EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE ON MAY 3, 2004

ORLANDO (May 3, 2004) -In recognition of his many years of dedication to neurosurgical science and the medical community, Charles L. Branch Sr., MD, has been named the recipient of the 2004 Humanitarian Award of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS). Dr. Branch is being commended for his extensive humanitarian efforts in Haiti, Guyana and Nigeria.

Since retiring in 1994, Dr. Branch has dedicated an extraordinary amount of time, energy and support to notable medical missions in Haiti and Guyana, and for nine years traveled to Nigeria to perform a wide variety of surgeries at the Nigerian Christian Hospital. In the mid 90's, in conjunction with the African Christian Hospital Foundation of Searcy, Arkansas, Dr. Branch was a member of a team that worked to restore medical service in the remote Amer-Indian preservation in Guyana, in the village of Mabaruma. From 1996 through February 2004, Dr. Branch spent 4-6 weeks annually providing free surgical services in the small African Christian Hospital in Aba, Nigeria (located in the impoverished southeast corner of Nigeria).

In Aba, Dr. Branch was able to assist a local missionary physician in providing much needed charitable general surgical services, as well as in treating over a dozen children with ventriculoperitoneal shunts. During his volunteer time at the hospital, he identified the need for a dedicated emergency room at the hospital. With the assistance of his wife Sylvia, Dr. Branch raised and donated funds to build the only emergency room within a 50-mile radius and provided the first World Health Organization x-ray machine serving a population of more than one million impoverished people.

The achievements of Dr. Branch echo his extensive background. Charles Branch Sr., MD, grew up in West Tennessee and graduated from Vanderbilt University Medical School in 1953. After a rotating internship at the University of Chicago clinics, he completed his neurosurgical residency at the Montreal Neurological Institute in 1959 under the guidance of Drs. Wilder Penfield and Theodore Rassmussen. His interest in spine surgery was stimulated by William Cone, MD. Dr. Branch was a member of the MNI staff from 1959 until 1968 when he moved to San Antonio, Texas to enter private practice and was appointed as clinical associate professor of neurosurgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSC).

Founded in 1931 as the Harvey Cushing Society, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is a scientific and educational association with more than 6,500 members worldwide. The AANS is dedicated to advancing the specialty of neurological surgery in order to provide the highest quality of neurosurgical care to patients. All active members of the AANS are certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Neurosurgery) of Canada or the Mexican Council of Neurological Surgery, AC. Neurological surgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of disorders that affect the entire nervous system including the spinal column, spinal cord, brain and peripheral nerves.

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Media Representatives: If you would like to cover the meeting or interview a neurosurgeon - either on-site or via telephone - please contact the AANS Communications Department at 847/378-0517 or call the Annual Meeting Press Room beginning Monday, May 3, at 407/685-5408.