From the Secretary

Bruce A. Kaufman, MD

Past, Present and Future

Bruce A. Kaufman, MD

The Pediatric Section's "past" includes a very successful winter meeting in Boston. Lilly Goumnerova deserves high praise and congratulations for hosting and organizing a wonderful meeting. There were over 300 attendees including six fellows and 42 allied health professionals (nurses and physican assistants), with over 80 presentations. The meeting started with a well-attended nursing seminar and concluded with a neurofibromatosis symposium. In between, the highlights included a lecture on pediatric anesthesia in neurosurgery, sponsored by our colleagues from the AAP Section on Neurological Surgery. This lecture was another in a series of lectures that SONS has sponsored at our annual meetings. The Pediatric Section Executive Council is working with SONS to ensure continued participation in our future meetings. Dr. Charles Stiles presented our 2009 Raimondi lecture, "Transcription Factors and Malignant Glioma in Mouse and Man."

Another highlight was the presentation of the Franc Ingraham Award, our sections highest honor, to Dave McLone, MD. Please read the separate article about Dr. McLone and the award.

Our section also selected two resident presentations for awards. The Hydrocephalus Association award went to Christopher Janson, MD, for his paper entitled "Immortalization and Functional Characterization of Rat Arachnoid Cells." The Kenneth Shulman Award was given to Symeon Missios, MD, for his paper "Cell Proliferation and Neuronal Migration After Closed Head Injury in the Immature Piglet." Please encourage your younger colleagues and residents to participate in our meeting and to compete for these awards. (Log in on our Web site for more details on these awards).

We noted that Mike Scott, MD, stepped down after administering our section’s Traveling Fellowship program for many years. The section thanks Dr. Scott for his dedication, effort, and expertise in promoting and managing this successful program. Benny Iskandar, MD, has ably succeeded him.

The Pediatric Section's "present" is the upcoming AANS meeting in Philadelphia May 3–6, 2010. The section has a formal presence at the meeting on two days. On Tuesday, May 4, from 2:45 to 5:30 p.m., in conjunction with the Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery Section, there will be a symposium on movement disorders with a focus on pediatric movement disorders. Jim Rutka, MD, and Leland Albright, MD, will be presenting.

The Pediatric Section session will occur on Wednesday, May 5, from 2:45 to 5:30 p.m. Jeffrey Golden, MD, will present the annual Matson lecture, and the section will host a reception for Dr. Golden that evening. The section also will hold a brief business meeting at the end of its Wednesday session.

I hope that you can attend what should be another great set of lectures.

Our section's "future" includes the next winter meeting in Cleveland from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, 2010. Dody Robinson, MD, is our local host and organizer. She has planned what should be another wonderful meeting. I am trying to track down the recent rumor that Dr. Robinson was enthralled by the Olympic Norwegian curling team (and their attire), and has organized a section curling tournament on the frozen Cuyahoga River.

I encourage you to read the rest of the newsletter for comments from our chair, a summary of the past and future business of the section, and updates on our other activities.

Bruce A. Kaufman, MD, is secretary of the AANS/CNS Section on Pediatric Neurological Surgery and editor of Pediatric ShortCuts.