SAN DIEGO (May 4, 2009) — Christopher M. Loftus, MD, FACS, will be named vice president of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) at the AANS Annual Meeting in San Diego, May 4-6, 2009. A member of the AANS since 1988, he is a chair of the International Outreach Committee and a member of the following committees: Bylaws, Executive, Finance, NeurosurgeryPAC Board of Directors, and Strategic Planning. He served on the AANS Board of Directors from 2004-2007 as a director-at-large.

He is currently professor and chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery, Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. He also serves as assistant dean for International Affiliations. Prior to his assuming his position at Temple University in 2004, Dr. Loftus was chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Dr. Loftus received his medical degree from SUNY-Downstate Medical Center in 1979, followed by an internship in general surgery at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in 1980. He completed his residency in neurosurgery at The Neurological Institute of New York, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in 1984. He received his board certification from the American Board of Neurological Surgery in 1987. In 2006, he received a Doctor Honoris Causa from Pavol Josef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovak Republic.

Active on the international neurosurgery front, Dr. Loftus travels worldwide as a presenter and visiting professor. He is second vice president (North America) of the World Federation of Neurological Societies.

Dr. Loftus serves on the editorial boards of several peer-reviewed journals: Surgical Neurology, Asian CNS Journal, Neurosurgical Review (Heidelberg), Neurologia Medico-Chirurgica (Official Journal of the Japan Neurosurgical Society - Tokyo), Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Disease, World Neurosurgery, and Reviews in Neurological Surgery.

Founded in 1931 as the Harvey Cushing Society, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is a scientific and educational association with more than 7,400 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.

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