Past Honored Guests

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2025, Los Angeles, CA Daniel K. Resnick, MD is Professor, Vice Chairman, and Residency Program Director of Neurological Surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University, and an Alpha Omega Alpha graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Steven L. Giannotta, MD

2024, Houston, TX Steven L. Giannotta, MD Professor and Chair of Neurological Surgery, joined the Department of Neurosurgery at USC in 1980 and became Department Chair in 2004. He earned his medical degree from the University of Michigan, where he also did his neurosurgical residency. He is involved in many local, national and international committees and organizations. His involvement on the national level began with the Congress of Neurological Surgeons serving on multiple committees.

Henry Brem, MD

2024, Houston, TX Henry Brem, MD has developed new tools and techniques that have changed the field of neurosurgery. Brem carried out the pivotal clinical study that introduced navigational imaging into the neurosurgical suite. His work led to the FDA's approval of the first image guidance computer system for intraoperative localization of tumors. Furthermore, he has changed the surgical armamentarium against brain tumors by inventing and developing Gliadel® wafers to intraoperatively deliver chemotherapy to brain tumors. His work has shown that surgeons can accurately deliver potent therapies directly at the tumor site.

Douglas Kondziolka, MD

2023, Washington, D.C. Douglas Kondziolka, MD received his medical degree from the University of Toronto and graduated from the Toronto neurosurgery residency program in 1991. From 1989 to 1991 at the University of Pittsburgh, he completed a master of science program in the Department of Behavioral Neuroscience and a fellowship in stereotactic surgery and radiosurgery. His thesis focused on brain radiobiology.

L. Nelson “Nick” Hopkins, MD

2023, Washington, D.C. L. Nelson “Nick” Hopkins, MD graduated cum laude from Albany Medical College and has been a pioneer in the catheter-based treatment of neurovascular disease and stroke and has developed one of the largest and most respected stroke treatment centers in the world. His work led to the creation of a new specialty in Neurosurgery – Endovascular Neurosurgery – and his trainees serve in leadership positions throughout the US.

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Robert F. Spetzler, MD

2022, San Francisco, CA Robert F. Spetzler, MD was born in Stierhoefstetten, Germany in 1944. In 1953, his family moved to the United States and on July 16, 1965, he was naturalized. He attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and graduated cum laude with Bachelors of Science degree in Biology and Chemistry in 1967. In 1967, he entered medical school at Northwestern University, where he obtained his M.D. in 1971 and completed his internship in 1972.

William A. Friedman, MD

2021, Austin, TX Dr. William Alan Friedman was born in Dayton, Ohio on April 25, 1953. He attended high school in Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating in 1970 as a National Merit Scholar. At Oberlin College, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa before moving on to the Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Raymond Sawaya, MD

2019, San Francisco, CA
Dr. Raymond Sawaya was the founding chair of Neurosurgery at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, as well as an advisor to the leaders of the Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) Moon Shot™

Robert H. Rosenwasser, MD, MBA, FACS, FAHA

2018, Houston, TX
Dr. Rossenwasser has published over 400 peer reviewed publications, abstracts and book chapters. He has served as division chief of cerebrovascular surgery and interventional neuroradiology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and since 2004 has held the position of Chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery.

Alan R. Cohen, MD, FACS, FAAP

2017, Boston, MA
Dr. Cohen has served as Neurosurgeon-in-Chief and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Franc D. Ingraham Professor of Neurological Surgery at Harvard Medical School. In 2016, he moved to Johns Hopkins where he is Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery and the Carson Spiro Professor of Pediatric Neurosurgery.

Edward H. Oldfield, MD, FACS

2016, San Diego, CA
Dr. Oldfield held the Crutchfield Chair in Neurosurgery, and was a Professor of Neurosurgery and Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia. He joined the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Virginia in 2007 where he led a multidisciplinary effort in the treatment of pituitary tumors and contributed to the research program in the Department of Neurosurgery.

Kim J. Burchiel

2015, New Orleans, LA
Dr. Burchiel is the John Raaf Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU). He serves as Director of the functional and stereotactic neurosurgery fellowship program that encompasses the surgical treatment of pain, movement disorders, and epilepsy.

