ICOT - History

The International Center for Otologic Training ( ICOT ) was organized as a 501c3 nonprofit private foundation by Drs. M. Miles Goldsmith, Malcolm D Graham, and William F. House in 1993 at The Georgia Ear Institute in Savannah Georgia.

The founders' vision was to employ an educational pyramid to exponentially impact the management of otologic diseases and deafness in the developing world, where these problems have immense scope and yet little to no formal educational structure to address them. The plan was to elicit ENT corporate support to sponsor intake educational programs in the United States for selected young otologists from the developing world. The intake courses would involve intensive didactic lecture series by renowned neurologists from the USA and abroad, in addition to a hands on temporal bone dissection course. Following completion of the intake courses, ICOT alumni would return to their respective countries with a commitment to be educational leaders in their countries. ICOT alumni have thus organized symposia in their countries whereupon USA faculty have lectured; instructed in temporal bone courses; and assisted surgeons in otologic surgery within their operating theaters.

There have been fourteen ICOT intake programs in the USA since our inception in 1993. These programs have ranged from 22 to 8 days in length. Generally, they have focused upon four broad areas of otology: chronic ear disease, ossiculoplasty and stapedectomy; dizziness and vertigo; and implantable hearing devices. Our consistent corporate sponsor has been Medtronic Xomed in Jacksonville, Florida, to whom we are greatly appreciative. Other past supporters have included Brasseler USA and Anspach Inc. These invaluable sponsors have made the tuitions for these intake courses affordable for the developing world students.

Intake course faculty have included:

  • Yash Pal Kapur
  • William F. House
  • Andrew W. Smith
  • Peter W. Alberti
  • Navnit Shah
  • Suchita Prasansuk
  • Malcolm D. Graham
  • Jack V. D. Hough
  • Paul Lambert
  • Jack L. Pulec
  • John T. McElveen
  • Peter C. Weber
  • Mitchel K. Schwaber
  • Patrick Antonelli
  • J. Dauo Green
  • Larry B. Lundy
  • Dennis S. Poe
  • John S. May
  • Yeo Seng-Beng
  • Vincent N. Carrasco
  • John Li
  • John L. Dornhoffer
  • Thomas G. Delap
  • Stephen P. Cass
  • Graham Bryce
  • Sean O. McMenomey
  • Brian D. Westerberg
  • Christopher J. Danner
  • M.Miles Goldsmith
  • Michael D. Poole
  • Brandon Isaacson

ICOT has sponsored ten outreach programs that were organized by ICOT alumni in their respective countries. These programs have been conducted in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Panama, and Brazil.

In recent years we have seen and taught students who have been sent to us by their professors, who in turn were former ICOT alumni of our first intake courses. We have been most rewarded by the improved level of expertise of the more recent students in our intake courses. In short, the mission is working.