Jan B. Vermorken & Volker Budach 
Critical Issues in Head and Neck Oncology [PDF ebook] 
Key Concepts from the Sixth THNO Meeting

Part I.    Epidemiology and diagnosis .- The role of vaccination in head and neck cancer prevention.- Cellular and molecular pathology in head and neck cancer.-
Part II.         Prediction of outcome.- Oncogenomics/proteomics of head and neck cancer.- Targeted next-generation sequencing in head and neck cancer.- Homologous recombination function as predictor of treatment response.-
Part III.  Oral cavity cancer.- Surgical management of oral cavity cancer.- Reconstruction in oral cavity cancer: when and how.- Induction chemotherapy: does it have a place in oral cavity cancer?.- Are there alternative local treatments in oral cavity cancer?.-
Part IV.  Oropharynx cancer.- HPV assessment in oropharynx cancer: what is the gold standard?.- A new staging system for oropharynx cancer and why?.- Should we de-escalate the treatment in HPV-positive oropharynx cancer?.- Is there a new role for surgery in oropharynx cancer?.- Can we expect less toxicity with newer forms of radiation?.-
Part V.  Miscellaneous topics.- What is the optimal larynx preservation approach and who are the candidates?.- Is the approach to patients with unknown primary tumors any different in 2017?.- Cytotoxic chemotherapy and targeted therapy in nasopharynx cancer.- Are there alternative chemotherapy regimens for EXTREME in recurrent/metastatic SCCHN.- New data on systemic therapy of salivary gland tumors.- Treatment of elderly patients with head and neck cancer.-
Part VI.  Thyroid cancer.- World-wide thyroid cancer epidemics: what is going on?.- The surgical approach to thyroid cancer in 2017.- 
Part VII. Keynote address.- Immunology and immunotherapy in head and neck cancer.- 

Prof. Jan B. Vermorken started his medical training in 1961, graduated in 1970 from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and became a board-certified specialist in internal medicine in 1975. Since that time he has worked in the field of Medical Oncology and was officially registered as a Medical Oncologist in the Netherlands in 1992. He received his Ph D in Medical Sciences in 1986 from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.  From May 1997 until October 1, 2009, he was appointed Professor of Oncology at the University of Antwerp (UA), and head of the Department of Medical Oncology at the University Hospital Antwerp (UZA), in Edegem, Belgium. After his retirement he remains connected to both University (Emeritus Professor) and University Hospital (consultant).
His main fields of interest are head and neck oncology and gynecologic oncology. He chaired both the Head and Neck Cancer Group (2006-2009) and the Gynecologic Cancer Group (1983-1989) of the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of cancer (EORTC). He was founding chair of the Gynecologic Cancer Inter Group (GCIG: 1997-2003) and strongly involved in establishing the Head and Neck Cancer International Group (HNCIG) in 2015.   He devotes a large part of his time to teaching, professional training, and continuing medical education.
Professor Vermorken is member of various scientific societies, member of several editorial boards of International journals, reviewer of multiple cancer journals and author or co-author of 700 publications. He was Editor-in-Chief of Annals of Oncology from 2009 to 2014 and is chief editor of the head and neck cancer section of The Oncologist (since 2003), and the head and neck section of Frontiers in Oncology (since 2015), is editorial chair of ONCOhemato (multidisciplinary journal; since 2007) in Belgium and chairs Oncotherapie (an internet platform) in The Netherlands (since 2007) . He received the ESMO award in 2007 and on March 1, 2013 he received the title of Commander in the Order of Leopold for his contributions to oncology.
Jean-Pascal Machiels MD, Ph D, is head of department of medical oncology and a member of the directory board of the oncology center, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels Belgium. He trained at Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, where he gained his MD  in 1993 and his Ph D in 2001  and at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore USA, where he was a Fellow in Medical Oncology  from 1998 until 2000, . His main interests include Head and Neck cancer, and phase 1 clinical trials. He has published more than one hundred papers reporting on clinical trials and translational research. 
Volker Budach is Head of the Depts. for Radiation Oncology at the Charité University Medicine Berlin. He became a board certified radiation oncologist at the University of Essenin 1985 and was appointed as full professor and chair of the Dept. for Radiation Oncology at the Charité University Clinics in 1993. He was board member and treasurer of the ESTRO during 1996 and 2004 and chairman of the EORTC-Radiooncology Group during 2000-2003, followed by the chairmanship of the EORTC Clinical Research Division and member of the EORTC Executive committee from 2003 – 2006. He was president of the German Society for Radiation Oncology from 2007-2009. Currently he holds the head position of the Center for Tumor Medicine at the Charité. He actively organized and supported diverse interdisciplinary national and international meetings with the topic of head and neck cancer and is also member of the European Head and Neck Society. He has a long-standing record as PI for three German multicentric trials comprising more than 800 patients. He is founding and current board member of the German Head and Neck Clinical Trialists’ Collaborative Group. He is a highly distinguishedand internationally well-known expert in head and neck cancer with more than 300 publications cited in Pubmed

Professor C. René Leemans, MD, Ph D is chair of the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at the VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam since 2002. His special interests include head and neck oncology, reconstructive and microvascular surgery, and basic research. René Leemans has made a sustained and internationally recognized contribution to cancer care and research in the field of head and neck oncology over the past decades. He has published over 350 papers in high profile journals and is regularly invited to speak at international conferences and tutor at courses. He also serves on the editorial board of nine peer-reviewed journals.
Professor O’Sullivan is the Bartley-Smith/Wharton Chair in Radiation Oncology and leader of the Head and Neck Program at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University of Toronto. He is the Co-chair of the Head and Neck Steering committee of the US National Cancer Institute and Editor-in-Chief of the UICC Manual of Clinical Oncology. He is Chair of the UICC Prognostic Factors Classification Committee,   and Chair of the UICC Head and Neck Committee, co-editor of the UICC TNM Classification of Malignant Tumours and Liaison the AJCC Expert Committee on Head and Neck Cancer.  Professor O’Sullivan has received multiple awards and honors for his work, has lectured extensively throughout the world, and has published over 370 peer-review papers.Piero Nicolai was born in 1954. Since 2006 he is serving as Chairman of the Unit of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at ASST Spedali Civili Brescia – University of Brescia (Italy). In 2016 he has also been appointed Head of the Department of Surgery at ASST Spedali Civili Brescia and Rector’s Delegate for relations with Brescia Health Care System of the University of Brescia. He received his MD degree at the University of Padua, wherehe completed his residency programme in Otolaryngology, and subsequently in Medical Oncology. His clinical and research activities are mainly focused on head and neck oncology and endoscopic sinus and skull base surgery. Prof. Nicolai has authored or co-authored 245 papers in peer-reviewed journals as well as 57 book chapters. He was co-editor of a book on “Imaging in Treatment Planning for Sinonasal Diseases”, and Editor of 6 issues of Current Opinion in Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery on Head and Neck Oncology. He is a member of the editorial board of the journals Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology, Head and Neck, International Journal of Head & Neck Surgery, The Laryngoscope, Clinical Otolaryngology, and Associate Editor of Frontiers in Oncology – Head and Neck Cancer Section.