Within the neurosurgical oncology subspecialty, besides performing technically challenging surgeries, we regularly help our patients make difficult health decisions including, therapy selection while maintaining quality of life. We, neuro-oncology surgeons lead the way as advocates for our patients. We partner with the health care industry to ensure that our patients’ needs are represented and action is pursued. In my current role as AANS/CNS Section on Tumors chair, I am proud to lead the organized efforts that strengthen our role as patient advocates.
Since its start in 1984, the AANS/CNS Section on Tumors has been at the forefront of advocacy, leading a variety of advocacy activities and actively collaborating with our parent organizations. We are grateful to all our members who believe in this mission and welcome each of you to join us to further enhance our efforts.
Advocating for Our Patients by Enhancing Quality of Care
The Section on Tumors leads efforts to identify ways to strengthen neurosurgeon involvement within clinical trial national committees and to enhance our participation with registries. In collaboration with our parent organizations, we lead the efforts to orchestrate the update and creation of guidelines for brain and spine tumor pathologies, including further defining the impact of such guidelines on the quality of care for our patients. Our Innovation and Technology Subcommittee has recently polled data on currently used and emerging innovation and technology used in neurosurgical oncology. These will be used to further guide our community in the quest of enhancing quality of care. Cross- talk and collaboration with the other neurosurgery subspecialties, such as spine and pediatrics, and the national oncology and radiation oncology organizations, is quintessential to provide the multi-disciplinary care needed by our neuro-oncology patients.
Advocating for Our Patients by Advancing Neurosurgical Oncology Knowledge
In collaboration with the Neurosurgery Research & Education Foundation (NREF), the Section on Tumors provides six 50K ($300k total) research grants on brain and spine tumors to top scoring applicants, funded as:
- The Andrew T. Parsa Clinical Investigator Award
- The AANS/CNS Section on Tumor Young Clinical Investigator Award
- The StacheStrong Research Fellowship Grants (2/year)
- The Southeastern Brain Tumor Foundation (SBTF) Research Fellowship Grant
- The Gladiator Project Research Fellowship Grant
We also provide interactive sessions at our national meetings and online to focused on career development promoting research.
Advocating for Our Patients by Increasing the Workforce Diversity
Improving and fostering diversity within the neurosurgical workforce has become a high priority. We recently published the first cross-sectional study on the diversity within neurosurgery oncology and proposed strategies to further enhance it. Within my tenure as section chair, I devoted great efforts to diversify our committees and leadership, including revising the Section Rules and Regulations (“Bylaws”) to expand leadership roles, which in turn will facilitate the enormous talent within the organization to have a more multi-faceted voice. Our Section Scientific award portfolio includes more than 20 awards given at each AANS and CNS Annual Scientific Meeting to top scoring scientific papers. To acknowledge the distance traveled, we created a special award to recognize the best scientific work from a rising neurosurgical oncology program.
Advocating for Our Patients by Supporting Our Neurosurgeons
Working closely with the Washington Committee, our section is the only organization with the entire neurosurgical world at the table providing a unified neurosurgery voice when communicating with lawmakers. Advocating for appropriate valuation of neurosurgeons’ services, we are also actively involved with the Coding and Reimbursement Committee in reviewing neurosurgical oncology CPT codes.
Advocating for Our Patients by Improving Communication
The Section Development and Partnership Subcommittee lead interactive webinars to connect neuro-oncology surgeons in our community. A new series is planned for this spring to identify and interact with the future leaders in neurosurgical oncology.
Live stream on YouTube on Monday April 13, 2023 and Thursday May 18, 2023 at 6 pm ET at: https://www.youtube.com/c/AANSCNSJointSectiononTumors.
Additionally, we publish a bi-annual newsletter to summarize our activities:
https://newsletters.aans.org/tumor/spring-2023
Advocating for Our Patients by Advancing Global Neurosurgical Oncology Care
With a mission rooted in fostering education and research in neurosurgical oncology, over the past four decades, our section made many, significant global contributions to our community. Recognizing the importance of advancing our field across the globe, we were pioneers in launching international collaborations and gradually expanded to a global approach. Over the years, the Section on Tumors facilitated interaction across six continents to streamline collaborations focused at advancing the care of brain and spine tumor patients globally.
