News
Inside Neurosurgeon focuses on the news and views of the AANS and other neurosurgical
organizations. A sampling of this section’s content is listed below. AANS
Neurosurgeon invites submissions of news briefs and bylined articles
to Inside Neurosurgeon. Instructions for all types of submissions to AANS
Neurosurgeon are available at https://www.aansneurosurgeon.org.
Neurosurgeons Go Global: To Volunteer Abroad, Start Here
Gail L. Rosseau, MD
The global nature of neurosurgery as a specialty has long been recognized.
Harvey Cushing, founding father of neurosurgery, was an early and devoted advocate
of international exchanges. Many of his friends, mentors and students were
colleagues from abroad. He recognized the vital role such international exchanges
played in the genesis and dissemination of innovations in neurosurgery. Indeed,
he expected his assistants to be able to read science in any language.
Most neurosurgeons today will finish their careers with good health and financial reserves that will allow them to consider a final phase of productivity not imagined even a generation ago. Many are looking for ways of “giving back” after retirement from traditional practice. In addition, many younger neurosurgeons are aware that after 25 to 30 years in practice they may be able to have a “third career” and want to plan for it.
All of these factors drive interest in international neurosurgery. The primary opportunities are in training, service and science, and these areas often overlap. For those who might be thinking about volunteering internationally, the following overview of the primary organizations that currently offer neurosurgeons opportunities to volunteer is a place to start.
Foundation for International Education in Neurosurgery
Founded in 1969, FIENS exists to address the critical lack of trained neurosurgeons
in the developing world. The 501(c)3 organization is administered by a volunteer
board of neurosurgeons and relies on the generosity of the world neurosurgical
communities, as well as corporate and individual donors. Through FIENS, volunteer
neurosurgeons spend weeks to months at sites in the developing world teaching
techniques to local neurosurgeons and developing and supporting local residency
programs. FIENS volunteers provide critical assistance in the operating room,
working side-by-side with neurosurgeons in the developing world. The focus
is on sharing knowledge and techniques that help these colleagues help themselves.
Volunteer travel for four weeks or more is paid by FIENS; trips of shorter duration are funded by the volunteer, and the cost is tax-deductible. Housing, supplied by the local host, is generally very modest, often in an extra room in the teaching hospital. Volunteers are reimbursed up to $1,000 for educational materials provided to the site. In addition, most volunteers solicit in-kind contributions of neurosurgical instruments, implantables and other equipment, depending on the needs at each site.
In 2007, 13 volunteers traveled to their choice of 20 FIENS sites. In 2008, 35 individuals have sought information, and 21 volunteers have planned to travel. A list of volunteer sites and a downloadable volunteer application are available from www.fiens.org.
Operation Giving Back: American College of Surgeons
Operation Giving Back is a Web site that was developed to be a “comprehensive
resource designed to help surgeons find volunteer opportunities best suited
to their expertise and interests.” Founded in 2003, the program grew out
of an ACS study which found that many surgeons held volunteerism to be an
integral part of their professional identity.
The site, www.operationgivingback.facs.org, allows surgeons to create individual profiles of the parameters they deem important for a desirable volunteer opportunity. It also provides a “tool kit” that enables the volunteers to begin to understand the political, medical, cultural and physical environment of the locale of each volunteer opportunity.
World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies
Founded in Brussels in 1955, the mission of the WFNS includes contributing
to public health throughout the world by facilitating neurosurgical training,
disseminating neuroscientific information, and promoting the personal association
of neurosurgeons. The organization has many programs to support this mission.
For example, the WFNS Foundation raises money to provide training and equipment.
Fellowships to WFNS Training Centers are available at training sites located
in Rabat, Morocco; Recife, Brazil; Charlottesville, Va.; and New York, NY,
with several more sites under development. In addition, basic instrument
sets, bipolar cautery and microscopes may be purchased as a donation to be
purchased in turn at substantially reduced prices based on need by neurosurgical
programs in developing countries.
