Program Overview The scientific program of the 5th Middle East Voice and Laryngology symposium has been tailored to address four main themes that have markedly evolved over the last two decades; The worldwide epidemic of obesity and its impact on the various components of the phonatory apparatus, the laryngeal behavior vis-à-vis the hormonal climate, office-based controversies in the management of benign lesions of the vocal fold, and last but not least, the morbid echo of head and neck surgery on voice.

Objectives At the end of the conference, participants will be able to: Provide an interdisciplinary approach in the management of obesity, weight loss and their impact on phonation. Highlight the controversies in office-based management of benign lesions of the vocal folds. Provide a comprehensive update on the link between sex hormones and voice. Underline the phonatory adverse events of commonly performed head and neck surgeries.

​Target Audience The target audience of the 5th Middle East Voice and laryngology Symposium includes Otolaryngologists, speech language pathologists, vocal teachers and therapists, endocrinologist, general surgeons, head and neck surgeons, residents and medical students.

Lebanese Order of Physicians Accreditation Statement The 5th Middle East Voice and Laryngology Symposium complies with Lebanese Order of Physicians' Continuing Medical Education guidelines.

Call for Abstracts The topics should be within the field of laryngology and voice, written in English and limited to no more than 2,500 characters. The abstracts should be structured in the following way: Introduction, objective, study design, patients and methods or material and methods, results and conclusion. The presenting author must be a resident who has registered as a participant.

Deadline for submission of abstracts is January 31, 2021.

A scientific committee will review all the abstracts and the decision-making will be based on four main constructs, namely scientific validity, originality and clinical application, study design and methodology. The author will be notified of the acceptance for oral presentation by February 26, 2021. The announcement of the winner will take place right after the oral presentation. The winner of the “Robert T. Sataloff Award” will receive an acknowledgement plaque, a financial award of USD 500 and one week visit to Dr. Sataloff practice at the University of Drexel, USA, conditioned to the pandemic situation. In addition, his or her manuscript will be edited by Dr. Sataloff prior to submission for possible publication. Abstracts should be sent as a word document to Mr. Bilal Mohtar on the following email address: [email protected]