Faculty

Dr. John de Almeida is an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre/University Health Network in Toronto. Hecompleted his residency in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Toronto. He then went on to complete two advanced training fellowships. He trained in Head and Neck Oncologic and Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, where he also received training in Transoral Robotic Surgery. He then completed his second fellowship in Cranial Base Surgery with exposure to both open and endoscopic techniques at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pennsylvania, U.S.

Dr. de Almeida’s research focuses on clinical trials, health technology assessment and cost-effectiveness research, as well as outcomes research and quality of life. He has a Master’s degree in Clinical Epidemiology and has appointments at the Institute for Health Policy Management and Evaluation and the Techna Institute at UHN where he actively participates in research. Dr. de Almeida is the Head of Research at the Division of Head and Neck Oncologic and Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Toronto. He is a member of the Canadian Cancer Trials Group and the NRG-Oncology Head and Neck Core Committee. He is the Principal Investigator of the FIND Trial using Transoral Robotic Surgery for Unknown Primary and the SELECT Trial – and International Phase 3 Randomized Controlled Trial using lymphatic mapping to treat the contralateral neck in lateralized oropharyngeal cancer. He has over $5M in peer-reviewed funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Kate Hutcheson is a Professor and Deputy Director of Clinical Research in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery with dual appointment in the Division of Radiation Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She serves as Section Chief and Research Director for the Section of Speech Pathology and Audiology.

Dr. Hutcheson is a certified speech-language pathologist, a Board Certified Specialist in Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders (BCS-S), and holds a Doctorate Degree in Epidemiology. She maintains an active clinical practice and research program.

She has authored over 120 journal articles with funding support from the National Institutes of Health, Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the MD Anderson Institutional Research Grant Award program, and the CPRIT UT Health Innovation Training Program. She is an accomplished clinician and educator who lectures nationally and internationally on radiation associated dysphagia and head and neck cancer rehabilitation.

Professor of Radiology at the Medical School, University of Brescia, Italy
Former Director of the Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties, Radiological Sciences and Public Health, University of Brescia
President of the Italian Head and Neck Society (IHNS-AIOCC)

Research interests: Head and neck radiology with a particular interest in radiology of head and neck cancer, larynx, salivary, sinonasal and skull base imaging.

Professional background

• European Diploma in Head and Neck Radiology
• Gold Medalist and Honorary Member, European Society of Head and Neck Radiology
• Honorary Member, Royal Belgian Society of Radiology
• “Peter Phelps Memorial Lecturer” at British Society Head and Neck Imaging Meeting: 2021
• Honorary Lecturer at the European Congress of Radiology on “Small is Beautiful. The Voyage of Head and Neck Radiology into the Future”: 2012
• Radiology reviewer of several radiology journals

Publications: 185 papers in peer reviewed journals (H-index 36) and several chapters for general radiology, head and neck radiological and surgical textbooks.
Co-editor, with Piero Nicolai: “Imaging in Treatment Planning for Sinonasal Diseases” (Springer, 2005) and – with Marco Ferrari, Marco Fontanella, Lena Hirtler, Manfred Tschabitscher, Luigi Rodella – “Endoscopic Transnasal Anatomy of the Skull Base and Adjacent Areas” (Thieme, 2019 and 2022 Chinese edition).

Professor Hisham Mehanna is a Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor, Chair of Head and Neck Surgery, and Director of the Institute of Head and Neck Studies and Education, at the University of Birmingham, UK.

Hisham’s clinical interests are recurrence head and neck cancer surgery. Prof Mehanna established and ran the UK’s first clinic dedicated to the multi-disciplinary treatment of head and neck and thyroid cancer recurrence.

Hisham has a keen interest in clinical and translational research, heading a research team of 20 researchers, and holding over £16 million in research grants. His main area of his research resolves around improving the management of head and neck cancer through the use of innovative treatments and dynamic risk stratification and assessment. His research spans translational research, early and late phase clinical trials. He is chief investigator of several multicentre and multinational clinical trials, including the PET NECK trial, published in the NEJM in 2016, and the DeESCALaTE study, published in Lancet 2018.

He is also the President of the Head and Neck International Group, and the past President of the British Association of Head Neck Oncologists (BAHNO), and the past Chair of the UK’s National Cancer Research Institute’s head and neck group, responsible for all head neck cancer research in the UK.