Keynote Speakers

Dr Steven M. Zeitels, M.D., F.A.C.S is the Eugene B. Casey Professor of Laryngeal Surgery at Harvard Medical School and the Director  of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Voice Center. In 2004, the first endowed Chair in Laryngeal Surgery at  Harvard Medical School was created for him while he re-established a Harvard Laryngeal Surgery service at the MGH,  which had not been present 100 years. Zeitels’ contributions to voice and laryngeal surgery are highly recognized in the  USA and throughout the world. He has received more than 80 awards and honored lectureships for his achievements  including the Casselberry Award, De Roaldes Medal, and the Newcomb Award from the American Laryngological  Association (founded 1879). Zeitels was the 4th surgeon in the organization’s history to win all three awards and it has been  over 40 years since this was last achieved. He has also received the Chevalier Jackson Award and the Broyles Maloney  Award (3 times) from the American Broncho-Esophagological Association (founded 1917) and he served as its president in  2004. Zeitels was the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Boston University (BU) School of Medicine in 2007. Since  1997, he has trained >40 Post-Residency Fellows in Laryngeal Surgery, many of whom have created their own fellowship  programs. He has been a visiting professor at >35 departments, universities, & and hospitals in the US and abroad. Zeitels is widely regarded as a prolific surgical innovator having designed over 25 new voice restoration procedures  (phonosurgery) and instruments and holds 7 patents for these innovations. He is acknowledged for pioneering novel laser  applications to treat precancerous dysplasia and cancer as well as laryngeal papillomatosis, polyps, nodules, and is also well  known for creating office-based laryngeal laser surgery. Most notable was his introduction of angiolytic laser treatment of  vocal cord cancer, which was a substantial achievement evolving from Judah Folkman’s concepts of tumor angiogenesis  and Rox Anderson’s theory of selective photothermolysis. Zeitels has also designed unique procedures to restore the voice  of those who have had vocal paresis and paralysis. His techniques were featured in a National Geographic Channel  documentary, “The Incredible Human Machine”, which highlighted Zeitels’ microsurgery on Steven Tyler of Aerosmith.  In addition, his novel surgical treatment of Roger Daltrey (The Who) just prior to his halftime performance in the 2010  Super Bowl was discussed extensively on CBS news. In 2012, there was broad international coverage of Dr. Zeitels’ unique  microsurgery that restored Adele’s voice who thanked him in the acceptance of the first of her 6 Grammy Awards.  He pioneered office-based laryngeal laser surgery and has done voice restoration microsurgery on Julie Andrews and over  20 other Grammy-Award-winning performers, who have garnered >90 awards. In 2013, Zeitels’ career was highlighted in  a long-form biographical profile in the New Yorker Magazine: ‘A Surgeon Pioneers Methods to Help Singers Sing’. In  2012, Zeitels was listed 13 in Rolling Stone’s ‘25 Best Things in Rock Right Now’ and 14 in Fast Company’s ‘100 most  Creative People’.  Zeitels was a member of the 1st class of Boston University Trustee Scholars (1975), graduated from the BU School of  Medicine in 1982, and completed the BU - Tufts combined Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Program in 1987 as  well as a Head & Neck Surgical Oncology Fellowship at BU in 1988.  

  Robert E. Hillman, PhD, CCC-SLP received his BS and Masters  degrees (speech-language pathology) from the Pennsylvania State University and his PhD (speech science) from Purdue University. He is currently the Co-Director and Research Director of the Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, and an Adjunct Professor at the MGH Institute of Health Professions and Boston University. He has been awarded over 30 grants from governmental and private sources to support his research. His research and over 200 publications have focused on the study of normal and disordered voice production, with a particular focus on hyperfunctional voice disorders and the related development of methods for clinical voice assessment. Dr. Hillman is a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and an Associate Fellow of the American Laryngological and American Bronchoesophagological Associations. He has received 16 major awards related to his research, including the Honors of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, that organization’s highest award given to “recognize individuals whose contributions have been of such excellence that they have enhanced or altered the course of the Professions.”

  Liz Heller Murray, PhD, CCC-SLP (she/her) is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Temple University, where she is the director of the Vocal Development Lab. Dr. Heller Murray’s research is focused in two main areas: 1) understanding the development of the voice and speech in children with voice disorders, and 2) translating expert pediatric voice care beyond the medical setting in order to provide equitable care for all children with dysphonia. She is the Primary Investigator on grants focused on pediatric voice from the ASHfoundation and the National Institute of Health (R01DC021407, R21DC021248).