Edward C. Benzel

2014, Boston, MA
Dr. Benzel is Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Cleveland Clinic and Professor of Surgery, at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Benzel’s major clinical interests are focused on spinal disorders including cervical spondylosis and syringomyelia, complex spine instrumentation, and spine tumors.

L. Nelson Hopkins, III

2013, San Francisco, CA
Dr. L. Nelson Hopkins joined UBNS in 1975. He served as the chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery from 1989-2013 and recently earned the title of Distinguished Professor of neurosurgery and radiology from the State University of New York. Professor and Chairman of Neurosurgery, Professor of Radiology, and fostered the creation of the Toshiba Stroke Research Center, University at Buffalo, State University of New York.

Ralph G. Dacey, Jr

2012, Chicago, IL
Dr. Dacey, a Past President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, is currently the Henry G. and Edith R. Schwartz Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Washington University in St. Louis. He is an author on over 190 publications in the area of neurosurgery and cerebrovascular physiology. Dr. Dacey has served as a member of the NIH’s National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council.

H. Hunt Batjer

2011, Washington, DC
H. Hunt Batjer, MD has served as the President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. He is the Michael J. Marchese Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Dr. Batjer is recognized internationally as a leading cerebrovascular surgeon, especially for complex aneurysms, vascular malformations, and brain ischemic states.

Daniel L. Barrow

2010, San Francisco, CA
Dr. Barrow, has served as President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. He is the Pamela Rollins Chairman & Professor of the Department of Neurosurgery and Director of the Emory Stroke Center at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Barrow has authored more than 250 scientific articles and chapters in medical textbooks. He has authored or edited fourteen monographs, including a major textbook of neurosurgery, The Practice of Neurosurgery.

James T. Rutka

2009, New Orleans, LA
Dr. Rutka has served a Co-Director of the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumor Research Centre at the University of Toronto since 1998. From 1999-2010, Dr. Rutka held the Dan Family Chair in Neurosurgery at the University of Toronto, leading the world's largest neurosurgical training program. In 2011, he was selected as the R.S. McLaughlin Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto. Dr. Rutka has also served as the President of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (2010-2011), President of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery (2011-2012), and in 2013 he was appointed as the seventh Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neurosurgery, the first Canadian neurosurgeon to hold this prestigious role.

William F. Chandler

2008, Orlando, FL
Dr. William Chandler is a Past President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. He is Professor Emeritus of Neurological Surgery and Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan. Dr. Chandler has had a long standing clinical and research interest in disorders of the pituitary. Along with these interests, he has maintained an interest and expertise in cerebrovascular neurosurgery, brain tumor surgery and general neurosurgery.

L. Dade Lunsford

2007, San Diego, CA
Dr. Lawrence Dade Lunsford is the Lars Leksell Professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. He currently is Director of the Center For Image-Guided Neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and Director of the Residency Program. Dr. Lunsford’s primary scholarly and patient care interests have been related to the combination of imaging and brain surgery.

Peter M. Black

2006, Chicago, IL
Dr. Black is currently the Franc D. Ingraham Professor of Neurosurgery, Emeritus. Emeritus, Harvard Medical School Neurosurgeon-in-Chief / Chair, Neurosurgery, Boston Children's Hospital. Dr. Black has previously held the position as Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital; Neurosurgeon-in-chief at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Chief of Neurosurgical Oncology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute; and Franc D. Ingraham Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School.

Roberto C. Heros

2005, Boston, MA
Dr. Heros has served as Professor, Co-Chairman and Program Director of the Department of Neurosurgery and the founding Director of the University of Miami International Health Center since 1995. Dr. Heros has authored or co-authored four textbooks and has published about 150 refereed articles and approximately 70 textbook chapters dealing with cerebral aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, experimental cerebral ischemia and skull base surgical approaches.

Arnold H. Menezes

2004, San Francisco, CA
Dr. Menezes is Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Iowa Roy and Lucille Carver College of Medicine and the University of Iowa Health Care Center in Iowa City, Iowa, where he has been in practice for over 30 years. He has played a significant role in the development of the department and its teaching activities. His main areas of interest have been pediatric and spinal neurosurgery as well as the posterior skull base.

