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In the coming years a new generation of young Americans chafed at being excluded from the only neurosurgical organization. In 1931 — 75 years ago — Temple Fay, R. Eustace Semmes, R. Glen Spurling, and William P. Van Wagenen founded the precursor of the AANS, The Harvey Cushing Society. The choice of a name was no surprise. Even then it was clear that Harvey Cushing was the founder of this new discipline. Other surgeons such as William MacEwen, Victor Horsley, and Charles Frazier had advanced the art of brain surgery and to some extent established it as a special interest of theirs. But it was Cushing who convinced his colleagues that surgery of the nervous system required full-time attention and special training.
Temple Fay of the University of Michigan, one of the founders of the Harvey Cushing Society, stated its mission as the “investigation and advancement in the fields of neurosurgery, with the fundamental needs of establishing methods of early diagnosis and postoperative treatments, directed towards the protection of the patients, and a decrease in mortality.” While the new society was founded in the fall of 1931, its first meeting occurred at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital on May 6, 1932, with 23 neurosurgeons in attendance. They came from across the United States, including California. After opening remarks, Cushing operated on a patient with a third ventricular tumor (via a transfrontal route). The afternoon featured a series of papers, and a patient clinic took place in the evening. Not averse to drama, Cushing’s presentation included examinations of the patient who had just undergone surgery that very day.
The HCS morphed into the American Association of Neurological Surgeons in 1967. This change reflected the passage of time and the rise of a new generation of neurosurgical leaders who were not Cushing trainees and who had no personal experience with him. IIt also acknowledged the presence of other neurosurgical “schools” such as those of Frazier and Ernest Sachs, and of Walter Dandy, Cushing’s protege turned rival. From an organizational perspective, it represented the view of the newly named AANS that it in fact was the official representative of American neurosurgeons.On the occasion of the inaugural meeting of the HCS in 1932, Cushing himself teased the founding members of the upstart organization that in a short time a new group of neurosurgeons would look upon them as “senile and antiquated.” While other organizations (including the American Academy, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and the Neurosurgical Society of America) indeed were formed as other outlets for organized neurosurgical activity, the HCS thrived, as has the AANS. Its more than 6,500 members are drawn from the world over.
Some readers of the AANS Bulletin may wonder, Who needs organized neurosurgery, and why should we care about its history? Well, without it, there would be no journals; no meetings where you can learn new developments and present your research; no board certification; and no national voice to represent your interests. The AANS is not the only American or international neurosurgical organization, but it is the largest and nearly the oldest. Its history — and its future — is important to all of us who work as neurosurgeons.
Michael Schulder, MD, is professor and vice-chair in the Department of Neurological Surgery at New Jersey Medical School in Newark.