DR KAREN KOST

Dr Karen Kost is a Professor of Otolaryngology and Director of the Voice and Dysphagia Laboratory at McGill University in Montreal. Her principal interests include Voice, Airway, Transgender Voice Surgery, Head and Neck Oncology, and Geriatric Otolaryngology.

Dr Kost is active within several Societies including the AAO-HNS, CSO-HNS, the Triologic Society, the ALA, and ABEA,  and the Transgender Voice Association. She is the first Canadian female to complete her Triological Thesis  and sits on the Scientific Program Committee of the Triological Society. She is the current editor of the American Laryngological Association (ALA). She is the past President of the American Society of Geriatric Otolaryngology and Canadian Society of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck  (CSO-HNS) and founded the Women in Otolaryngology (WIO) section of the CSO-HNS.

Dr Kost is the author of several publications, 27 book chapters, has edited/co-edited 4 textbooks. and sits on the editorial boards of six otolaryngology journals. She is the section editor for the ‘How I Do It’ section of the Laryngoscope, Associate editor of Laryngology for the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Journal, and the Ear, Nose and Throat Journal. Dr Kost has given over 450 presentations on voice, airway, and tracheostomy around the world as a keynote speaker, invited professor and guest speaker.

Dr Kost is interested in Global health, and worked in the Canadian Arctic for over 20 years, performed the first surgical procedure in Northern Quebec, and played an instrumental role in repatriating medical and surgical services to Nunavik in Northern Quebec. She also participated in 2 humanitarian medical missions in remote villages of the Himalayas in Nepal accessible only by foot, with no running water and no electricity.

Dr Kost is the recipient of the Birkett prize in Otolaryngology, the Teacher of the Year Award in Otolaryngology twice, the Recognition of Service and Commitment Award from the CSO-HNS, the Distinction Award of Otolaryngology from the AAO-HNS, and a Vice-Presidential citation from the Eastern Section of the Triological Society. She has also been awarded the prestigious Helen B Krause Trailblazer Award from the WIO section of the AAO-HNS.