head and neck cancer survivors.

Mr Chadwan Al Yaghchi is a consultant otolaryngologist at the National Centre for Airway Reconstruction and Imperial Voice and Swallowing Centre. He completed his higher surgical training in Ear Nose and Throat in London North Thames regional rotation. During his training he developed an interest invoice, airway stenosis and dysphagia.  In addition to his adult service, he is an honorary consultant at The Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust where he manages children with complex airway, respiratory and swallowing conditions.

Mr Al Yaghchi holds a PhD in Molecular Oncology from Queen Mary’s University of London with a special research interest in oncolytic viruses in head and neck cancers. In addition, he has an active clinical research program in voice, airway and swallowing disorders.

Mr Al Yaghchi is a founding member of the British Laryngological Association and served on the council since 2013. He is currently the associate honorary treasurer.

Gemma is a Clinical Specialist Speech and Language Therapist who specializes in voice and swallowing disorders in benign head and neck disease. She received an MSc (with distinction) from University College London in 2006. She is a current NIHR/HEE Clinical Doctoral Research Fellow within the Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London. Her PhD studies focus on the voice and swallowing difficulties of airway stenosis patients. She is based at Charing Cross Hospital in London where she works as part of the National Centre for Airway Reconstruction, Europe’s largest centre for the management of airway disorders.

http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/g.clunie

Honorary Associate Professor Jacqueline Allen is a Laryngologist practicing in Auckland, New Zealand. A graduate of the University of Auckland, Dr Allen undertook Fellowship training at the Voice and Swallow Centre, University of California, Davis where she specialized in Voice and Dysphagia utilizing modern in-office techniques, endoscopy and laser surgery. She returned to New Zealand in 2010 and established the Auckland Voice and Swallow Centre, and the Swallowing Lab at University of Auckland where these techniques have been put to use. Research interests include neurogenic dysphagia, swallowing and nutrition in the older adult, vocal fold scar translational research (in which she has completed a doctoral degree), reflux disease and novel engineering modelling for swallow dysfunction. Dr Allen is President of Dysphagia Research Society, a Member of the American Bronchoesophagological Association and Laryngology Society of Australasia and is Section Editor of Current Opinion in Otolaryngology and Annals of Rhinology, Otology and Laryngology. She has published more than 85 journal articles, 1 book, and 20 book chapters and is an Editorial Board member and reviewer for many international peer-reviewed journals including Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, European Archives of Otolaryngology and Laryngoscope. She currently lives with her husband and daughter in Auckland.

Prof. Ahmed Geneid is adjunct professor, laryngologist and phoniatrician. He is a head of department in Helsinki University Hospital of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. He is currently serving as president of Finnish Laryngological Society and president of Union of the European Phoniatricians. Ahmed Geneid leads a multidisciplinary team dealing with voice and swallowing patients in Helsinki University Hospital, Finland. His main interests are laryngology, phonosurgery and voice therapy. He has a growing number of over 50 publications and lectures regularly on laryngology, phonosurgery and voice-related topics.

Dr. Kupfer is an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at the University of Michigan who specializes in Laryngology and Bronchoesophagology. She is the Program Director for the Laryngology Fellowship as well as the Otolaryngology Residency at the University of Michigan.

Andreas H. Mueller completed his specialist training in Otorhinolaryngology at the University of Jena, Germany and was ORL consultant in Jena until 2004. Since 2005 he is head of the Department Otorhinolaryngology/Plastic Surgery, SRH Wald-Klinikum Gera, Germany. Prof. Mueller is a specialist for benign laryngotracheal stenosis, laryngology and rhinology. His main research interests are Neurolaryngology,  L-EMG, vocal fold paralysis, reinnervation and laryngeal pacing. He is an active member of the European  and the German Laryngological Society and organize hands on courses on Neurolaryngology.
See his scientific work at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andreas-Mueller-47

Consultant Speech and Language Therapist

Professional Advisor to Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (Field of Adult Respiratory care). Co-author RCSLT Position Paper Upper Airway disorders (2021).