Julian T. Hoff

2003, Denver, CO
Dr. Hoff served as Professor and Head of the Section of Neurosurgery in the Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, succeeding Richard C. Schneider, M.D. He later was named the Richard C. Schneider Professor in that same department. Dr. Hoff held a number of consulting positions and had substantial research interests. He was named a recipient of the Senator Jacob Javits Neuroscience Award by the NIH on two occasions - the first in 1985, and the second in 1992.

Volker K.H. Sonntag

2002, Philadelphia, PA
Dr. Volker K. H. Sonntag was a Professor of Clinical Surgery at the University of Arizona and the Vice-Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Barrow Neurological Institute. At the Institute, he was also Chairman of the Spine Section and Director of the Residency Program. Dr. Sonntag retired in 2010.

Michael L.J. Apuzzo

2001, San Diego, CA
Dr. Apizzo currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Neurological Surgery at the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center. He was appointed Editor of Neurosurgery in 1991 and served in that capacity for 19 years. During that time he led the publication into the digital age, founding and developing Neurosurgery Online and Operative Neurosurgery.

Edward R. Laws, Jr.

2000, San Antonio, TX
Dr. Laws is a Past President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeon. He is the Director of the Pituitary and Neuroendocrine Center of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Professor at Harvard Medical School. He has served as President of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Editor of Neurosurgery, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for International Education in Surgery, Secretary and First Vice President of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies, Director of the American Board of Neurological Surgery and President of the Pituitary Society. He has been the author of eight books and more than 400 scientific papers and book chapters.

Duke Samson

1999, Boston, MA
Dr. Samson, joined the faculty at Southwestern in 1977, focusing his clinical and investigative interests on vascular diseases of the nervous system. Dr. Samson was promoted to Professor of Surgery in 1984 and assumed the chairmanship of the Division of Neurological Surgery the following year. is Professor Emeritus of Neurological Surgery at the UT Southwestern Medical Center. He currently holds the Lois C.A. and Darwin E. Smith Distinguished Chair in Neurological Surgery.

John M. Tew, Jr.

1998, Seattle, WA
Dr. John Tew, a former President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, joined the Mayfield Clinic and UC in 1969. In 1993 he would become the first Frank H. Mayfield Professor, an academic appointment that marked the first endowed position in the UC Department of Neurosurgery. Dr. Tew further developed the science of microsurgery to treat disorders of the nervous system; he introduced non-invasive radio frequency for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia and was the first to apply lasers in neurosurgery; he led the team that brought radiosurgery to North America for the treatment of brain tumors and vascular malformations.

Nicholoas T. Zervas

1997, New Orleans, LA
Dr. Zervas distinguished himself in academic neurosurgery, and has been recipient of numerous honors and awards. He served as Chairman of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery, President of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery, Chairman of the American Board of Neurological Surgery, and Vice Chairman of the AANS Research Foundation Executive Council.

Peter J. Jannetta

1996, Montreal, QC, Canada
Dr. Jannetta held the Francis Sargent Cheever distinguished professorship at the University of Pittsburgh from 1976 to 1978. In 1989, Washington and Jefferson College granted him the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa. In 1992, he was honored by becoming the first Walter Dandy Professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. The Neuroscience community mourned the loss of Dr Jannetta who passed on April 11, 2016 at the age of 84.

John A. Jane

1995, San Francisco, CA
Dr. Jane served as the Alumni Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. He became the David D. Weaver Professor in 1987. Dr. Jane was especially proud of having participated in the programs at the Western Reserve and subsequently at the University of Virginia and in the training of 13 Professors of Neurosurgery, 11 of whom became Chairmen, three Associate Professors, and five Assistant Professors. In 1993 Dr. Jane also served as Editor of the Journal of Neurosurgery.

Robert F. Spetzler

1994, Chicago, IL
Dr. Spetzler, for many years, served as Director and the J.N. Harber Chair of Neurological Surgery at the Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI) in Phoenix, Arizona. Among just a few of Dr. Spetzler's contributions have been the development of theories on normal perfusion pressure breakthrough and how the size of arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) is related to their rupture; the development of a heuristic grading system for AVMs; as well as advances in surgical treatment of complex cerebrovascular lesions.

Albert L. Rhoton, Jr.

