From the Chair

 

Isabelle M. Germano, MD, MBA, FAANS, FACS
August 2022

 

 

Dear Colleagues,

It is truly an honor to serve as chair of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS)/Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) section on Tumors throughout the 2024 AANS Annual Scientific meeting. A mission rooted in fostering education and research in neurosurgery oncology, over the past four decades, our section has made many global contributions to our community.

I am very grateful to all previous section chairs for their leadership to initiate and expand our efforts in the education and research of tumors of the nervous system. In particular, I thank my immediate predecessor Jason P. Sheehan, MD, PhD, FAANS, who successfully led the section as chair over the past two years, overcoming the unexpected challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also thank all of you who put your trust in me to lead the section. I believe that we will be able to continue advancing the mission and building on past accomplishments, thanks to the generosity of the executive committee members who agree to commit their time and will join us in this journey over the next two years. Costas Hadjipanayis, MD, PhD, FAANS, will serve as secretary/treasurer during this period.

Since I began as section chair at the end of the 2022 AANS meeting, I have appreciated all of you who have reached out. I enjoyed the time spent meeting with you to listen and talk. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to represent the many talented, brilliant and devoted neurosurgical oncologists. United in our common goal to improve the care of our patients with brain and spine tumors, we are driven to pursue technical innovation and improve education for future generations. It became rapidly clear to me, that my top priority as your leader is to serve as catalyst to connect one another. In the human hierarchy of needs, our need to belong, i.e., to be connected, is one of two top priorities together with survival needs. For us neurosurgeons, connectivity is a fundamental and synergistic concept. Each of our complex and amazing neurons is even more powerful when connected with others to form the brain and the spine. Similarly, if we form connections and bonds with one another, our work will have a greater impact on our field.

I convened an executive committee and advisory board of leaders for the 2022-2024 term to accomplish the goals listed below. The chair and co-chair of EC sub-committees share my vision and ensure that their committee goals also include developing such connections among executive committee members, within the neurosurgical oncology community, and beyond. Our field is a highly sought-after subspecialty, attracting a growing number of talented neurosurgeons with diverse genders, races, ethnicity and backgrounds [PMID 35705107; doi:10.1093/neuonc/noac150]. The executive committee leadership I chose is a testament to the current existing diversity of our subspecialty. I trust that with their help, we will continue to advance along this front.

This newsletter provides an overview of our goals, how we plan to achieve them and what we accomplished over the past few months. My specific goals and deliverables during my two-year term include the following:

  • To facilitate partnership within the executive committee, the neurosurgical oncology community and beyond.

As a first step toward this goal, the Development and Partnership sub-committee under the leadership of Brian Nahed (chair) and Susan Pannullo (co-chair) is hosting Headlines, interactive virtual events designed to facilitate partnership within the section leaders and to provide role model examples to our trainees and young neurosurgeons.

Randy Jansen (chair) and Isaac Yang (co-chair) with Membership and Membership Services provide important deliverables to our members. Kimberly Hoang (chair) and Claire Karekezi (co-chair) with the Communication sub-committee will facilitate agile communication across the globe. Garni Barkhoudarian (editor) and Kristin Huntoon (assistant editor) assembled this great newsletter.

  • To enhance our section’s education and research leadership in brain and spine tumors.
    Gelareh Zadeh (chair) and Analiz Rodriguez (co-chair) provide leadership to organize and amplify our Education Maryam Rahman (chair) and Chetan Bettegowda (co-chair) guide our section’s mission to support, mentor and encourage Research. Additionally, we work closely with the NREF to support and raise funding for research grants. The section’s CNS 2022 Scientific Program is a testament of the superb leadership of Analiz Rodriguez (chair), Tiffany Hodges and Michael Lim (co-chairs). Jeff Olson (chair) and Ryan Ormond (co-chair) continues the productive leadership of CNS tumor guidelines.
  • To award an increased number of “the best and the brightest” acknowledging distance traveled.
    Under the leadership of Jennifer Moliterno (chair) and Will Curry (chair), the Awards sub-committee continues to expand our award portfolio and re-focusing on different aspects of the section’s very talented contributors.
  • To provide continued collaborations with neurosurgery and other organizations focused on brain and spine tumors.
    Our section’s collaborative efforts will be led by individuals and subcommittee chairs as following: Steve Kalkanis with ABNS; Christopher Cifarelli with ASTRO; Linda Liau (chair) with CAST; Randy D’Amico (chair) and Raj Mukherjee (co-chair) with the Early Career Neurosurgeons Committee (ECNC) (formerly Young Neurosurgeons) Ian Parney (chair) Historian; Linda Bi (chair) and Dan Prevedello (co-chair) with Skull-Base focused projects; Lissa Baird (chair) and Anthony Wang (co-chair) with Pediatrics; Christopher Newman with SANS; Tiffany Hodges with the Washington Committee; Andrew Sloan and Michael Vogelbaum with the Coding and Reimbursement Committee (CRC); Ekk Kasper (chair) and Kate Drummond (co-chair) with Global Neurosurgery; Tracy Batchelor with the Society of Neuro-Oncology (SN0); Paul Gardner with the CNS Foundation; Christopher Newman with SANS; Nicholas Szerlip (chair) and Nam D. Tran (co-chair) with Spine Oncology.
  • To update our section’s bylaws after five years since its last revisions.
    Edjah Nduom (chair) and the Bylaws sub-committee will provide suggestions and opportunities for updates to the bylaws as well as to discuss and review these with our membership.
  • To provide leadership for cutting-edge clinical trials and innovation.
    Brad Elder (chair) and Gavin Dunn (co-chair) lead the Clinical Trial and Registries efforts focused on how to enhance our leadership role in clinical trial/registries development and enrollment by collaborating with our neuro-oncologist and radiation oncologist colleagues. Evanthia Galanis and Mark Gilbert (chair) partner with us to bring the latest expertise in medical oncology. Chris Cifarelli (chair) Lola Chambless (co-chair) lead the Innovation and Technology (formerly Radiosurgery/LITT) efforts.

These are exciting times in neurosurgical oncology and for the Section on Tumors. I look forward to continuing our partnership and connecting with you at upcoming meetings. For the latest details on Tumor Section activities and for information on becoming a member, please visit our website at www.tumorsection.org

Sincerely,

Isabelle M. Germano, MD, MBA, FAANS, FACS
AANS/CNS Section on Tumors Chair (May 2022-May 2024)