Board Members - ESPO - The European Society of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology

ESPO Board 2025 – 2027

Vincent Couloigner

Secretary-General

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I am a pediatric ENT in the Necker Pediatric Hospital, Paris Cité University, France. I am also the Secretary-General of the French ENT Society (SFORL) and the head of the ESPO Standing Scientific Committee. My main topics of interest are pediatric rhinology and skull base surgery, as well as head and neck tumors. It is a great pleasure for me to participate in the diverse missions of the ESPO Board. This society stands out for its high dynamism and its openness to all innovations and dialogues within the pediatric ENT community, especially with our younger colleagues.

Christian Sittel

President

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The first ESPO Congress I attended was in Athens in 2004, which at that time was a fascinating experience for me as a young airway surgeon with diverse scientific and clinical stimulation. Since then I have not missed an ESPO Congress and I am very excited to be able to host the ESPO Congress 2025 in Stuttgart together with my local committee.

An Boudewyns

Treasurer

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I am Head of Clinic & Chief responsible for the Pediatrics department at the Antwerp University Hospital, and Associate Professor of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology at the Antwerp University Hospital Belgium. A main goal in my daily clinical practice is to offer my patients family-friendly care with respect for the huge diversity of our pediatric patients and their families. My main interests are congenital/genetic hearing loss, sleep-disordered breathing and endoscopic airway management. As treasurer of ESPO, it is my duty to keep the finances of ESPO healthy which would enable us to grow further and to support pediatric ENT colleagues world-wide. During my leisure time, I discover the world through the eye of my digital camera.

Jiří Skřivan

Invited Member
Chair of ESPO 2027 Prague

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Jiří Skřivan, M. D., Ph.D. was born in 1958. Since 1984, he has held various professional positions at the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at Charles University in Prague. In 2014, he was appointed Head of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at the Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague. As a travelling surgeon, Dr. Skřivan has worked with numerous ENT centres across Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia, serving as an instructor and lecturer in otosurgery, skull base surgery, cochlear implantation, and bone conduction implant surgery. He has served as a principal investigator for several major grant projects and co-authored many others. Dr. Skřivan is a member of the Czech Society for Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, part of the Czech Medical Society of Jan Evangelista Purkynje. His primary professional interests include otosurgery, otology, skull base surgery, and the surgical treatment of hearing disorders in both children and adults.

Bas Pullens

Invited Member
Chair of Standing Scientific Committee

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I am a pediatric ENT specialist working at the Sophia Children’s Hospital in Rotterdam, which is the largest children’s hospital in The Netherlands.
I currently run Sophia’s airway team which is the national referral center for complex airway anomalies and recognized national center of excellence for laryngotracheal stenosis and clefts. I specialize in pediatric airway management and reconstruction with special interest in long-term outcome for which I wrote my PhD thesis in 2017.
I am married with two children. Other interests include football, cycling (of course, being Dutch..) cooking and consequently eating, playing guitar (poorly) and spending time with friends.

Miray-Su Yilmaz Topçuoğlu

Invited Member
Chair of Young ESPO

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I am an ENT resident based in Heidelberg, Germany. I first got in touch with the ESPO and the Young ESPO at the ESPO Congress in Liverpool in 2023. I have since joined the Young ESPO committee and participated in organising the ESPO congress in Stuttgart in 2025. For me, ESPO provides unparalleled opportunities for both education and international exchange on the subject of paediatric otolaryngology. I feel honoured to be the chair of the Young ESPO committee for the next term and I’m looking forward to contributing.

Su De

Invited Member
Chair of Education & Training Committee

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I am a consultant paediatric otorhinolaryngologist in Liverpool, UK. I love that ESPO enables communication and collaboration with colleagues all over the world with the opportunity to learn from each other. I hope that in the coming years, it continues to become more inclusive, and inspires a new generation of paediatric otorhinolaryngologists.

Stephan Hackenberg

Chair of Members’ Committee

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Ray Clarke

Past President

Ray’s Bio

I am an honorary consultant pediatric otolaryngologist in Liverpool, UK and a professor at the University of Liverpool. I have been an enthusiast for ESPO since I attended a meeting of the European Working Group in Jerusalem in 1993, and was delighted to host the 2023 congress in Liverpool. I am especially keen to promote pediatric ORL among young colleagues and to continue the exchange of ideas and knowledge across national boundaries. These exchanges have been a huge positive force in improving our specialty over the years. ESPO has a great past but an even better future!

Dan Cristian Gheorge

Invited Member
Eastern Europe

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Schools attended:

1983-1989 Faculty of Medicine „Carol Davila” Bucharest

1991-1995 Specialist ENT trainee at Children’s Hospital „Maria Sklodowska Curie” Bucharest

Activity:

1995-2000 ENT specialist at „M.S. Curie Hospital”, Bucharest

2000–present ENT senior specialist at MS Curie Hospital

2003 M.D. Ph.D. Title with the paper „Laryngeal papillomatosis in children – past and future prospectives”

1993-2005 Assistant professor at „Carol Davila” University,

2005-2024 Associate Professor at the same institution, with clinical and surgical activity at ENT Department of MS Curie Hospital

2024-present Professor at „Carol Davila” University, „M.S. Curie Hospital”

2003, 2006 President of the Romanian ENT Society

2007-2020 Vicepresident of the Romanian Pediatric ENT Society

2020-present President of the Romanian Society of Pediatric ENT

2007-2009 Editorial Board member of „Journal of Pediatric Surgical Specialties”

2008-2009 Head of ENT Department at MS Curie Hospital Bucharest

2010-present Editoarial Board member of „Romanian Journal of Rhinology”

2011-2012 Member and teaching staff at Aftergraduate Master Class „Integrated system of master classes in sound engineering, image and multimedia” – Grant Project developed together with Politechnical Institute Bucharest

2012 Editorial Member at „Maedica – a Journal of Clinical Medicine”

2013 Certificate of competence in Medical Management

2013-2017 Country Coordinator for „The National Program for Treatment of Deafness by Hearing Implantable Devices”

2014 Editorial Member at „Romanian Journal of Pediatric Sleep Medicine”

President and Organizer of three Romanian Conferences of Pediatric ENT: Poiana Brașov, Romania 2013, Bucharest, 2022 and 2024

Known foreign languages: English, French

Main clinical and surgical interest:

Ear and mastoid surgery
Implantable hearing devices
Pediatric airway surgery

Published works: 6 books, 9 chapters , 112 scientific papers