Letter from the NASBS 2019 President
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
I would like to personally welcome you to the 29th Annual Meeting of the NASBS!
The venue for this year, Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, is a beautiful resort located within the Disney property. It is a terrific site for the conference, social program, and family fun!
Our Program Committee has worked tirelessly throughout the year. Under the direction of our Program Chairs, Drs. Amir Dehdashti and Adam Zanation, they have created a syllabus that will have broad appeal to our continually growing membership. The program will include pre-meeting courses, panels, hot topics, debates, video sessions, and several proffered paper sessions. We will continue the Rhoton Room live dissections due to the enormous success of the concept launched last year. These sessions are being coordinated by Drs. Sami Youssef and Carlos David. I would like to personally thank the entire Program Committee for all of their effort and dedication. A special recognition also goes out to BSC Management for their creative contributions to the meeting and for keeping us organized.
There are several educational events preceding the official start of the meeting. A hands-on two day pre-meeting dissection course led by Drs. Paul Gardner and Arturo Solares will cover both open and endoscopic skull base techniques. Drs. Edward Laws and Luigi Cavallo are directors of the Pituitary Tumor Education Day which includes a didactic series of lectures and case discussions by an international expert faculty. The popular Skull Base Primer Course is being organized by Dr. Lola Chambless this year and promises to be an excellent educational event.
The meeting theme is Teamwork and Multidiciplinary Collaboration in Skull Base Surgery. In the spirit of that theme, we have created some new sessions including the Skull Base Team Match which will allow the audience to see how team members from prominent skull base centers work together to develop management plans for complex cases. Be sure not to miss the three one-hour sessions, each of which will include two teams “competing” live in front of the audience!
I am proud to welcome and acknowledge our NASBS Annual Meeting Sister/Cooperative Society: The Italian Skull Base Society. Through close collaboration with the board members of the Italian Skull Base Society and we have many of our Italian colleagues serving important roles in the annual meeting, including the pre-meeting courses, lectures, and panels. I am very enthusiastic about this important connection between our Societies and feel that it will certainly enhance the educational value of the meeting.
There were 491 abstracts submitted, a new NASBS record! We appreciate all of the reviewers for their efforts in grading the abstracts. This will generate many excellent scientific podium and poster presentations. Dr. Andrew Little is coordinating the program for viewing and judging the posters.
As a result of the generous contributions of many fellowship directors and members, we are able to offer three Traveling Scholarships again this year. These scholarships provide funding to international scholars for travel and attendance of the annual meeting as well as a week to visit a North American skull base center for one week after the meeting. This year, the scholarships go to Dr. Adib from Germany, Dr. Tjahjadi from Indonesia, and Dr. Gelera from the Philippines. Please join me in welcoming these individuals. We hope they have an excellent experience at the Annual Meeting and during their visit to the skull base centers.
The Guests of Honor this year are Drs. Laligam Sekhar, William Keane, and Robert Rosenwasser. Dr. Sekhar is the Vice Chairman and Director of Skull Base and Cerebrovascular Surgery at the University of Washington, Seattle. I was very fortunate to do my skull base fellowship training with Dr. Sekhar while he was in Virginia. I am deeply indebted to him for helping me develop my skull base surgical skills, judgement, and philosophy. He has been one of my greatest mentors and role models throughout my career in medicine. Drs. Keane and Rosenwasser are the chairmen of Otolaryngology and Neurosurgery, respectively, at Thomas Jefferson University. Their dedication and leadership played an integral role in the development of our Cranial Base Center at Jefferson. I am grateful for their support and contributions over the past 15 years!
Our Key Note speakers this year will be a duet conversation with Mr. Jeff James, Vice President and General Manager of Disney Institute and Dr. Charlie Ireland, a physician who has implemented many creative and innovative approaches to medicine based on the Disney methodologies and philosophies. Their combined insights will highlight this year’s meeting theme: Teamwork and Multidiciplinary Collaboration in skull base surgery.
The NASBS membership continues to grow with over 100 new member applications each year. Concordantly, the number of registrants for the Annual Meeting has grown each year for the past several years. In fact, our statistics reveal that the vast majority of our members attend the annual meeting. These are very good signs of a healthy and active society.
I look forward to seeing you at the Annual Meeting in Orlando. You will certainly enjoy the spectacular scientific program as well as the chance to catch up with friends and colleagues. The Disney venue is also the perfect place to bring your family!
See you in February!
James J. Evans, MD
President, NASBS 2018-2019