The subdivision of Pediatric Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery hosted the first pediatric Dysphagia Symposium on November 9. The event took place at the Lister Hall Conference Centre. It was a whole day of lectures on the multidisciplinary management of children with swallowing disorders. Dr. Hamdy El-Hakim (Pediatric Otolaryngologist and Associate Professor at the department of Surgery) organized the event along with Mrs. Wendy Johannsen (Pediatric Speech & Language Pathologist) at the Stollery Children's Hospital.
The program featured prominent experts in the field from three centers in the United States. Drs. Claire Miller and Paul Willging from the University of Cincinnati, Dr. James Schroeder from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University and Drs. Julina Ongkasuwan and Deepak Mehta from Baylor College of Medicine. They were also joined by some of our finest local faculty who manage swallowing in a multidisciplinary practice (Drs. Anne Hicks, Adrienne Thompson, Caroline Jeffery and Rabin Persad).
The event was attended by over 80 participants who were a diverse audience composed of Pediatricians, Speech and Language pathologists, Pulmonologists, Occupational therapists, Feeding therapists, Resident, Fellows and parents as well.
The event was accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeon for CME and was supported by unrestricted grants from Karl Storz and Olympus.