If outstanding museums, theater, restaurants and nightlife don’t start your engine, there are still three great reasons to come to Chicago in April for the AANS’ 70th Annual Meeting. Highly accomplished neurosurgeons Patrick J. Kelly, MD, Edward R. Laws, Jr., MD, and Richard G. Fessler, MD, PhD, will deliver the special lectures, certain to inspire and enrich.
- Dr. Kelly will speak on Monday, April 8, on “Vietnam 1968-1969: A Place and a Year Like No Other” as the Richard C. Schneider Lecture. Dr. Kelly is the Joseph P. Ransohoff Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at New York University. A pioneer in computer-assisted neurosurgery, he has taught the marriage of navigation and neurosurgery to generations of residents.
- Dr. Laws will present the 2nd Annual Hunt Wilson Lecture on Tuesday, April 9, “The Outcome From Surgical Management of Gliomas of the Brain-The Role of Radical Resection.” Dr. Laws is the W. Gayle Crutchfield Professor of Neurosurgery and Professor of Medicine at the University of Virginia in Charlottsville. He is past president of the AANS and the CNS and has authored more than 400 scientific papers and eight books. During his surgical career he has operated upon more than 5,000 brain tumors, of which 3,400 have been pituitary lesions.
- Dr. Fessler will give the 1st Annual Rhoton Family Lecture on Wednesday, April 10, “The ’90s Revolution in Spine Surgery: Was the ‘Decade of the Brain’ also the ‘Decade of the Spine’?” Dr. Fessler is the medical director of the Institute for Spine Care, a division of the Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroresearch. He is a leading authority on microendoscopic and endoscopic spine surgery and has pioneered many of the field’s techniques including microendoscopic cervical discectomy and microendoscopic decompression of lumbar stenosis.
These lectures are in addition to the usual scientific program at the Annual Meeting. Choose from more than 38 hands-on practical clinics, 76 breakfast seminars and more than 100 oral presentations.
Scientific Program and Practice Management Seminar Highlights
The scientific program is comprehensive and cutting-edge. Some of the breakfast seminar highlights are “Stroke Centers: Strategies for Developing an Effective Program in Your Practice,” “Cutting Edge Strategies for Spine Stabilization,” “Evaluation and Management of Peripheral Nerve Entrapment Syndromes” and “State-of-the-Art Transplantation.” Practical clinics include “Craniovertebral Junction: Surgical Approaches, Stabilization Techniques, and Complications” and “Craniofacial Approaches: Deconstruction and Reconstruction.”
A full range of practice management seminars will tell neurosurgeons what they need to know outside the operating room. Among the sessions are “The Buck Stops Here: Improving Your Bottom Line in Today’s Neurosurgical Practice,” “Practice Paradigm in Neurosurgery” and “What Now: Retirement and the Neurosurgeon.”
New Women in Neurosurgery Careers Program
A new program, the Leadership Skills and Career Development Conference, developed by Women in Neurosurgery (WINS), will be held on Sunday, April 7. Sessions include “Negotiation and Conflict Resolution,” “Marketing and Promotion in Private Practice,” “Building a Successful Academic Career” and “Time Management and Organization.” This program is aimed at all levels of training and practice and is open to all medical registrants.
New this year are expanded question-and-answer periods and increased discussion time at the breakfast seminars.
Sessions for Residents
Back again are a number of sessions tailored to residents. Among the seminars are “How to Evaluate a Job: Navigating Unfamiliar Territory,” “Basics of Spinal Stabilization, Fusion and Instrumentation,” “Peripheral Nerve Injuries, Entrapments and Tumors: Examination and Evaluation” and “A Multimedia Experience in Surgical Anatomy.” Dr. Kelly will be the featured speaker on Wednesday, April 10, at the Young Neurosurgeons Luncheon.
Chicago is a world-class city and the AANS’ 70th Annual Meeting promises to be a world-class event. For more information, visit https://www.aans.org.
Robert M. Crowell, MD, is a neurosurgeon affiliated with Berkshire Medical Center, and is professor of surgery (neurosurgery) at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.