Young Neurosurgeons
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Young Neurosurgeons Fall 2014 Young NeurosurgeonsNEWS Committee Editor: Krystal Tomei, MD, MPH Chairman’s Message: This has been a Med.Navy.Mil), is chairing the YNC Medical landmark year for the Student Committee, and is looking for medical American Association students and seasoned young neurosurgeons to of Neurological become a part of this exciting endeavor. Surgeons (AANS) Under the visionary leadership of Robert Young Neurosurgeons Harbaugh, MD, FAANS, and the AANS board of Committee (YNC). directors, the AANS has launched a nationwide In This Issue… The AANS has network of AANS Medical Student Chapters, shown an incredible for students interested in neurosurgery. Our goal Stacey Quintero Wolfe, commitment to its is to have a chapter at every North American 2 MD, FAANS young constituency, medical school and residency program, and we Secretary’s Message through expanded are currently accepting applications (Follow this membership and support. We are excited about link). We encourage you to become founding 3 the commitment to education and mentorship. members of your local chapter! Additionally, The MISSION Fellowship: A This year, the AANS YNC has expanded the please plan to attend the next AANS Annual Perspective number of voting members by eight, in order to Scientific Meeting in May 2015, which will 4 fill the need for our expanding role in the AANS. feature the first Young Neurosurgeons Science Simulation Training in We now have a liaison position to nearly every and Education Symposium, dedicated to the Neurosurgery: History and Future AANS committee and Joint section, as well as research of neurosurgery residents and students. Directions to the Council of State Neurosurgical Societies My congratulations to our newly elected YNC 7 (CSNS), American Medical Association (AMA) members, as well as all who were nominated. As Evaluating the Enfolded Fellowship and American College of Surgeons (ACS). Top always, the elections were highly competitive, due Gun was newly reinvigorated this year with a to the many outstanding candidates, and I would 9 team competition and new stations. YNC support encourage each of you to get involved. Our newly An Interview with the YNC Public of the Neurosurgery Research and Education elected members are: Service Citation Recipient, Dr. Randy Bell Foundation (NREF) continued with a new pilot Faiz U. Ahmad, MD program to support “The Race for Research” in Shakeel A. Chowdhry, MD 11 conjunction with Alex Valadka, MD, FAANS, Brian M. Howard, MD YNC Luncheon running the Boston Marathon. Stephen T. Magill, MD, PhD We are happy to announce that the YNC is Debraj Mukherjee, MD 12 Education Division Report coming online with its own Twitter account (@ Luis Savastano, MD Affiliated Organizations Update youngneuros) and an updated webpage, under the Walavan Sivakumar, MD leadership of Jeremiah Johnson, MD (JJohnson. Anand Veeravagu, MD 13 [email protected]), who is chairing our new IT Communications Division Update committee. We are looking for creative minds to We look forward to seeing you in Boston, and invite WINS Update help with our new commitment to social media. everyone to the Young Neurosurgeons Committee 14 Perhaps most exciting is the new commitment Meeting on October 20 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Book Reviews to medical students, with the goal of recruiting the Westin Boston Waterfront in the Douglass Room. best and brightest and creating the neurosurgical leaders of tomorrow. We elected the first medical Stacey Quintero Wolfe, MD FAANS student voting members of the AANS YNC this Program Director, Department of Neurosurgery, summer. Our first MISSION (Medical Student in Assistant Professor, Neurosurgery and Interventional Organized Neurosurgery) fellow is in the midst of Radiology an outstanding project, and we will soon be selecting Wake Forest University School of Medicine our next fellow. Randy Bell, MD (Randy.Bell@ Winston-Salem, North Carolina Secretary’s Message by Krystal Tomei, MD, MPH “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” neurosurgery. In addition, the YNC has developed the MISSION – Benjamin Franklin fellowship, allowing a medical student to work alongside the YNC. We highlight our current MISSION fellow, Daniel Lubelski, in this Franklin’s quote sums up the theme issue. behind this issue of the Young Transitioning into residency training, we highlight an ongoing Neurosurgeons News. As neurosurgeons, project of the YNC, the Top Gun competition, held at the AANS we remain entwined in education: As annual meeting. This booth looks at the role of simulation in residents, we are responsible for the resident education. A fantastic article by our Top Gun chairman, education of medical students as well as David