Stan Pelofsky, MD, the new president of AANS, is confident that he understands the issues neurosurgeons face on a daily basis and that he can effectively represent the rank and file. After all, he deals with those issues himself. “We’re in the trenches,” he said, referring to Neuroscience Specialists in Oklahoma City, Okla., a large multispecialty practice of which he is president. “We face the same problems our membership faces.”
“One of the great strengths of the AANS is we’re led by volunteers who are practicing physicians, unlike the AMA and the American College of Surgeons, who use paid executives,” said Dr. Pelofsky. “Our leadership is totally connected to the everyday problems of the practicing neurosurgeon.”
Dr. Pelofsky was elected President-Elect of AANS at the Annual Meeting in San Francisco in April 2000 and assumed the presidency at the Annual Meeting in Toronto in April. An active member of AANS since 1976, Dr. Pelofsky has served as Secretary of the AANS Board of Directors, Chair of the Council of State Neurosurgical Societies, and as a member of the Governance Committee, Task Force on Medical Education and the Washington Committee.
Dr. Pelofsky is a big supporter of new technology and research, especially stem cell research. “Stem cell research is the one area that appears to offer the most benefits in the future for our neurosurgical patients,” he said. “I’m personally distraught that the federal government is poised to shut down funding.
“I would like the medical and scientific community to re-open and lead the debate on stem cell research. It’s our job to reframe the debate to stress the incredible potential that this research offers.”
It’s been a long climb for Dr. Pelofsky to his current stature in his practice and AANS. In his typically frank and down-to-earth style, he told the Journal Record of Oklahoma City that getting to this point in his career involved “just slowly marching up the ladder, hoping you don’t miss a rung and fall flat on your back side.”
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., he completed his undergraduate degree at Long Island University and earned his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1966. In 1967, he was commissioned by the U.S. Navy and served in DaNang, Vietnam, where he decided to become a neurosurgeon. He completed his residency training at University Hospital/Oklahoma Heath Sciences Center.
He currently serves as Chief of Neurosurgery at St. Anthony’s Hospital and as Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at Oklahoma Memorial Hospital.
Dr. Pelofsky has written numerous chapters for books and articles for scientific journals on such topics as spinal cord stimulation for the relief of chronic back and leg pain, cranioplasty and the socioeconomics of spine disease.
Dr. Pelofsky has served as President of the Oklahoma State Neurological Surgery Society and as President of the Central Oklahoma Council of Hospital Medical Staffs. He also was the recipient of the Gubernatorial Appointment to the State of Oklahoma Advisory Council on Traumatic Spinal Cord and Traumatic Brain Injury.
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A Pelofsky Primer
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