 Dr Mahinda Yogarajah graduated from UCL in medicine with an intercalated degree in neurosciences. He completed his neurological training at the Atkinson Morley Regional Neurosciences Unity at St George’s University Hospital and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London. He is based within the epilepsy group at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and the Epilepsy Society at Chalfont. He carries out regular epilepsy and general neurology clinics, as well as a joint neurology-neuropsychiatry clinic.  

    Ruth Huntley Bahr, PhD, CCC-SLP is a Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and the Dean of the Office of Graduate Studies at the University of South Florida. She received her BS in speech-language pathology from the University of Virginia, her MA in speech-language pathology from Auburn University and her PhD in Experimental Phonetics from the University of Florida. She is currently serving as the Voice Team Lead for the NIH Bridge2AI grant. The goal of this multi-institutional grant is to build an ethically-sourced bioacoustics database to understand disease processes. Her previous research has focused on understanding how physiological and neurological aspects of voice production impact the patient’s quality of life. In addition, she studies intra- and inter-speaker variability in voice production. This line of research has led her to serve as an expert witness in over 50 trials that focus on speaker identification, noise analysis and gunshot analysis. Dr. Huntley Bahr is a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Secretary of the International Association of Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics, and recipient of the Svend Smith Award for Practical Applications of Phonetics. 

Professor Ofer Amir, PhD, is a speech pathologist and a full professor in the Department of Communication Disorders at Tel Aviv University, Israel. He earned both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Communication Disorders from Tel Aviv University, before completing his doctoral studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. Prof. Amir has authored more than 70 publications in the fields of speech and voice disorders. He also served as the former head of the Department of Communication Disorders at Tel Aviv University. For over twenty years, Prof. Amir has been operating a multidisciplinary diagnostic voice clinic in close collaboration with a laryngologist at the Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer. Additionally, Prof. Amir runs a private practice in Tel Aviv, specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of fluency and voice disorders in both children and adults. He is an active member of many local and international professional associations and committees.

For more detailed information see: www.oferamir.co.il/english

Dr Nicholas (Nick) Cummins is a Lecturer in AI for speech analysis for health at the Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics at King’s College London, where he leads the Voice and Speech Processing for Health group. The group conduct pioneering research to advance the integration of speech technologies and biomarkers into clinical research and practice. Guided by a responsible AI framework, Nick’s research combines cutting-edge speech processing techniques, patient and public involvement and engagement (PPI-E), advanced statistical analytics, and machine learning. This multidisciplinary approach aims to harness the transformative potential of speech technologies, creating reliable tools that drive innovation in health research and clinical applications.

Dr de Alarcon is a Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Director of the Center for Pediatric Voice Disorders, Vice Chair of Academic Affairs and Faculty Development, Associate Chief of Staff Surgery/Perioperative Operations and an integral member of the Aerodigestive and Esophageal Center. He joined the faculty in July 2008 after completing his fellowship at Children’s. In addition to his fellowship in pediatric otolaryngology he completed a fellowship in laryngology as a visiting clinical fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation in Boston.

His expertise is in pediatric voice disorders, airway reconstruction, and post airway reconstruction voice problems. He treats all aspects of pediatric otolaryngology and has subspecialty expertise in patients with airway/voice, sinus, and swallowing issues. He is an NIH funded researcher with interests include pediatric dysphonia, post airway reconstruction dysphonia, high speed video endoscopy, recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, and outcomes research. He is a prolific academic surgeon who has published over 100 articles and chapters in national/international journals and books. He is a bilingual international lecturer who has presented throughout the world on the topics of airway reconstruction and voice disorders in children.

Dr Guan-Min Ho, graduated from Medical University of Vienna, is a senior consultant in otorhinolaryngology, head & neck surgery, subspecializing in laryngology and phonosurgery. He was assistant professor at the National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences. His research was dedicated to hearing disorders and treatment of glottic insufficiency. He is also the inventor of the VOIS-Implant for medialization thyroplasty, an innovative implant, which can be adjusted both intra- and postoperatively to adapt to changing laryngeal conditions. 

Dr Anne Hseu is a pediatric laryngologist at Boston Children's Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Harvard Medical School.  She is dual fellowship trained in pediatric otolaryngology and laryngeal surgery, having completed her fellowships at Boston Children's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.  Her clinical expertise and research interests are in pediatric voice and airway disorders.  She is part of the national voice committee in the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

Dr Van Stan is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, Associate of Speech Language Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital's Centre for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation, and an Adjunct Professor at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. His research program explores the nuance of rehabilitation assessment and treatment, harnessing the latest theories, wearable technology, machine learning, and virtual reality to ensure that every voice is heard.