Areas of interest include assessment and management of Inducible Laryngeal Obstruction (ILO) and Chronic Cough, as well as an interest in MDT upper airway assessment to support patients who have upper airway issues and have difficulty tolerating Mechanical Insufflation-Exsufflation and/or Non-Invasive Ventilation.

Currently working as Consultant SLT and Service Lead for Preston Complex Breathlessness (Airways) Multi-Disciplinary Team, Lancashire Chest Centre, Royal Preston Hospital, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust

“The ability to communicate is a fundamental human need, but it’s one that does not come easily to laryngectomees. Dr Farzaneh Ahmadi is a scientist, engineer, inventor and entrepreneur who first came across the field of voice cloning while completing her PhD in Nanyang University of Singapore. Since then, Farzaneh has dedicated much of her professional life to the challenge of adapting this technology to restore the voices of laryngectomy patients as a Senior postdoctoral research fellow at Western Sydney University and Nagoya University of Japan. In 2019, that dream came one step closer as Farzaneh became the Founder of Laronix, a spinout company based on her research. Farzaneh has invented Laronix’s technology which generates a natural voice for the voice-loss. She has raised over one million A$ for this invention and then guided technology from inception to successful preclinical trials.”

Seth Pransky, M.D. is a Pediatric Otolaryngologist on staff at Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego since 1985. He was the Chief of Pediatric Otolaryngology from 1997-2017 and served on the Executive Board of the Rady Children’s Hospital Specialists for 18 years, was the Medical Director of Satellite Services for the hospital for 16 years and a Professor of Surgery in the Division of Otolaryngology at UCSD.

Dr. Pransky was President of the Society for Ear, Nose and Throat Advances in Children (SENTAC); on the board of directors of the American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology (ASPO) and on the Pediatric Otolaryngology Committee of the American Academy of Otolaryngology (AAO) for six years and the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section of Otolaryngology for six years. He has numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals and multiple book chapters. His current research interests include an ongoing study of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis as well as otitis media and tympanostomy tubes.

Dr. Pransky has received several prestigious national organizational awards including the greatly respected Gabriel F. Tucker Award for outstanding contributions in Pediatric Laryngology from the American Laryngological Association, the acclaimed Chevalier Jackson Award from the American Bronchoesophagological Association and the highly esteemed Sylvan Stool Award for outstanding lifetime contributions to teaching and service from SENTAC.  Locally, Dr. Pransky was honored with the Skoglund Physician Recognition Award for Excellence in Teaching from Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego. He has also been selected by Best Doctors in America yearly since 1992 as well as recognition from Castle Connolly Top Doctors from 2012-2022 and San Diego Magazine ten times.

Justin is a clinical-academic and service lead, specialising in dysphagia in benign and malignant head and neck disorders. He completed his first degree, majoring in psychology, in 1993. He qualified as a speech and language therapist in 1999 from City University, London. He was awarded his MSc in dysphagia research with distinction from Newcastle University in 2015 and his PhD from the Institute of Cancer Research in 2013. In 2019, Justin commenced a post-doctoral research fellowship awarded by the Imperial Health Charity and Imperial NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.

Alongside his clinical commitments, Justin’s academic work is focused on head and neck oncology, lung cancer and airway stenosis. He is involved in a number of national and multinational cooperative studies. He has published a number of peer-reviewed papers on head and neck cancer, lung cancer, palliative care, airway stenosis and ethics and spoken at scientific meetings and conferences internationally.

Justin is a Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists Specialist Advisor for head and neck cancer and palliative care. In 2019, he was elected as a member of the Council of the British Association of Head and Neck Oncologists. He was made a Fellow of the RCSLT in 2018.

Sam Majumdar is a Laryngologist and full-time consultant surgeon. He is a honorary Senior Lecturer at the University Medical School and Ninewells Hospital at Dundee. He is the lead clinician for voice and swallowing disorders at this centre.

