Set in the culture capital of Ireland, the 66th Annual Irish Otolaryngology / Head and Neck Surgery Society (IOS) meeting was held with great success in the Salthill Hotel, Galway. The meeting was opened with a welcoming address from IOS President, Professor Rory McConn Walsh, and proceeded to a captivating session on lateral skull base pathology. 

World-renowned lateral skull base surgeon, Professor Richard Irving of Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, addressed the current management of paragangliomas in the region. This was followed by excellent talks from Professor Shakeel Saeed on vestibular schwannoma management, and Professor Manohar Bance from the University of Cambridge on genetic hearing loss and the role of surgical gene therapies. The section was closed by Professor James Paul O’Neill and Professor Patrick Nicholson.

Continuing the meeting theme of skull base surgery, the Anterior Skull Base plenary session was opened by University of Pittsburgh Associate Professor, Garret Choby, a leading expert in the management of sinonasal malignancy and anterior skull base tumours. Mr Shahz Ahmed, from Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, discussed the role of a transorbital approach to the skull base. The session was closed by a riveting tumour board discussion, led by Professor Robbie Woods.

The evening was set in motion with a drinks reception and the much anticipated traditional Wilde Discourse, presented this year by Professor Richard Irving. The gala black-tie dinner ensued with delicious food, drinks and live music.

Day two was commenced with a head and neck free paper session, followed by a panel discussion on current topics in paediatric ENT, including updates in the management of chronic otitis media with effusion and sleep disordered breathing.

A diverse array of excellent free papers and poster presentations were delivered throughout the conference. The prestigious Aongus Curran scholarship was awarded to Dr JJ Cronin for his presentation on neoadjuvant cemiplimab monotherapy in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. Dr Sean Dolan won best oral presentation for his presentation on cocaine induced rhinological complications in Northern Ireland, and the best poster prize (Prof Nash Patil Award) went to Dr I Braithwaite, who presented on the use of single-use channelled nasal endoscopes in the management of pharyngeal fish bones.

After two years of dedicated service, Professor McConn Walsh (above, left) closed the meeting with a passing of the baton to Keith Trimble (above, right) , as he takes on the role of IOS President.

The eagerly anticipated 67th Annual IOS Conference will take place in October 2026. 

This bursary is intended to support the specialist education and training of any ENT Specialist Registrar or those undertaking Core Surgical Training with a training number from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland. This bursary is to further the clinical or research skills in any area of the specialty that the candidate chooses. There are up to three travelling bursaries of £3,000 each available in each calendar year.

Application Process The application should consist of a Microsoft Word document which contains: (i) A brief Curriculum Vitae (maximum 2 pages of A4) including contact details (ii) An outline of the purpose and educational value of the study period (iii) A breakdown of expenses that require funding (iv) Details of any additional funding available to the applicant (v) A reference from their educational supervisor in support of the application (vi) An invitation letter from the head of department from the host.

The successful applicants will be expected to provide a written report of their visit comprising 500 words and be prepared to give a 15 minute presentation on their visit at an annual JLO meeting.

Applications should be sent to: secretary@jlo.co.uk.

The President and Council Members of the IOS would like to express their sincere sympathy to the family of Mr. Sam Hall who died on the 20th October. May he rest in peace.

The 65th annual meeting of the Irish Otorhinolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery Society (IOS) was held at the Titanic Centre in Belfast on 11-12th October 2024. This proved to be a very successful meeting. The academic standard of the conference was very high. While the subspecialties of Otology/Neuro Otology, Head & Neck, Paediatric Otolaryngology, and Rhinology were all well represented at the meeting, the lead theme was Head and Neck cutaneous malignancy/Facial Reanimation. The annual Wilde discourse, which is in honour of Sir William Wilde, father of Oscar, was delivered by Professor Kofi Boahene, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, US. The topic was facial reanimation. The Wilde medal together with a copy of Sir William Wilde’s textbook, “Practical Observations on Aural Surgery”, was awarded to Kofi by the President of the IOS, Professor Rory McConn Walsh. The guest speakers for the meeting were Carstein Palme (Sydney), Lisa Prior (Dublin), Louise McDermott (Birmingham), Matt Lechner (London) and Charlie Huins (Birmingham).

