The IFHNOS is proud and pleased to announce the establishment of the International Visiting Scholarship Program. This program is supported by a generous perpetual grant from the Jatin and Bharti Shah Family Foundation. The program will offer an observership grant in the amount of US $5,000 to selected candidates who will have the opportunity to travel to one of the centers of excellence in North America listed below and spend two months observing clinical activities and/or research activities to further strengthen their clinical competence and research productivity. The selected candidates will have an opportunity to observe in a tertiary care, head and neck cancer center of excellence, where they will have an opportunity to participate in educational activities of the institution as well as observe in the operating room. The International Traveling Scholarship Program is available to any candidate who has met the requirements for this travel grant and has been selected by the Program Committee.

Applications for this travel grant should be submitted to the Chair of the International Traveling Scholarship Program Committee by July 1^st of each academic year for the observership to take place during the following year.

ELIGIBILTY TO APPLY

The travel grants in this program are available to candidates who have completed at least 5 years of surgical training either in the field of general surgery, otolaryngology, plastic surgery or allied specialties with a focus on head and neck cancer. The candidate should have demonstrated a commitment to head and neck cancer surgery through training in surgical oncology, publications, and current clinical activities in the specialty of head and neck surgery and oncology. In general, candidates during their advanced fellowship in head and neck surgery or at a junior faculty level would be encouraged to apply. The Observership can be undertaken at any one of the approved institutions with centers of excellence in head and neck surgery listed in this program.

The candidates wishing to apply for the International Traveling Scholarship Program need to complete the application form and submit it to Dr. Ashok Shaha, Chairman of the International Observership Program of IFHNOS, by July 1, 2026 for observership to begin 2027.

The following institutions and mentors have agreed to accept international observers in their program for a period of up to 2 months.

• Chief of Service: Professor Richard Wong
• Department of Head and Neck Surgery
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA

• Professor and Chair: Jeffrey Myers
• Department of Head and Neck Surgery
• M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA

• Professor and Chair: Danny Enepekides
• Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery
• University of Toronto, Canada

The candidates wishing to apply for the International Traveling Scholarship Program need to complete the application form and submit it to Dr. Ashok Shaha, Chairman of the International Traveling Scholarship Program of IFHNOS, by July 1, 2027.

The following Committee will oversee and administer the International Observer Program (IOP):

• ● Ashok Shaha, USA - Chairman of IOP, Chair Of The Council, IFHNOS
  
• ● Pankaj Chaturvedi, India - Secretary General
  
• ● Claudio Cernea, Brazil - Director, IFHNOS
  
• ● Patrick Gullane, Canada
  
• ● William Wei, Hong Kong
  
• ● Jeanette Matsuo, Philippines