Liverpool hosted the International Academy for Oral Oncology conference in July 2025, welcoming over 1000 delegates from around the world IAOO | International Academy of Oral Oncology. Our research group hosted the pre-congress 15th International Quality of Life in HNC meeting, with presentations from group collaborators Dr Andy Levy ‘Patient and staff behaviour change to support HNC interventions’ and Professor Adrian Midgely ‘Exercise principles and challenges in HNC’. Our strategic board member, Professor Kate Hutcheson presented on ‘Implementation of prehabilitation in HNC’. Dr Gemma Cherry gave a short paper on ‘Exploring the needs fo Adult Carers supporting a family member or friend with HNC who are >75 years’

During the main meeting, there was plenty of sessions focusing on function and QOL to choose from. Our Doctoral Fellows gave some outstanding presentations: Alison Smith ‘Custom-made patient specific nasal devices for speech and swallow rehabilitation in patients with velo-pharyngeal insufficiency’ Taran Malhotra ‘Real-world challenges and solutions in virtual surgical planning’ and Linda Cantwell ‘Optimising holistic care in Dietetics’. Dr Roganie Govender, honorary member of our group, moderated a session on functional outcomes.

Professor Jo Patterson was an invited speaker at the Australian New Zealand Head and Neck Cancer Conference 2025, held in Adelaide.

The theme of the meeting was “Shaping the Future of Head and Neck Cancer Treatment”. Jo gave six presentations, covering topics on prehabilitation, shared decision-making, transoral surgery functional outcomes and the future of survivorship care. The meeting was a great opportunity to connect with our established collaborators, as well as forging new networks.

The 2026 meeting  will be in Brisbane, joined with the IFHNOS 8th World Congress, where members of our team plan to present their work IFHNOS 2026 - Australia and New Zealand Head and Neck Cancer Society

Dr Sousie Papadopoulou, Associate Professor in the Department of Speech and Language Therapy, University of Ioannina Greece joined us for two months to gain more research experience. She joined our research project groups working on peer support models for head and neck cancer patients, rating measurements for respiratory-swallow cycles for people with swallowing difficulties and helped our PhD Fellows with their co-design workshops. Sousie also had the opportunity to join School of AHP and Nursing’s Pedagogy Research Group meeting. She is returning to Greece, with fond memories of her time spent with us, cementing our continued research collaboration.

I recently had the privilege of visiting Bangalore, India, where I collaborated with Speech and Language Therapists across two cancer centres: Sri Shankara and Kidwai. This visit was both inspiring and professionally enriching, offering opportunities to share knowledge and learn from clinicians dedicated to supporting patients through complex recovery journeys. Meeting patients at both cancer centres was a personal highlight for me! 

As part of the trip, I contributed to a pre-conference workshop for SLTs on airway, communication, and swallow rehabilitation following laryngectomy. I also contributed to the Foundation of Head and Neck Oncology’s 25th Jubilee Conference, presenting my work and joining a panel discussion alongside UK and Indian experts. These experiences highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, evidence-based practice, and the human impact of rehabilitation in head and neck cancer care.

The visit reinforced how global exchange of expertise not only advances clinical practice but also strengthens the collective commitment to improving patient outcomes and supporting families through challenging transitions. I hope that this can be the start of future collaborative work between Speech and Language Therapists in the UK & Bangalore. 

Dietitian Linda Cantwell has been shortlisted for the live grand final of the University of Liverpool Three Minute thesis (3MT®) competition 2026. Imagine being able to condense any complex research topic into a compelling, three-minute pitch that anyone can understand. That’s the challenge, and the powerful opportunity, of the 3MT® competition.  

In just three minutes Linda will be presenting her thesis “Nutritional Prehabilitation for Head and Neck Cancer: CoENHANCE” . She is amongst nine finalists competing for the judges’ winner, runner up and People’s Choice Vote awards. The overall winner will then go on to represent the University at the national 3MT® competition hosted by Vitae.  

The live grand final will take place at Hope Street hotel on Wednesday17th June. If you would like attend, tickets are available through Eventbrite  via this link  

Congratulations to Shamah Alnahham who successfully passed her viva pending corrections for her thesis ‘A Multimethod Study on the Diagnostic Accuracy of Dysphagia Screening Tools for Detecting Aspiration in the Head and Neck Cancer Population’

Supervisors: Prof Jo Patterson, Dr Michelle Lawton, Prof Andrew Schache, Dr Jenan Altamimi, with thanks to the examiners Dr Stuart MacKay (internal) and Prof Justin Roe (external)

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