Dr Chadwan Al Yaghchi is a consultant laryngologist at the National Centre for Airway Reconstruction, Imperial College Healthcare, London. He manages the full spectrum of laryngeal disorders with specialist interest in airway stenosis and complex dysphagia. He completed his higher surgical training in Ear Nose and Throat in the London North Thames regional rotation and laryngology training at Charing Cross Hospital. 

Dr Al Yaghchi holds a PhD in Molecular Oncology from Queen Mary’s University of London studying oncolytic viruses in head and neck cancers. In addition, he has an active clinical research program in voice, airway and swallowing disorders. He published multiple book chapters, 30 peer-reviewed articles and is currently the Laryngology Section editor of Scott-Brown's Otolaryngology textbook. 

Dr Al Yaghchi is an internationally renowned specialist in gender-affirming voice surgery. He introduced a number of voice feminisation procedures to the UK including his own modification to the Wendler Glottoplasty technique and Vocal Fold Muscle Reduction. He is a founding member of the International Association of TransVoice Surgeons. 

Dr Al Yaghchi is a founding member of the British Laryngological Association and the honorary treasurer. He is a board member of the UK Swallowing Research Group and former Vice president of the Royal Society of Medicine, Section of Laryngology and Rhinology. 

Professor Catherine Birman is an ENT at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Macquarie University Hospital, and Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital in Sydney, Australia. 

Prof Birman is an Otolaryngologist specialising in paediatric and adult cochlear implants, otology and paediatric ENT.  She has extensive experience in hearing loss and cochlear implants having performed over two thousand cochlear implant procedures.   

In 2017 Prof Birman was awarded the NSW Premier’s Woman of the Year Award for her work with cochlear implants.  She received the Australian Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery Medal for Distinguished Contribution to the Art and Science of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery in 2018.  In 2022 she received the Order of Australia Medal for services to Otolaryngology. 

Prof Birman has published and presented extensively on cochlear implant outcomes, innovative cochlear implant devices; bone conduction implantable hearing devices; and paediatric conditions.  She has participated in numerous clinical trials and grants, including the more recent gene therapy trials involving: BDNF and NT3 DNA using electroporation; and Adenovirus vector gene therapy for congenital OTOF genetic auditory neuropathy.    

Prof Birman has been a Director of NextSense, Australia’s second oldest charity, established to support those with hearing or vision impairment; and Head of Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at Sydney University.  She is an Honorary Clinical Professor at Macquarie University and Clinical Professor at Sydney University.  She is a RACS examiner in Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery and has been a past NSW chair of ASOHNS.  She has served on hospital and NSW Health government committees. 

Dr Woojin Cho is the Representative Director of Withsim Clinic, Bundang, South Korea. He graduated from Korea University in Seoul, South Korea, and trained in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Korea University Anam Hospital. He maintains an active busy practice using Ultrasound, focused exclusively on patients with a lump on the neck including Thyroid nodules, Salivary disease, Lymphadenopathy and various Soft tissue diseases. 

He is also active in research on Office-based Head and Neck Ultrasound performed by Surgeons and Ultrasonography-guided Procedures (Radiofrequency ablation, Sclerotherapy and Core needle biopsy). He has delivered over 100 scientific presentations worldwide and published more than 20 peer reviewed articles and chapters on medical textbooks, mainly dealing with head and neck ultrasound. 

As an executive board member of Korean Association of Otorhinolaryngologists and Korean Society of Head and Neck Surgery, he has been in charge of over 20 international and domestic head and neck ultrasound courses for surgeons (Hong Kong, Japan and New Zealand, etc.). He has received three “Presentation of the Year” awards at the Annual Congress of Korean Association of Otorhinolaryngologists. 

Prof Neil Gross is a dedicated surgeon and scientist with a passion for service, individualised cancer care and cancer research. Prof Gross completed a head and neck surgery and oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre and has since developed an international reputation as a thought-leader in head and neck cancer. He has published extensively and has served in many service and leadership roles nationally and internationally. 

He currently serves as Professor in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery and Medical Director of Perioperative Surgical Services at MD Anderson Cancer Center. His clinical and research interests focus on improving functional outcomes using transoral robotic surgery (TORS) for HPV-associated oropharynx cancer and neoadjuvant approaches to head and neck cancers including aggressive cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC). Prof Gross is an expert in the development and execution of surgeon-led clinical trials, including a registrational-intent randomized phase 3 trial using neoadjuvant immunotherapy for advanced, resectable CSCC.  

Professor Zara M Patel is Director of Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery and a Professor of Otolaryngology and, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery at Stanford. She is an expert in advanced endoscopic sinus and skull base surgery, treating patients with a wide variety of rhinologic complaints, including chronic sinus infection or inflammation, sinus disease that has failed medical therapy, as well as olfactory disorders. 

Prof Patel is passionate about educating patients to allow them to make the best decisions about their own care, leading to better outcomes. She continues to perform research in the areas of endoscopic sinus surgery and chronic rhinosinusitis in the immunosuppressed patient population, and is currently collaborating with neuroscientists and engineers to develop technology that she hopes will eventually help cure patients with olfactory loss. 

Dr Ravi Thevasagayam is a consultant ENT /Airway Surgeon at the Sheffield Children’s Hospital and the Clinical Director for Surgery. He is an examiner and member of the European Board of ORL-HNS and DO-HNS. He is the Hon secretary for the British Association for Paediatric Otolaryngology.  

Dr Thevasagayam's interests include Airway Surgery, Sleep surgery, Drooling, Sialendoscopy and Inducible Laryngeal Obstruction. He is also interested in non-technical factors and cognitive bias and has lectured on the Hillsborough Disaster and learning from error.