The AANS Membership Committee has increased recruitment activities and assisted in a comprehensive review of the AANS Bylaws. The Membership Committee representatives to the Bylaws Committee, Diana Abson-Kraemer, MD, and Gail Rosseau, MD, have been instrumental in recommending changes that will benefit all categories of membership.
Member Recruitment
Pursuing the goal of President-Elect Stan Pelofsky, MD, of recruiting 1,000 new members in 1,000 days (July 1, 2000 to March 27, 2003), an AANS Recruitment Task Force has reviewed all membership categories and is developing ways to increase the number of members.
There are 288 ABNS-certified neurosurgeons in the United States who are not AANS members. In November 2000, invitations to join and applications were sent to the 103 non-member neurosurgeons who have become certified since 1990. In December, the AANS Board of Directors started calling these non-members. The response has been very positive as new appplications have been received.
An International Membership Focus Group, consisting of Russel Patterson, MD; Gail Rosseau, MD; Diana Abson-Kraemer, MD; and Roberto Heros, MD, is developing a long-range plan to increase the number of International Associate members. Applications were mailed with the 2001 Annual Meeting Registration package to potential international Associate members. In addition, AANS Member Services Department staff will be available to potential International Associate members in the Member Service Center at the upcoming AANS Annual Meeting to help guide them through the application process. The World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies meeting in Sydney, Australia, in September 2001 will be a prime focus in attracting members in all categories.
In an effort to generate new neurosurgical nurse and physician assistant members, invitations and registration forms for the 2001 Annual Meeting were sent to all North Americans in these groups in the AANS’ database. Additional mailing lists are being purchased.
The Executive Committee decided in July that all North American neurosurgical residents would be given free AANS membership at Candidate status. In August, 527 residents were contacted and advised of their new membership status. A “census” was included in the mailing to gain special interest information from the residents and to involve them in the Joint Sections, the Young Neurosurgeons Committee and Women in Neurosurgery.
New Application Process
At the direction of the Recruitment Task Force, 2001 will be a year of major changes in the way applications are received and processed. To better serve all of neurosurgery, programming is being developed with NEUROSURGERY://ON-CALL® to allow for applications to be submitted online. A survey of medical associations found that no other association currently has this type of technology (currently, information is submitted via the Internet, but their staff re-inputs the data). AANS will accept all supplemental material electronically or in paper form. Documentation for each individual will be reviewed by the Membership Committee in a passworded section of N://OC.
Further streamlining the process, applications will be reviewed by the Membership Committee when they are completed rather than twice a year. When approved, the applications will be presented to the Board of Directors monthly instead of the current practice of being considered at the April and November Board meetings. The intention is to make the process easier and more efficient for all applicants and reviewers.
Volunteers Needed
There is a lot enthusiasm among the Membership Committee members during this period of growth. If you are interested in working on the Committee, contact either Gail Rosseau at (773) 388-7700 or Diana Abson-Kraemer at (206) 386-3880. Members are encouraged to offer suggestions to the Recruitment Task Force through the manager of Member Services at [email protected].
Staff Provide Multitude of Services
In addition to application processing, the staff of the Member Services Department provide an array of assistance to all callers. Staff serve as liaisons to the Young Neurosurgeons Committee and CSNS, and they coordinate processing of Section memberships and registration. They also handle professional development meeting registration, book and product sales, Annual Meeting registration, CME tracking, the member census, Membership Directory production, dues, Journal of Neurosurgery subscriptions for members, mailing label sales and address changes. They are happy to provide you with any assistance you need by calling (847) 378-0500.