Legacy of Excellence Digital Flipbook

LEGACY OF EXCELLENCE: CAROL R. BRADFORD, MD, MS PRESIDENT FROM 2020 – 2021

U nlike many of her AAO-HNS/F predecessors, President Carol R. Bradford, MD, MS, did not come from a family of doctors, yet she knew in elementary school that she wanted to be a physician. “I just knew I wanted to help people,” she said. Dr. Bradford grew up in Southeastern Michigan and completed her education at the University of Michigan, including undergraduate and medical school, where she discovered otolaryngology as a career during her first year of medical school. “Once I had done my clinical rotations, I knew that I wanted to specialize in head and neck cancer, that part of otolaryngology. That was the right decision for me. I did an 18-month T32 research fellowship where I worked in a head and neck tumor biology lab. It [was] fun to study tumor biology in the lab and utilize some of that knowledge to inform care of patients, whether it’s human papillomavirus as one of the new causative agents for throat cancer. It’s an amazingly fabulous field… and it’s a privilege to provide care for patients and families and, ultimately, the community we collectively serve.” Dr. Bradford joined the faculty at the University of Michigan following her residency in 1992. She became department chair in 2009 and executive vice dean for academic affairs in 2016. From 2012 to 2018, she held the Charles J. Krause, MD, Collegiate Professorship in Otolaryngology. In 2020, she was named dean of The Ohio State University College of Medicine and vice president for Health Sciences at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Early on, Dr. Bradford was heavily involved within the research realm of the AAO-HNS/F. She was Chair of the Women in Otolaryngology Leadership Development and Mentorship Committee from 2012

to 2018 and served on the AAO-HNS/F Boards of Directors from 2014 to 2018. Dr. Bradford has been recognized for her leadership and service, receiving the AAO-HNS Distinguished Service Award, the Clinical Excellence Award from Castle Connolly National Physician of the Year Awards, the Distinguished Service Award from the American Head and Neck Society, and the Women in Otolaryngology Helen F. Krause Memorial Trailblazer Award, which recognizes an individual who has furthered the interests of women in the field of otolaryngology.

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