The Training of Head and Neck Surgeons: The Care of Head and Neck Patients 2002 Presidential Address, American Head and Neck Society

P erhaps the greatest honor bestowed on the president of the American Head and NeckSociety is the opportunity to speak at the annual meeting. I have chosen to address 2topics of great concern to me: the training of head and neck surgeons and the care ofhead and neck patients. Two years ago in San Francisco, our presi-dent, Jesus E. Medina, MD, in his inspi-rational address entitled “Tragic Opti-mism vs Learning on the Verge of More Change andGreat Advances, ” analyzed the factors that influence the decision of resi-dents to select advanced fellowship train-ing in head and neck surgery.1 He chal-lenged us to be flexible and reminded us that the future belongs to those who are learners and can cope with change, not to those who are learned and live in the past. The following year, responding to that challenge in his presidential address