SAN DIEGO (May 4, 2009) — James T. Rutka, MD, PhD, FRCS, will be named president elect of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) at the AANS Annual Meeting in San Diego, May 4-6, 2009. An active member of the AANS since 1983, he has served on the AANS Board of Directors since 2003. He just completed a three-year term as secretary of the AANS. He served as chair of the 2006 AANS Annual Meeting and chair of the Scientific Program Committee in 2005. He has been named Honored Guest of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons for 2009. He is a member of the following committees: Executive, Finance, the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation (NREF) Executive Council, NeurosurgeryPAC Board of Directors, Nominating, and Strategic Planning (Chair).

Dr. Rutka has been on the neurosurgical staff at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto since 1990. He is currently director of the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre. He was appointed chairman of the Division of Neurosurgery at the University of Toronto in 1999, and the Dan Family Chair that same year. He has been professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto since 1999. Among his many awards are the Lister Award from the University of Toronto, for sustained contributions to surgical research; a Scientist Award from the Medical Research Council of Canada; and the Grass Award from the Society of Neurological Surgeons.

He received his medical degree from Queen's University Medical School in 1981, followed by residency in Neurosurgery at the University of Toronto. He undertook basic science research studies in Experimental Neuro-Oncology at the Brain Tumor Research Center at the University of California at San Francisco from 1984 to 1987.

Dr. Rutka received his PhD from the Graduate School of Experimental Pathology at the University of California at San Francisco in 1987 before returning to Toronto to complete his neurosurgery residency. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada in 1989 and pursued clinical and research fellowships in Japan the following year.

His primary research and clinical interests relate to the treatment of brain tumors, in particular in children, as well as the surgical treatment of epilepsy in children. Dr. Rutka was a driving force behind the formation of B.r.a.i.n.child, a support group for families that have children with brain tumors.

A prolific author, Dr. Rutka has published more than 250 peer-reviewed publications, 50 book chapters, and nearly 80 abstracts. He has presented at more than 300 meetings and conferences worldwide.

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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