Martin Harvey Weiss, MD, was elected President of The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) at the AANS Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, April 24-29, 1999. Active in the AANS since 1973, Dr. Weiss has served as a member of the Board of Directors (1988-1991) and as Secretary (1994-1997) of the Association, as well as Chairman of the Editorial Board its official scientific publication The Journal of Neurosurgery.

Dr. Weiss is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the School of Medicine of the University of Southern California where he is Chief of Neurosurgery at the USC Medical Center, as well as attending neurosurgeon at the USC University Hospital. In addition, he serves as consulting neurosurgeon to the staffs of the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, the Cedars Sinai Medical Center, The City of Hope, Huntington Memorial Hospital and the Hospital of the Good Samaritan. Dr. Weiss also is the first holder of The Martin H. Weiss Chair in Neurological Surgery at USC, which was established by an endowment funded by the William Wrigley Family.

After earning his bachelor's degree magna cum laude from Dartmouth College and his medical degree from the Cornell University Medical College, Dr. Weiss served a surgical internship at the University Hospitals of Cleveland. He subsequently spent two years as an associate in general surgery at the United States Military Academy at West Point (New York), following which he returned to complete his residency in neurosurgery at University Hospitals of Cleveland. He has been elected to Phi Beta Kappa national honorary society and Alpha Omega Alpha national medical honorary society.

In addition to his involvement with the AANS, Dr. Weiss has served as Chairman of the American Board of Neurological Surgery, Chairman of the Residency Review Committee for Neurological Surgery and Chairman of the Neurology B Study Section of the National Institutes of Health, as well as Vice President of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery, Vice President of The Society of Neurological Surgeons, Vice President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and President of the Southern California Neurosurgical Society. Also, he is a member of the American College of Surgeons (Past Chair of the Neurosurgical Advisory Council), the American Medical Association, Western Neurosurgical Society, Neurosurgical Society of America, Research Society of Neurological Surgeons and The Neurosurgical Forum.

A prolific writer and investigator, Dr. Weiss has authored and co-authored nearly 250 books and scientific journal articles on a variety of neurosurgical topics with specific focus on pituitary tumors, meningiomas and spinal cord disorders. He has served as Editor-In-Chief of Clinical Neurosurgery and as a founding member of the Editorial Board of Neurosurgery. He is presently Associate Editor of Neurosurgical Focus, the online journal of the Journal of Neurosurgery.

Founded in 1931 as the Harvey Cushing Society, The American Association of Neurological Surgeons is a scientific and education association with approximately 5,300 members in the United States, Canada and Mexico. It 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 must be certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgeons. Neurosurgery is the medical specialty dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders affecting the nervous system, brain, spinal cord and spinal column.