CHICAGO (April 28, 2008) - Charles B. Wilson, MD, will be presented with the 2008 Cushing Medal, the highest honor granted by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) at 12:20 p.m. on Monday, April 28 at the AANS Annual Meeting, April 28-May 1, in Chicago. He is being honored for his many years of outstanding leadership, dedication and contributions to the field of neurosurgery. Dr Wilson has been an active member of the AANS since 1964, serving as its vice president in 1993-1994.
The Harvey Cushing Medal, the highest honor the AANS can bestow on a member, was established at the recommendation of President Lester Mount, MD, in 1976. Given annually since 1977, the award recognizes an AANS member for distinguished service in the field of neurosurgery.
Dr. Wilson received his medical degree and completed his neurosurgical residency at Tulane Medical School before obtaining faculty appointments at Tulane, Louisiana State University and the University of Kentucky. In 1968, Dr. Wilson became professor and chairman of the Neurosurgery Division at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). By 1970, he had established the Department of Neurological Surgery and the Brain Tumor Research Center, a national cancer research center which has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1971. In 1985, he was appointed Tong-Po Kan Professor of Neurological Surgery at UCSF. Dr. Wilson stepped down as chair in 1994 and retired from active practice in 2002.
While in active practice, Dr. Wilson obtained a Master's in Health Administration and became a senior fellow at the Institute for the Future, a long-range forecasting organization in Menlo Park, Calif. He is now on staff at the Health Technology Center, a long-range forecasting think tank based in San Francisco.
Dr. Wilson just completed a term on the National Cancer Advisory Board. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. At Tulane, he is a member of the Leadership Committee, the Tulane University Health Sciences Center Board of Governors, the Tulane University Board of Administrators, and the Tulane University Board of Trustees.
Among his honors are the Herbert Olivecrona Lecturer to the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, and Honored Guest of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. Honors received at Tulane have included Outstanding Alumnus (School of Medicine), Tulane Surgical Society Award of Merit, Doctor of Science (H.C.), Outstanding Leadership (Health Sciences Center), and the Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 1999, Dr. Wilson co-founded Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance working in sub-Saharan Africa. More recently, he was appointed senior advisor to UCSF Global Health Sciences as director of Surgery Programs, with a current focus on delivering surgical services in rural Uganda.
A pioneer in the surgery of pituitary tumors, Dr Wilson has authored more than 600 scientific publications and presented at symposiums worldwide. He also served on the editorial boards of several medical journals. His contemporary research involves emerging medical technologies, particularly those related to molecular genetics.
Founded in 1931 as the Harvey Cushing Society, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is a scientific and educational association with more than 7,200 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.