The Aonghus Curran Medal and Bursary for the best head and neck presentation was awarded by Dr Noreen Dowd to Emma Finnegan. The best oral presentation was awarded to R McKenna. The runner up oral presentation was awarded to Katherine Griffin. The award for the best poster presentation was awarded to Nadia Van Den Berg. Congrats to all. This meeting was greatly supported by industry sponsors.

The next annual IOS meeting will be held in Galway on 10-11th October 2025. There will also be a joint Irish Otorhinolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery Society/North of England ENT Society/RSM Travelling Professors Meeting at the RCSI in Dublin on 9th May. This will be hosted by the IOS with eight distinguished speakers and six CME awarded. All are welcome to both of these meetings.

It is truly a great honour and privilege for me to take over as President of the very prestigious North-South Irish ENT surgical society , which is entering its 65th year, especially when I note the names that have preceded me.

I have a hard act to follow in taking over from Robin Adair who has done an amazing job over the last 2 years and I commend him for that. The Irish Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Society is a highly successful North-South Medical Society with close ties, links and collegiality between ENT in the North and South of Ireland and I will endeavour to further augment and cement those ties. I look forward to working closely with the Southern Secretary Peter Lacy, the Northern Secretary Brendan Hanna, the Treasurer Martin Donnelly and indeed the entire council of the Society who work very hard behind the scenes.

The Annual Meeting has evolved year on year such that it is a truly international meeting with a very high academic standard, and I will do my very best to continue that. The Wilde Medal, in honour of Sir William Wilde, father of Oscar, will be awarded to our Wilde Discourser at the meeting.

Prizes are awarded to trainees for the best presentation and poster presentation every year. This year the inaugural Prof Aonghus Curran prize for the best presentation in Head and Neck was funded and awarded by his wife Dr. Noreen Dowd and their children. The IOS are indebted to Noreen for coming to the meeting in 2023 to award this prize personally. I will also ensure that our trainees, our colleagues of the future, are very much to the fore. I will also endeavour to increase our international links. As well as a strong academic side, there is also a very important social side to this Society and I encourage partners and their families to continue to come to the annual meeting where they are most welcome. The next meeting is in the Titantic centre in Belfast on the 11th & 12th October 2024 and I look forward to seeing you all there where there will be a very exciting academic programme involving all ENT subspecialities.

Best wishes

Prof. Rory McConn Walsh

At our Annual Meeting in Sligo there was a very exciting academic programme involving all ENT subspecialities.

Prizes were awarded to trainees for the best presentations and poster presentation.

Joint 1st Best Paper

An audit of the Beaumont Hospital ENT Physiotherapy Led Vestibular Clinic.

1. Tattersall, I Clancy, F. Glynn, PD Lacy, S. Mamdouh, D. Murray, A. Naude, C. Ni Chearbhaill, JP. O’Neill, N. Shine, P. Walshe, R. Woods, RM. Walsh

Beaumont Hospital Dublin

Acute Vertigo in the Emergency Department

1. Wauchope, M. Feenan, M. McCormack, E .Devlin, B. Rea, D. McShane, N Thompson, J. Dennison, EK Reddy

Southern Health and Social Care Trust, UK

2nd Best Paper

Button battery ingestion in children is potentially fatal. Assessing and raising community awareness of a decades old problem.

A Mahesh, K Majeed, IJ Keogh University of Galway, Ireland.

Best Poster Presentation

An otologist’s workload – are they all ears?

Vianka Marcelino, Lisa O’Byrne, Mel Corbett , Mubassir Ullah, S Guan Khoo,

St Vincent’s University Hospital

Venue: Cheyne Lecture Theatre, RCSI
Date: Friday 12th May 2-5pm
There will be five International guest speaker with an emphasis on Otology and Rhinology / Facial Plastics (programme to follow)
There will be a light lunch before in the RCSI and dinner afterwards for those who wish to attend

Please click here to register. Cost of Meeting is €30 payable online or on the day (Dinner not included). 3.0 Credits has been assigned to this event.

IOS members can sign up to receive the digital version of ENT & Audiology news every two months with the bonus optional offer for those who also have an interest in rhinoplasty and facial plastics. Receive a free digital subscription to The PMFA Journal (Plastic, Maxillofacial & Aesthetic related content). To avail of these offers, simply register your interest with Nova McMillan via email to nova@pinpoint-scotland.com