1993, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Dr. Rhoton, was a University of Florida professor and chairman emeritus of the Lillan S. Wells Department of Neurosurgery. He had a storied career that spanned more than five decades. In that time, he trained thousands of fellows and residents in the latest micro neurosurgical techniques, invented hundreds of neurosurgical devices and received the profession’s highest recognition. Dr. Rhoton has earned numerous honors and awards throughout his career. He became a member of the Executive Committee of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons in 1973, and served as President in 1978. Dr. Rhoton passed away at the age of 83 in 2016.

Robert G. Ojemann

1992, Washington, DC
Dr. Ojemann, a former President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, was a world-renowned academic neurosurgeon and physician. He rose through the academic ranks at Harvard Medical School and ultimately was named Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School in 1979. He remained on the staff of the MGH and the faculty of Harvard Medical School for his entire career. Bob Ojemann was known as a superb surgeon, academician, clinician, teacher, and life-long student of neurosurgery. He was the “neurosurgeons’s neurosurgeon” and the teacher of an entire generation of neurosurgeons currently practicing world-wide.

Bennett M. Stein

1991, Orlando, FL
Dr. Stein served as the Byron Stookey Professor of Neurological Surgery and Chairman of the Department at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. In addition to his teaching and administrative responsibilities, Dr. Stein was extraordinarily productive, having authored more than 170 scientific works and extending his studies of AVMs and pineal region tumors to include the chemical reactivity of vessels and the hormonal activity of tumors.

Charles B. Wilson

1990, Los Angeles, CA
Wilson was recruited to the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), as chair of the Division of Neurosurgery in 1968, at just 39 years of age. His appointment put him in prestigious company; previous chairs included the illustrious neurosurgeons and educators Howard Naffziger, John Adams, and Edwin Boldrey. But over the next 28 years, Wilson would turn the already well-regarded division into one of the nation’s most sought-after academic neurosurgery training programs and an internationally recognized center for research and treatment of brain tumors.

Thoralf M. Sundt, Jr.

1989, Atlanta, GA
Dr. Sundt served Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the Mayo Clinic and professor of Neurological Surgery at the Mayo Medical School. He was an internationally recognized leader in cerebrovascular surgery who has written more than 200 articles on this subject. Dr. Sundt's initial career interests lay in the military. A graduate of West Point, Dr. Sundt was awarded the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster for his service in the Korean war.

Lindsay Symon

1988, Seattle, WA
In 1978, Dr. Symon became professor of neurological surgery and chairman of the Gough Cooper Department of Neurological Surgery at the National Hospital, Queen's Square, in London. There he has developed an outstanding neurosurgical training program, which is considered one of the leading units in England. Research endeavors there have stressed not only his own interests in cerebral circulation and cerebral metabolism but also an active neuro-oncology laboratory of his associates.

Thomas W. Langfitt

1987, Baltimore, MD
In 1968 Dr. Langfitt became professor and chairman of the Division of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, a position he held until 1987. He served as vice president for health affairs at the University and was for a time acting vice president for Finance. Nationally, he has served on numerous advisory councils and committees for the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Langfitt also led the Pew Charitable Trusts to prominence in the 1980's and 90's. As a board member and then as president, Dr. Langfitt helped shift the trusts' focus from largely local interests to national and international programs. The causes he championed included early child development, health care reform and the environment.

M. Gazi Yasargil

1986, New Orleans, LA
From 1953 until his retirement in 1993 he was first resident, chief resident and then professor and chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the 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. Perhaps his greatest contribution to neurosurgery has been his deep and thoughtful study of the subarachnoid spaces and the pioneering of micro surgical techniques.

Sidney Goldring

1985, Honolulu, HI
In 1974, Dr. Goldring became head of neurological surgery and co-chairman of the newly created Department of Neurology and Neurological Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine, and neurosurgeon-in-chief at Barnes Hospital and St. Louis Children's. Dr. Goldring's research interests focused on neurophysiology and experimental and clinical epilepsy. He published extensively on these subjects and has developed a large experience in the surgical treatment of seizure disorders.

