NEW ORLEANS (April 18, 2005) Robert A. Ratcheson, MD, president of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), presided over the AANS Annual Meeting in New Orleans, April 16-21, 2005. Following the meeting, he was named past president of the AANS. An active member of the AANS since 1976, he served as president from 2004 to 2005. He has been a member of the AANS Board of Directors since 1997, and currently serves on the following committees: Van Wagenen Fellowship (Chair), Education and Maintenance of Certification, Executive, Finance, Long-Range Planning, and the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation (NREF) Executive Council.

Dr. Ratcheson is the Harvey Huntington Brown, Jr. Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Case Western Reserve University and at University Hospitals of Cleveland.

After earning his bachelor's and medical degrees from Northwestern University, Dr. Ratcheson went on to complete his surgical internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital. In 1967, he served as a senior assistant surgeon at the National Institutes of Health and, soon after, completed his neurosurgical residency at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. Dr. Ratcheson was Board-certified in 1976.

Active in many professional organizations, Dr. Ratcheson has served as a member of the AANS Executive Committee, chair of the AANS/CNS Cerebrovascular Section, vice chair of the American Board of Neurological Surgery, president of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), president of the Neurosurgical Society of America, and president of The Society of Neurological Surgeons.

A prolific author and investigator, Dr. Ratcheson has written numerous chapters for books, and articles for scientific journals. In addition, he served as chairman of the Journal of Neurosurgery's editorial board, and has served on the editorial boards of such publications as Neurosurgery, Clinical Neurosurgery, Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology, and as editor of Concepts in Neurosurgery.

Founded in 1931 as the Harvey Cushing Society, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is a scientific and educational association with more than 6,800 members worldwide. The AANS is dedicated to advancing the specialty of neurological surgery in order to provide the highest quality of neurosurgical care to the public. 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.