Legacy of Excellence Digital Flipbook

Chapter 1: 1997 – 2001

the Academy, further NIH and NIDCD funding was essential to the furthering of research and clinical trials in otolaryngology head and neck surgery and in supporting advances in patient care. In 1999, the Academy worked with U.S. Representative James Walsh to support passage of legislation to provide seed money to states to create universal infant hearing screening programs to detect hearing loss at birth. The Newborn Infant and Hearing

1999: Gayle E. Woodson, MD,

was the first female candidate for AAO HNS/F President.

Robert Ruben, MD, (left) and Antonio De la Cruz, MD, testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

incredibly good news as otolaryngologist may have been looking at severe cuts in 1998 under the previous HCFA plan to change the practice expense values for physician services. The Academy also advocated for the increased funding of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). Dr. De la Cruz and Robert J. Ruben, MD, testified in 1998 appearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. For

Screening and Intervention Act of 1999 was introduced on March 18, 1999, and at a March 17, 1999, press conference, Michael D. Maves, MD, MBA, AAO HNS/F EVP, expressed the full and enthusiastic support of the membership for the new bill. He stated, “Children with hearing disorders can and must be identified at the earliest possible age, medical treatment undertaken where appropriate, and intervention options identified and implemented without delay to maximize each child’s potential.” To further the voice of the Academy on Capitol Hill, the Academy opened a new Washington, DC, office for the Department of Health Policy and Government Affairs in 2001, providing the Academy, for the first time, a major presence in Washington, DC, close to the Capitol, congressional offices, and government regulatory agencies. The department was co-located with the Deafness Research Foundation, an organization with strong historical ties to otolaryngology and the

Academy. “The possibility of opening a Washington office has been considered for the past 18 months and the decision was made based on proximity to Congress and government agencies as well as to the significant expansion of the Department of Health Policy and Government Affairs, which has occurred to enable our association to promote otolaryngology-head and neck surgery issues at the highest levels of government,” said Dr. Holt in the October 2001 Bulletin .

2001: The BOG elected its first

woman Chair-Elect, Rebecca Gaughan, MD, of Olathe, Kansas.

Michael D. Maves, MD, MBA, expressed full and enthusiastic support for the new Walsh hearing bill. (Congressman Walsh seated)

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