Hugo V. Rizzoli

1984, New York, NY
Dr. Rizzoli was appointed the first full-time chairman of neurosurgery at George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) in 1971. In 1998, the Hugo V. Rizzoli Chair of Neurological Surgery was established in his honor. Rizzoli trained dozens of neurosurgeons over his career to whom he was a tireless and devoted mentor.

Walter E. Dandy

1984, New York, NY
A student of both Cushing and Halstead, Dr. Dandy's 1938 description of surgery for clipping of an intracranial aneurysm was particularly important because it marked the birth of the subspecialty of cerebrovascular neurosurgery. On March 23, 1937, Dandy performed a frontotemporal craniotomy and placed a hemostatic clip on the neck of a posterior communicating artery region aneurysm arising from the internal carotid artery. This experience led Dandy in the later part of his career to treat successfully a variety of vascular problems of the brain in addition to aneurysms, such as arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs), carotid cavernous fistulas (CCFs), and cavernous malformations.

C. Miller Fisher

1983, Chicago, IL
In 1941, Dr. Fisher was the ship doctor on an armed merchant cruiser called the Voltaire when it was attacked and crippled by a German vessel in the South Atlantic. Dr. Fisher spent the next 3½ years as a physician in a German prisoner of war camp, where he taught himself German, principally to read whatever German medical literature his captors made available. After the war Dr. Fisher became the head of the MGH Adult Neurology Service. However, he is best known for his many seminal contributions to stroke, for example, the discovery not just of carotid stenosis but also of carotid dissection as a cause of stroke; the demonstration that atrial fibrillation was a frequent stroke substrate and that initial strokes, owing to atrial fibrillation, were often catastrophic; recognition of the clinical and pathologic features of thalamic and cerebellar hemorrhage as well as the description of the major clinical and pathologic syndromes of lacunar infarction.

Keiji Sano

1982, Toronto, ON, Canada
Dr. Sano was a towering figure in Japanese Neurosurgery. He was promoted to lecturer and chief of the outpatient clinic of neurosurgery in 1955 and then to associate professor of neurosurgery at the Institute of Brain Research, University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine, in 1957. In 1962 the Japanese Government first approved and opened an independent department of neurosurgery at the University of Tokyo and appointed Dr. Sano as the first professor and chairman of the department.

J. Garber Galbraith

1981, Los Angeles, CA
The Division of Neurosurgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham was initially founded and nurtured by Dr. J. Garber Galbraith in the 1950s. Dr. Galbraith became associate professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of Alabama School of Medicine in 1946 and was subsequently promoted to professor and director of the Division of Neurosurgery in 1954. In addition to training a host of neurosurgeons, his scientific contributions consist of publications concerned with cerebral aneurysms, cerebral occlusive disease, brain tumors, and craniocerebral trauma. His area of expertise is craniotomy for meningioma.

Eben Alexander, Jr.

1980, Houston, TX
Dr. Alexander joined the academic faculty at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine in 1949 and became Professor and Chief of Neurosurgery. He was Chief of Staff of the North Carolina Baptist Hospital from 1953–73 and also Chairman of Wake Forest Baptist Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery, 1953-1973. He retired as Chief of service in 1978, and became Emeritus in 1983. Nevertheless, he remained active in his profession, serving as editor of the prominent journal, Surgical Neurology 1986-1994 and Associate Editor of the North Carolina Medical Journal 1986-2004.

Frank H. Mayfield

1979, Las Vegas, NV
Founder of the Mayfield Clinic and Spine Institute in Cincinnati, Dr. Mayfield was a national leader in Neurosurgery both as President of the Harvey Cushing Society and its transformation into the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.

Charles G. Drake

1978, Washington, DC
It was the intracranial aneurysm and AVM that were to become the focus of Dr. Drake’s energies, and for the next 25 years he set a standard for the world in the treatment of these common and deadly lesions. Drake, Allcock, and Aitken furthered our understanding of aneurysms and subarachnoid hemorrhage with their astute observations on vasospasm, the importance of magnified vision and postoperative angiography, and the safety and limits of intentional, deep hypo-tension to make the exposure and dissection safe and even possible. In 1978, he had operated on more than 1000 aneurysms and since his first attack on a superior cerebellar artery aneurysm in 1958 to 1978, he had operated on more than 600 aneurysms arising from the vertebralbasilar system.