Dear EHNS Members,

As we approach the end of the year, it is a pleasure to send you warm festive greetings and to look ahead together to a truly special milestone: 2026 will mark the 20th anniversary of the European Head and Neck Society.
This anniversary is more than a symbolic date. It offers us a meaningful opportunity to reflect on the role that our Society now plays within the international head and neck oncology community. From a small group of pioneers, EHNS has grown into a vibrant network of more than 2,700 members, organised through 27 national societies across Europe.
From the very beginning, our guiding star has been multidisciplinarity. All our activities are driven by the conviction that real progress in head and neck oncology arises from the shared vision and aligned efforts of all professional groups involved in the care of our patients. Over these two decades, EHNS has helped establish a distinct European vision in global head and neck oncology—one grounded in collaboration, scientific rigour and patient-centred care.
A key strength of EHNS is the reach of its educational activities, with particular attention to younger colleagues in all specialties contributing to head and neck oncology. In this spirit, we have recently reorganised our educational portfolio into a structured and comprehensive initiative: the EHNS Academy (https://www.ehns.org/site/the-ehns-academy.html). I warmly invite you to visit the dedicated section on our website and explore its growing offer of courses and programmes.
We also continue to devote great care to the scientific programmes of our major multidisciplinary meetings, ECHNO and ICHNO, ensuring that the topics selected foster genuine growth in knowledge and engagement among all those involved in the head and neck oncology team.
Alongside education and research, our mission in awareness and prevention has expanded steadily through the Make Sense Campaign (https://makesensecampaign.eu/), whose visibility and impact are now stronger than ever. It is no exaggeration to say that Make Sense has become one of the most important and widely followed awareness and prevention campaigns in the world for head and neck cancer.
In these first 20 years, the dream of the six founding members has truly taken shape. It is now our shared responsibility to carry this legacy forward with enthusiasm: promoting progressive generational renewal while preserving the most valuable features of our Society—distributed leadership, a collaborative spirit, and a vision firmly oriented towards the future. What gives us great confidence for the years to come is the enthusiasm and outstanding preparation we perceive in our young colleagues who form the Young EHNS Group (https://www.ehns.org/site/young-ehns.html); they are the best guarantee that our values will not only be preserved, but further strengthened and expanded by future generations.
As the year draws to a close, I wish you all a peaceful festive break in the warmth of your families and loved ones. To those among you who do not celebrate Christmas, please accept our respectful greetings for your own traditions and holidays.
We look forward to a  2026 rich in outstanding international scientific events under the EHNS banner, and to continuing this journey together.

With warmest season’s greetings,