One of the most important contributions to the field of laryngology the VHI has made was to establish and endow the Eugene B. Casey Professorship in Laryngeal Surgery at Harvard Medical School, in the Department of Surgery of the Massachusetts General Hospital. This was made possible through the gracious and generous philanthropy of the Eugene B. Casey Foundation of Gaithersburg, Maryland.

In establishing this professorship, the VHI has ensured that the highest quality clinical care in Laryngeal Surgery will be maintained. The professorship also supports advancements in Laryngology through novel and enterprising research programs. In recognition of Betty Brown Casey's commitment to the welfare of children, innovative approaches to pediatric voice loss have been instituted.

The first incumbent to the Casey Professorship is Steven M. Zeitels, M.D. Dr. Zeitels is the Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation. He is an international leader in the field of phonosurgery and is known for the passion and vision he brings to his work.

The VHI has participated in funding doctoral students pursuing voice research who are enrolled in the Speech and Hearing Biosciences and Technology PhD Program at the Harvard-MIT conjoint Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Four of these students who recently received their PhDs are Dr. Cara Stepp (currently doing a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Washington), Dr. Asa Wehner (currently completing a Clinical Fellowship in Speech Pathology at Boston Children's Hospital), Dr. Yoko Saikachi (currently a staff scientist at the Riken Brain Science Institute in Japan), and Dr. Daryush Mehta (currently doing a combined Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University and the Massachusetts General Hospital).

The VHI has continued to fulfill the educational part of its mission by providing ongoing funding for Harvard-affiliated clinical and research fellowships in laryngeal surgery and voice disorders at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The nine MD-otolaryngologists who have completed the one-year Clinical Fellowship in Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Disorders since the Voice Center opened in 2004 are listed below along with their year of graduation and current position:

Name	Graduated	Position Accepted
Adam Klein, M.D.	2004	Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Lee Akst, M.D.	2005	Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
Mathew Broadhurst, M.D.	2006	Private Practice, Brisbane, Australia
Jonatan Lahav, M.D.	2007	Academic Practice, Israel
Steven Fienberg, M.D.	2007	Private Practice, Orange County, CA
Mathew Lutch, M.D.	2008	Kaiser Hospital, San Diego, CA
Aaron Friedman, M.D.	2008	Harvard - MGH
Jonathan Young, M.D.	2009	McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Paul Bryson, M.D.	2009	Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
Gerardo Lopez Guerra, M.D.	2009	Academic Practice, Mexico
David Lott, M.D.	2010	Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale
David Rosow, M.D.	2010	University of Miami
Anca Barbu	2011	MGH Voice Center-Harvard Medical School
Tali Landau-Zemer	2011	Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel
Simon Best	2011	Johns Hopkins

Since its inception, the VHI has helped to support the following courses through Harvard Medical School's Department of Continuing Medical Education:

• 2005 - Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation
• 2006 - Office-Based Laryngeal Surgery
• 2007 - Laryngeal Framework Voice Surgery
• 2008 – Larynx Surgery Innovations
• 2009 – Laryngeal Papillomatosis and Cancer: Annual Surgical Innovations Course
• 2010 - Laryngology and Voice Surgery

Personal and academic tribute to the memory of an educator and father.
In furtherance of its educational mission, the VHI co-sponsored with the Department of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital the Dimitri Papaioanu Visiting Professorship. The lecture "Optimizing Results in Phonosurgery" was presented by Dr. Charles N. Ford, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

In attendance was Dimitri Papaioanu's wife, who traveled from Greece for the tribute to her late husband. She was accompanied by their two sons, Athanassios Papaioanu and Paki Papaioanu.

The VHI has endowed an annual academic initiative at the American Broncho-Esophagological Association (ABEA) yearly meeting to be comprised of a visiting lecturer and/or an educational panel discussion.

This was done to support the commitment of the ABEA to excellence in research and education. The ABEA is a unique surgical society that was instituted about 90 years ago to advance the study and treatment of diseases of the upper airway and food passages.

To visit the American Broncho-Esophagological Association website, click here.

Matching PhD Students with Mentors: The VHI provided financial support for the Special Interest Division (SID 3) for Voice and Voice Disorders of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) to hold an Open House at the Massachusetts General Hospital during ASHA's Annual Convention when it was in Boston. This event was coordinated by Dr. Robert Hillman, Co-Director and Research Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital, and a member of the SID 3 Steering Committee. The purpose of the Open House was to provide the opportunity for individuals who are considering a PhD program with a voice research emphasis to meet potential mentors from leading institutions around the country.

The Open House also provided the opportunity to see demonstrations of the latest technologies being developed at the Massachusetts General Hospital including ultra high-speed laryngeal imaging, outpatient laryngeal laser surgery, voice ambulatory monitoring and biofeedback, size calibration of endoscopic images, and voice neural prosthetics.

The event was universally deemed a success with over 150 attendees.

Conference on Laryngeal Imaging: The VHI provided support for a day-long short course on laryngeal imaging held prior to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Annual Convention when it was in Miami, Florida. This highly successful conference was attended by more than 100 speech-language pathologists