More about us

The Cochrane ENT Disorders Collaborative Review Group (CRG) is located at The John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford in the United Kingdom and Mr Martin Burton, Consultant Otolaryngologist, is the Co-ordinating Editor for the Group.  It was established in September 1998 to produce systematic reviews of evidence for the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of ear, nose and throat disorders and head and neck cancers, and to develop a specialised database of clinical trials within this scope.  The Group is funded by the Department of Health, United Kingdom through the Research & Development programme until 31st March 2010.

The Group has grown dramatically since its inception and now has a large, international membership, mainly of ENT specialists, but also including clinicians from related specialties (e.g. oncology, anaesthetics), nursing staff, patients, researchers and General Practitioners.  Many of our members are actively working for the Group as authors and co-authors of our systematic reviews, editors, external peer referees, consumer (patient) referees and journal handsearchers.

Thanks to the dedication and enthusiasm of our contributors the Group has published a number of systematic reviews and protocols (detailed plans for forthcoming reviews) in The Cochrane Library and we also have a considerable portfolio of work in progress.  (See 'Our reviews' for details of all our published and ongoing work).  Our Trials Register of clinical trials in ENT (forming part of the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) in The Cochrane Library) has also grown substantially and we hope that this will also become a valuable resource for healthcare practitioners as it continues to develop.

Key members of the Group are:

Martin Burton, Co-ordinating Editor

Martin works as a Consultant Otolaryngologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital, combining this with the post of Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Oxford University.  It is the responsibility of the Co-ordinating Editor to guarantee the overall functioning of the Review Group.  He must raise the resources necessary to establish a stable editorial base, and must have the necessary social, managerial, scientific and editorial skills to maintain the Collaborative Review Group.  He spends a significant amount of time supporting the Review Group Co-ordinator and the rest of the Editorial Team in their work. 

Jenny Bellorini, Managing Editor

Jenny co-ordinates the activities of the Cochrane ENT Group and takes overall responsibility for the ultimate smooth running and output of the editorial base.  She is responsible for managing the editorial process for systematic reviews, editing drafts, supporting and organising authors, working closely with international collaborators, promoting the profile of the Group, submitting quarterly modules to The Cochrane Library publisher John Wiley & Sons and representing the ENT Group to all relevant individuals and agencies.  

Gemma Sandberg, Information Specialist / Trials Search Co-ordinator

Gemma is responsible for establishing and maintaining a Specialised Register of clinical trials in the area of ear, nose and throat disorders and head and neck cancers.  The Specialised Register is submitted for inclusion in the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) every quarter, which is available for review authors to search.  Separate registers of published (systematic) reviews in the field of otorhinolaryngology and of ongoing trials are also maintained.  Additionally, Gemma both designs and runs the search strategies for all Cochrane ENT Group reviews (and updates), and provides advice and support to review authors on all aspects of search methodology.  Gemma is also responsible for organising a team of handsearchers searching international journals for reports of controlled trials within our scope.

Samantha Faulkner, Assistant Managing Editor

Sam supports Jenny co-ordinating the activities of the Cochrane ENT Group, corresponding with prospective new authors, liaising with systematic review author teams, editors, peer referees, as well as Cochrane Collaboration and Secretariat staff. She also maintains in-house information resources and helps obtain medical articles and trial reports. In addition she supports the Co-ordinating Editor with his editorial and author roles.

Rafael Perera, Statistical Advisor
Rafael ensures the methodological quality of protocols and reviews by commenting on the work submitted.  Additionally, he is expected to help with any specific methodological queries review authors might have, and to provide help with data assessment and analysis if necessary.  He will also provide input into the development of any standard methodology developed by the Review Group.

Martin Burton, Acting Comments & Criticisms Editor

Martin, who is also the Group's Co-ordinating Editor, is responsible for organising and summarising post-publication criticism/comments from users of The Cochrane Library, and for negotiating any changes that may be necessary with the relevant review author.

Editors

The Cochrane ENT Disorders Group obtains support from seven editors who play a vital role in the internal refereeing process and in the development of group policies:

Lito Acuin is a Consultant Otolaryngologist and Epidemiologist from the Philippines who is invaluable in reminding us that the problems ENT patients face in his part of the world are often very different to the ones seen in Oxford.

Terry Jones is a consultant ear nose and throat surgeon in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at University Hospital Aintree. Terry holds an Honorary Senior Lecturer position with the Division of Surgery and Oncology, University of Liverpool.

Adrian James is a Consultant Otolaryngologist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada.

Stephen O'Leary is a Consultant Otolaryngologist at The Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

Richard Rosenfeld is Chairman of Otolaryngology at Long Island College Hospital and Professor of Otolaryngology at SUNY Downstate, New York, USA. He is also editor-in-chief of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery.

Maroeska Rovers is an Epidemiologist in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Ian Williamson is a General Practitioner in Southampton, UK and makes sure that the primary health view is well represented within the Group.