Shikani International Rhinology Award

The ARS is excited to announce the creation of the Shikani International Rhinology Award! This generous gift from long time ARS Fellow, Dr. Alan Shikani creates an annual award will be granted to a clinician or scientist located outside the United States who has made a significant, creative and/or transformative contribution to Rhinology.

Dr. Shikani is a fellow of the American Rhinologic Society, the American College of Surgeons, and the Triologic Society. He earned the Maurice H. Cottle Award for Clinical and Basic Research in Rhinology in 2003. He has been a “Top Doc” in Maryland for numerous years. He is the founder and director of the Maryland Ear, Nose and Throat Center.

The Shikani awardee will be selected from the accepted international submissions for oral presentation at the Annual Fall Meeting of the American Rhinologic Society. The applicant must submit a manuscript and application three months prior to the meeting. The awardee will be notified one month ahead of the meeting.

Priority will be given to a researcher who has not attended the Annual Meeting in the past. Selection will be made by the ARS Awards Committee. In an effort to increase diversity, priority will also be given to a researcher from a country who has not been granted this award in the past five years.

The awardee will be given $2000, complimentary registration to the ARS Annual Meeting, and a 1-year membership to the ARS.

Why did I establish the Shikani International Rhinology Award?

I grew up in Beirut, Lebanon where I completed my primary and secondary education, and received my medical degree from the American university of Beirut. In 1984, I was privileged to be admitted to the department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, one of the top-rated Otolaryngology programs in the US, where I completed 6 years of an outstanding clinical residency training and a year of fellowship, under the mentorship of some of the country's leading otolaryngologists. Johns Hopkins has a rich history in diversity, inclusion, and philanthropy. It taught me excellence in ENT surgery, clinical care and research, and provided me with inspiration and direction. It also opened my eyes on how difficult it is for a foreign medical graduate to get accepted into a surgical training program in America. True this tradition, I was committed to do my best to give back and help international physician graduates who were eager to prove themselves in the US and contribute to the field of Otolaryngology and especially that of Rhinology.

The Maryland Nose & Sinus Center Fellowship Program was hence established in Baltimore in 2006 and opened to both US and international applicants, aiming to cultivate a generation of rhinology leaders with a focus on emerging countries. And so it was that yearly otolaryngology fellows have come since 2006 from a variety of countries to train with me in rhinology including Egypt, Eritrea, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and Syria. Some of our graduates have decided to stay in the US in academia or in private practice, while others have returned home to establish their own rhinology teaching programs. 

As an educator, I feel that I am the one who has gotten the best out of this experience. I have cherished the daily companionship of these smart and sophisticated individuals. Not only were they all eager to learn, but they also shared common rhinology interests and enriched my life through daily lively interactions and worldly discussions. I have valued teaching each one of them and treasured being able to make a lasting impact on their lives.

Today, by funding a permanent endowment to establish the Shikani International Rhinology Award, my goal is to support the research of international otolaryngologists and encourage them to travel to the US and present their work at the American Rhinologic Society meetings. My hope is that this award will inspire a new generation of global researchers and advance the field of rhinology in various regions of the world.

I am thankful the ARS for the opportunity to establish this international rhinology award and I am honored to be able to make a difference. It was said that “the important things are the lives we touch; the people we help get better”. Being able to positively impact the future of talented and promising rhinologists from various regions in the world, is the highlight and the most rewarding experience of my career.

Alan H. Shikani MD, FACS, FARS