Cutting Edge Laryngology with Professor Martin Birchall

Professor Martin Birchall is a world leading Otolaryngologist, specialising in improving the quality of life for those with disorders of the head and neck, voice and swallowing. He is currently based at the Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital in London, and conducts some of his private work at The Wellington Hospital.

June 1st -3rd will see Professor Birchall presenting the opening lecture, and participating as a keynote speaker in the three day Cutting Edge Laryngology Conference 2012, held in Kuala Lumpur. Now in its third year, the conference will cover an array of topics including: airway stenosis, dysphagia and lasers. This year’s conference will include an interactive surgical video session as well as a panel discussion on oesophageal reflux.

Professor Birchall ‘s Cutting Edge Laryngology mini series will bring us updates and highlights from this  conference- making it assessible to those who cannot travel to Malaysia too.  Below is Martin’s first post, introducing the conference and his involvement…

‘I trained in head and neck cancer surgery, but became frustrated by our inability to restore speech, breathing and swallowing to many patients, whose ability to enjoy and function in life was severely reduced as a result.

Therefore, in 2009, I moved to London to take up the wonderful opportunities here to advance the science and treatment of patients with these difficult problems. There is a world-class (truly) group of doctors and scientists with whom I am now working, and together we put together a unique conference in London in 2012 which brought together, for the first time, the best experts in the world to try and advance the field, called Laryngology –  together. With the help of Kenes, the medical conference company experts, this was a tremendous success; therefore we are  holding it again in the Far East in 2012 (with the aim of returning it to London again in 2013).

Laryngology is the most rapidly growing sub-specialty of Otolaryngology, with major interactions in fields such as: speech and language, gastroenterology medicine, thoracic surgery and respiratory medicine. Advances in imaging, lasers and underpinning basic science, for example, have led to continually new and shifting ways to think about voice, airway and swallowing problems, which have transformed the way professionals, scientists and the public think about disorders of the airway, speech and swallowing; and hugely advanced our ability to help patients with problems in these critical parts of human existence and interaction.

In Malaysia, I will be again joining many of the same world-leading doctors who produced such stunning presentations in 2011, and discussed their work and views so accessibly. There are several wonderful additions to this stellar cast, from fields including: paediatric airways and speech and language therapy experts from the United States.

Laryngology 2012 will take place in a City which epitomises this spirit of freshness and excitement; as Malaysia’s rapidly expanding cultural and scientific horizons make it ideally placed to host our next conference. Geographically, this takes us poles away from our original ‘heartland’ in London, but immediately places us in the region which is contributing most to the feeling of world progress in science and medicine, South East Asia. Here we hope to draw upon an even greater pool of interested scientists and clinicians, eager to share their discoveries and philosophies in a vibrant forum.

I can’t wait to open and participate in the conference in the stunning city of Kuala Lumpur, and hope that many people will be able to follow on-line reports from myself and through the conference website of the year’s biggest celebration of the future of Laryngology.’