Connor, DO, highlights the history of simulation in medical ourselves; as young neurosurgeons, we education and our Top Gun competition. continue to seek our own educational Finally, the increasing focus on subspecialty training has brought opportunities as we transition into the about the enfolded fellowship, an opportunity to gain subspecialty realm of continuing medical education. neurosurgery training during the time period of residency training. The American Association of Neurological Our YNC member, Laura Snyder, MD, has crafted an excellent Surgeons (AANS), through the Young Neurosurgeons Committee article highlighting the benefits and pitfalls of such opportunities (YNC), has maintained this focus throughout our initiatives, and and gives pointers for those individuals who may want to consider this issue highlights some of the new and evolving opportunities in an enfolded fellowship. neurosurgical education. Our highlighted interview of Randy Bell, MD, our YNC Public The latest of the AANS initiatives is the development of medical Service Citation Award winner, gives us a peek into the life of a student membership and AANS medical student chapters. With military physician, balancing duty and service with a demanding this latest endeavor, the AANS is creating a formalized process by practice. which students at institutions across North America can apply to create AANS Medical Student Chapters. This process calls for I hope you enjoy this issue! mentors at the faculty and resident levels, and uses a structure similar to AANS governance, providing a framework for local Krystal L. Tomei, MD, MPH and national mentorship of students interested in a career in The YNC shows support for traumatic brain injury (TBI) research and the NREF. 2 Fall 2014 n YOUNG NEUROSURGEONS NEWS The MISSION Fellowship: A Perspective Daniel Lubelski As the Young Neurosurgeons Committee’s (YNC) first Medical The meeting eventually got to the topic of medical students and Student Organized Neurosurgery (MISSION) fellow, I was asked the medical student task force. Traditionally, medical students are to write a perspective piece on organized neurosurgery and, more the lowest on the totem pole, the proverbial “seen-but-not-heard” specifically, the YNC. This was an unusual task for me. With individuals in the organization. But during the YNC meeting little knowledge or experience in neurosurgery, let alone organized medical student recruitment, retention and promotion was a neurosurgery, I questioned why anyone would care about my cornerstone initiative. The MISSION fellowship, spearheaded perspective. But in thinking about the origins and goals of the by Bill Ashley, MD, PhD, MBA, is just one part of a multi- YNC, I recognized that this is precisely its purpose: to give the pronged approach that includes the development of a national future members of neurosurgery a voice. network of AANS medical student interest groups with associated When I walked into the conference room in the basement of mentorship, research, educational and organizational components. the San Francisco Marriott Marquis during the AANS Annual As envisioned by Dr. Ashley, I will be attending and contributing Scientific Meeting this past spring, it was unlike any of the to the YNC committees, as well as helping develop the interest conference rooms I had previously seen. This was a room filled with groups. In conjunction, it will be my role to develop a research individuals in their late 20s and 30s, not your typical demographic study that evaluates the impact of these interest groups in a of an organized neurosurgery meeting. There were multiple prospective fashion. But I was just one of several medical students conversations among different groups of people, but from the bits that participated in the meeting. The other medical students that I was able to pick up, it seemed like enthusiastic discussions of were actively involved in the inception and development of online the various YNC initiatives. Stacey Quintero Wolfe, MD, FAANS, tools to help with housing and transportation for interviews and the current YNC chairman, began the meeting in a formal, sub-internships, online forums for discussion and integration of Congress-like style, reviewing the previous meetings minutes and educational applications with social media. There was consensus requesting and approving motions of various types. To be honest, among all participants that attracting the best and brightest to I was initially taken aback, but as the meeting progressed, I was neurosurgery is imperative, and the YNC should be the leader in continually impressed by the idealism, energy and enthusiasm of this effort. the committee members. I am excited and grateful to have been selected the first YNC The committee systematically went through its various Medical