Sam Majumdar graduated in Medicine from the University of Nottingham Medical School. He also did a research degree looking at the expressions of tumour suppressor genes in head and neck cancer. He was previously trained at a registrar level in maxillofacial surgery in the South Yorkshire region. Sam had obtained a Fellowship of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Sam had his surgical training in Nottingham, Derby, Doncaster and Sheffield under some renowned Laryngologists, Head & Neck and Paediatric Surgeons.

Since moving in Dundee (Scotland) over a decade ago, he has developed specialist voice and swallowing disorder service at the Ninewells Hospital. His main interests are Voice pathology, laryngology, neurolaryngology, difficult airway, pharyngeal and swallowing disorders and TNO (Transnasal Oesophagoscopy/endoscopy). He runs weekly voice and swallowing disorder clinics and operating lists. He also specialises in paediatric voice, difficult airway and laryngeal pathology.

Sam Majumdar is a founder member of the British Laryngology Association and at present a council member. Sam has specialist interest in the diseases of the Larynx, Pharynx, cervical Oesophagus (throat) along with Voice and Swallowing disorders. He is also a pioneer in the development of Transnasal Oesophagoscopy and Laryngopharyngeal Simulation Surgery.

Sam Majumdar is passionate about teaching and training. He has been course convenor at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh for several years. He is the innovator and co-director of the highly acclaimed Advanced Laryngeal & Pharyngeal laser & endoscopic Surgery course at the Dundee Healthcare Simulation Centre https://dihs.dundee.ac.uk/courses/ent-thiel/advanced-laryngeal-and-pharyngeal-laser-endoscopic-surgery-course

Sam Majumdar is a Fellow of the Scottish Patients Safety programme run by the Health Improvement Scotland. He is also the Deputy Lead for Scotland for Quality Improvement (Faculty of Medical leadership and Management). He is a doctoral research candidate at the University of Dundee where he is engaged in exploring how healthcare delivery systems, clinical microsystems, leadership, followership and organisational culture.

Sam Majumdar has published widely in the medical literature and peer reviewed journals; presented the national and international academic and given invited & key notes speeches. He has published widely in the medical literature on all aspects of ENT surgery and is co-author of chapters on seminal textbooks.

Declan Costello is a Consultant Ear Nose & Throat Surgeon at Wexham Park and Heatherwood Hospitals (Slough and Ascot). He previously worked for ten years at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham and moved in December 2018. Having completed a degree in music at St John’s College, Cambridge (where he was a choral scholar), he trained in medicine at Imperial College. His specialist ENT training was undertaken in Oxford, and he undertook fellowships in London and Brighton. His clinical work is largely focused on laryngology, with a particular interest in medialisation injection under local anaesthetic, and on the care of professional voice users.

Dr James Hull is Consultant Respiratory Physician with an interest in Asthma andUnexplained Breathlessness at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS FoundationTrust.He is also clinical lead for the chronic cough service has a specialist interest in vocalcord dysfunction and exercise–induced laryngeal obstruction.

Guri Sandhu is a Consultant Otolaryngologist and Head & Neck Surgeon at Imperial College and The Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospitals in London, with honorary contracts at The Royal Brompton, University College and St Bartholomew’s Hospitals. He is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at Imperial College and University College London. Mr Sandhu graduated from the University of London in 1990 having trained in Medicine at The Royal London Hospital. As a Registrar he trained in ENT at The Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital and in Paediatric ENT at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. Mr Sandhu is a Laryngologist with a special interest in laryngotracheal stenosis but also manages voice and swallowing disorders. He has experience in performing the full spectrum of endoscopic and open surgical procedures on the larynx, pharynx and airway. Many of these procedures he has pioneered himself. He lectures nationally and internationally on these subjects and has an active research programme. He was responsible for setting up The National Centre for Airway Reconstruction in London which comprises a multidisciplinary team of specialists with an interest in airway problems. This unit has treated the largest number of adult patients with laryngotracheal stenosis in Europe.