The WFNS Education Committee sponsors eight to 10 educational courses each year in the developing world, bringing contemporary neurosurgery to colleagues practicing in parts of the world where the resources to travel to major meetings for continuing education are limited. The international experts who comprise the faculty travel at their own expense to teach these courses.
Each of the areas of neurosurgical subspecialty interest is represented by a WFNS committee, with international activities varying according to the interests of the neurosurgeons on each committee. The Web site, www.wfns.org, is an important resource for all information relating to international neurosurgery that includes a list of member societies with their officers and Web links.
These organizations-FIENS, the ACS and the WFNS-are points of departure for involvement in international neurosurgical volunteer activities. Volunteering in this way not only comports with the great tradition of neurosurgery but also allows the neurosurgeon to, as Gandhi so wisely advised: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
Gail L. Rosseau, MD, is a member of the FIENS Board of Directors, Web manager for the WFNS, and member of ACS. The author reported no conflicts for disclosure.
NREF Research: Symposium for Donors, Grant Recipients
Inaugural Event at 76th AANS Annual Meeting
The Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation will host its first annual
Research Symposium prior to its reception for donors and grant recipients at
the 2008 AANS Annual Meeting in Chicago, Ill. Awardees who completed their
fellowships in recent years have been invited to present the results of their
research to a special audience, which will include AANS and NREF leadership,
NREF contributors, academic department chairs and representatives from the
corporate partners cosponsoring NREF grants. The NREF’s Scientific Advisory
Committee, led by Robert G. Grossman, MD, will lead discussion of the research
and will take questions from the audience.
“This inaugural research symposium is an excellent opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of our research fellows and young clinician investigators,” said NREF Chair Griffith R. Harsh IV, MD. “We trust that it will foster both productive scientific interaction and friendship among all those who attend.”
The goals of the NREF Research Symposium are to foster collegial ties among awardeesand expose their work to academic faculty and departmental chairs. Following the symposium, new grant recipients and past awardees will join the NREF Board of Directors, NREF corporate associates and Cushing donors at a reception for donors and grant recipients. Both the symposium and the reception will afford grant recipients the opportunity to exchange ideas with each other while personally getting to know leaders in the fields of academic and clinical neurosurgery.
Going Once, Going Twice… Sold!
10th Young Neurosurgeons Silent Auction at AANS Annual Meeting
The Young Neurosurgeons Committee invites participation in the Silent Auction
at the 76th AANS Annual Meeting in Chicago. Now in its 10th year, the auction
boasts some of the most exciting items to date, including fine wines, books,
electronics and vacation getaway packages. Items will be displayed in the AANS
Resource Center, located in the exhibit hall. A new online system, cMarket,
will allow bidding from any location as well as from a handheld electronic
device such as a BlackBerry or iPhone, and it will automatically notify bidders
of the status of their bids. The overall ease and accessibility that cMarket
provides are expected to help the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation
reach and perhaps exceed its 2008 goal of $40,000.
Items can be viewed prior to the start of the auction by visiting www.AANS.cmarket.com.
Bidding begins promptly at 9 a.m. Monday, April 28, and ends Wednesday, April
30 at 2 p.m.
International Awards
2008 Abstract Award and Travel Scholarship Recipients Announced
The AANS Scientific Program Committee selected Yves R. Lazorthes, MD, Toulouse,
France, as the recipient of the 2008 AANS International Abstract Award. The
award is given to the highest ranking international abstract and will be presented
during the plenary session on Monday, April 28, during the AANS Annual Meeting
in Chicago. Dr. Lazorthes’ abstract is titled “Hypothalamic Stimulation for
Chronic Cluster Headache: A Pluricentric Controlled Study.”
The AANS International Travel Scholarship provides $1,500 to support the attendance at the AANS Annual Meeting of a neurosurgeon from a developing country. The 2008 recipient is Faiz U. Ahmad, MD, New Dehli, India. His abstract is titled “Intracranial Fungal Granulomas: A Single Instituitional Clinico-Pathological Study of 54 Patients and Review of Literature.”
Information on the international activities of the AANS is available at https://www.aans.org/international.