Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nervous system.
Mahmut Gazi Yaşargil is a Turkish medical scientist and neurosurgeon. He collaborated with Raymond M. P. Donaghy M.D at the University of Vermont in developing microneurosurgery. Yaşargil treated epilepsy and brain tumours with instruments of his own design. From 1953 until his retirement in 1993 he was first resident, chief resident and then professor and chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery, University of Zurich and the Zurich University Hospital. In 1999 he was honored as "Neurosurgery’s Man of the Century 1950–1999" at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting. He is a founding member of Eurasian Academy. He is regarded as one of the greatest neurosurgeons in the modern age.
Walter Edward Dandy was an American neurosurgeon and scientist. He is considered one of the founding fathers of neurosurgery, along with Victor Horsley (1857–1916) and Harvey Cushing (1869–1939). Dandy is credited with numerous neurosurgical discoveries and innovations, including the description of the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain, surgical treatment of hydrocephalus, the invention of air ventriculography and pneumoencephalography, the description of brain endoscopy, the establishment of the first intensive care unit, and the first clipping of an intracranial aneurysm, which marked the birth of cerebrovascular neurosurgery.
The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) is a professional society representing over 40,000 neurologists and neuroscientists. As a medical specialty society it was established in 1948 by A.B. Baker of the University of Minnesota to advance the art and science of neurology, and thereby promote the best possible care for patients with neurological disorders. It is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with a health policy office in Washington, DC.
Roy Glenwood "Glen" Spurling was an American neurosurgeon remembered for describing Spurling's test.
The Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) is a professional association representing neurosurgeons, neurosurgical residents, medical students, and allied health professionals.
Axel Herbert Olivecrona was a Swedish professor and brain surgeon, credited with founding the field of Swedish neurosurgery, and pioneering developments in modern neurosurgery.
Albert Loren Rhoton Jr., was an American neurosurgeon and a professor specializing in microsurgical neuroanatomy. He was on the editorial boards of six surgical journals, and worked as professor and chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Florida. He was also president of organizations such as the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, among other surgical organizations.
Michael L. J. Apuzzo is an American academic neurological surgeon, the Edwin M. Todd/Trent H. Wells, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Neurological Surgery and Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics at the Keck School of Medicine, of the University of Southern California. He is also editor emeritus of the peer-reviewed journals World Neurosurgery and Neurosurgery. He is distinguished adjunct professor of neurosurgery at the Yale School of Medicine, distinguished professor of advanced neurosurgery and neuroscience and senior advisor, at the Neurological Institute, Wexner Medical School, The Ohio State University, and adjunct professor of neurosurgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, Department of Neurological Surgery & Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center.
Frank Henderson Mayfield, was an American neurosurgeon and founder of the Mayfield Clinic and Spine Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio. A pioneer in brain and spine surgery, he invented the spring aneurysm clip and the Mayfield skull clamp. Mayfield is best known for his clinical interests in peripheral nerve and spine injuries, development of neurosurgical instruments, and medical politics.
Aaron A. Cohen-Gadol is a professor of neurological surgery in the department of neurosurgery at Indiana University School of Medicine and a neurosurgeon at Indiana University Health specializing in the surgical treatment of complex brain tumors, vascular malformations, cavernous malformations, etc. He performs removal of brain tumors via minimally invasive endoscopic techniques, which use the nasal pathways instead of opening the skull.
The Council of State Neurosurgical Societies is a professional body and an American surgical society created in 1976 to provide a national forum for the State Neurosurgical Societies of the United States of America. As a forum for practicing neurosurgeons, it focuses primarily on discussion, consideration, and proposals of action regarding socioeconomic issues concerning neurological surgery. The CSNS is composed of active neurosurgeons which are members of the various state neurosurgical societies in the ratio of 1 representative per 50 state society neurosurgeon members. The Presidents of the AANS and CNS appoint members/delegates to the CSNS in addition to the state designated delegates and 13 neurosurgery residents are elected as delegates from the four Quadrants with one selected from the Armed Services. The Council meets twice a year just before the annual meetings of the AANS and the CNS during which it considers resolutions submitted by delegates or its committees and receives reports from those committees as well as the AANS and CNS. Resolutions that are adopted by assembly vote are sent to the AANS/CNS for consideration and potential implementation.
James Rutka is a Canadian neurosurgeon from Toronto, Canada. Rutka served as RS McLaughlin Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto from 2011 – 2022. He subspecializes in pediatric neurosurgery at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), and is a Senior Scientist in the Research Institute at SickKids. His main clinical interests include the neurosurgical treatment of children with brain tumours and epilepsy. His research interests lie in the molecular biology of human brain tumours – specifically in the determination of the mechanisms by which brain tumours grow and invade. He is the Director of the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre at SickKids, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neurosurgery.
The World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS), founded in 1955, in Switzerland, as a professional, scientific, non governmental organization, is composed of 130 member societies: consisting of 5 Continental Associations, 6 Affiliate Societies, and 119 National Neurosurgical Societies, representing some 50,000 neurosurgeons worldwide. It has a consultative status in the United Nations. The official Journal of the Organization is World Neurosurgery.
The Society of Neurological Surgeons (SNS) was founded in 1920 and is composed of neurosurgical department chairs, residency program directors and other senior educational leaders in America. It is the oldest neurosurgical professional organization in the world. The president of the SNS is E. Sander Connolly, Jr., MD.
Robert Wheeler Rand, was an American neurosurgeon, inventor, and Professor of Neurosurgery in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1953 to 1989.
William T. Couldwell is a Canadian neurosurgeon who is professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Utah, a position he assumed in 2001.
Stewart Dunsker M.D., a neurosurgeon, is Professor and Director of Spinal Neurosurgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and Director of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Temple Sedgwick Fay, M.D. was an American neurologist and neurosurgeon. He is known for experimental use of extreme cold to treat patients with malignant tumors or head injuries.
Linda M. Liau is an American neurosurgeon, neuroscientist, and the W. Eugene Stern Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Liau was elected to the Society of Neurological Surgeons in 2013 and the National Academy of Medicine in 2018. She has published over 230 research articles and a textbook, Brain Tumor Immunotherapy. She served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Neuro-Oncology from 2007 to 2017.
