AMERICAN ACADEMY OF OTOLARYNGOLOGY -
HEAD AND NECK SURGERY FOUNDATION, INC.
September 17–20, 2006 Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, September 17-20, 2006. With more than 400 instruction courses, 225 scientific posters, and 175 oral presentations, this meeting—the world’s largest educational and scientific meeting of otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeons—offers extraordinary learning opportunities. I was certainly glad to have the opportunity to attend!

This has been likened to be the “Oscars” for ENT conference as many of the famous authors of textbooks will be there. I managed to catch a glimpse of John Epley (pioneer of Epley’s maneuver) although I did not get his autograph J.

Each day started with a morning symposium at 6:30am and lectures will continue throughout the morning. Afternoons will be filled up with instructional courses that I signed up for and the day usually ends at 5pm. Many of the lectures were packed choc-a-bloc with doctors from all over the world. The lectures were very informative and offered an insight into the future developments of the different sub-specialties in ENT. It was also inspiring seeing how passionate the presenters were in sharing their work and shaping the practice of ENT in the process. 

Picture showing my mentor and me next to our poster

In the evenings, I usually met up with many of my fellow seniors and colleagues for a nice dinner where we would share on what the latest developments in ENT are.

Of course the trip would not be complete without a visit to Niagara Falls, one of the top 10 wonders of the world. On one of the afternoons that my day ended early, I had the opportunity to visit Niagara Falls. It comprises of three separate waterfalls: the Horseshoe Falls (sometimes called the Canadian Falls), the American Falls, and the smaller, adjacent Bridal Veil Falls. With more than 6 million cubic feet (168,000 m³) of water falling over the crestline every minute in high flow, it is one of the most powerful waterfall in the world. All together, Niagara's generating stations can produce about 4.4 GW of power. Interestingly, there were a total of 15 people who went over the Horseshoe Falls since 1829. Ten of them survived the experience and it seems the odds of surviving if on ever fell into the waterfall is 2/3. Not too bad at all!

 

Picture taken in Niagara Falls

Overall, it was a good opportunity to have an exposure to the world’s best ENT surgeons in one conference. It was a good learning experience for me and I thank Singhealth in its generosity for its sponsorship.

- By Dr Dennis Chua (MINDEF)