Dr. Michael S. Benninger is the Chairman of the Head and Neck Institute at The Cleveland Clinic and is a Professor of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. Dr Benninger has authored or edited 7 books, including his most recent books, Botulinum Toxin Injections in the Head and Neck and The Singer’s Voice. He has 2 additional books in press. He has also has written over 70 book chapters and over 175 scientific articles, focusing primarily on voice care and laryngology, nasal and sinus disease and health care management. 

Adjunct Prof. Heikki Rihkanen acquired the degree in Phoniatrics after specializing in ORL.

This was a great combination in the 1990s, as the field of phonosurgery had started to emerge.

His scientific research has focused on HPV-infections in the larynx and the surgical treatment of vocal fold paralysis.

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You do not know, what you do not know holds true even today. That is why we need medical congresses.

Elin Thordardottir, professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and researcher at Reykjavikur Akademian, Iceland. Her research, funded by research grants from Canada and Iceland, is in the area of language development and disorders in monolingual and bilingual children, with a focus on underlying causes, assessment and intervention. She is the author of numerous research articles and of several language assessment tools for Icelandic and French and for bilingual children.  Elin has held leadership roles in European Cost Actions (currently IS1406) and is a member of the IALP multilingualism and multicultural committee.

José Juan Barajas de Prat Studied medicine at the Medical School of Navarra University He qualified as otolaryngologist at Madrid University and took his Ph.D. at Granada University.  He is current President of the Canary Island Foundation for Prevention of deafness. President of International Society of Audiology. (2010-2012. President of the Association of Physician in Audiology (2002 – 2006) (2014-2016).International Award of American Academy of Audiology (2017). 

Gauthier Desuter MD MSc. He is director of the Voice & Swallowing Clinic in the ENT Head & Neck Surgery Department at Cliniques universitaires Saint Luc; an academic hospital associated with Université catholique de Louvain, and situated in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Brussels, Belgium. 

Dr. Deborah Ross-Swain is the immediate past president of the California Speech-Language-Hearing Association and former Chief of Speech Pathology at the University of California Davis Medical Center and the owner and Clinical Director of The Swain Center for Listening, Communicating and Learning and has over 35 years of experience in the areas of auditory processing, ASD, learning and Early Intervention.  Dr. Swain is a nationally recognized speaker, writer and researcher and the author of seven treatment books and manuals and eight standardized tests for assessing various deficits with communication.  Dr. Swain has been a volunteer leader in many professional associations most notably ASHA and CSHA. 

Donna Geffner, PhD, CCC-SLP/A, is a dually licensed and certified speech-language pathologist and audiologist. She served as Full Professor, Department Chair, Director of the Speech and Hearing Center, Director of the Graduate Programs and the Long Island AuD Consortium program at St. John’s University prior to her retirement. She maintains a private practice in the areas of auditory processing disorders, language impairment, and AD/HD. Dr. Geffner is the recipient of the St. John’s University President’s Medal and many local, statewide, and national honors and awards, including ASHA’s Fellow and ASHA Honors. Providence College bestowed upon her an Honorary Doctorate in Education. She currently continues to teach as an adjunct professor at Hofstra University in the AuD program. She is a former Vice President of Academic Affairs for ASHA and President of ASHA, 1999. Dr. Geffner is the author of three books (Auditory Processing Disorders: Assessment, Management and Treatment, with Deb Swain, now in its third edition; Attention Deficit Disorders: What Professionals Need to Know; and The Navigator with Dale Seiden, a visual picture mapping for children) and two tests (Auditory Skills Assessment with the late Ron Goldman and the Listening Inventory with Deb Swain). She was a host of a national television program series, produced by CBS and NBC, the latter of which received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Instructional Programming. She continues to be a spokesperson and invited speaker nationally and internationally at professional conferences, television, national webinars, and local and state conferences, parent groups, and educational seminars.