Dear Colleagues,
I am very humbled and honored to serve this year as President of the North American Skull Base Society (NASBS). The NASBS creates unparalleled opportunities for collaboration between various specialists working together to innovate and advance the care and outcome of patients with diseases affecting the base of skull. The interest in the field and the society has significantly grown over the past few decades, thanks to very strong membership engagement and enthusiasm. The science, collaborative research and education are increasingly better because of the collective efforts of our members. My mission for this year is to continue membership engagement and growth, through creating new opportunities for service, research, mentorship, and education.
One of the highlights of the NASBS educational activities is the NASBS Skull Base Surgery Summer Course, attended by many physicians in training and faculty from the Surgical Education Committee and the Board of Directors. I look forward to this year’s course in New Orleans on August 21- 23, 2026, under the leadership of Dr. Bharat Guthikonda and Dr. Katie Melder. Based on feedback received from previous course attendees, we will prepare a skull base dissection manual to further enhance and diversify educational materials. For this project to succeed under the leadership of the Surgical Education Committee, we will solicit participation from a large group of NASBS members interested in developing and reviewing the materials.
Our annual meeting themes have recently focused on innovation, teamwork, and mentorship. I would like the upcoming year to bring the spotlight back on patients and their outcomes, the real drivers of our passion for what we do. Identifying knowledge gaps, defining meaningful outcomes, and putting patients first will help us establish priorities. This is even more important in a health-care environment where other less relevant metrics -often unrelated to value-based health care -tend to influence and dictate our day-to-day practices. Our society is best positioned to define quality metrics in skull base surgery and establish the knowledge and pathways to achieve better results for our patients. “Patient-Centered, Outcome-Driven” will be the theme of the 2027 NASBS Annual Meeting, taking place in Nashville, Tennessee, February 26–28, 2027. We will build on the success of recent meetings while incorporating new ideas and formats for the structure of the Scientific Program Committee and the layout of sessions, under the leadership of Dr. Christine Dinh and her co-chair, Dr. Stephen Magill, who will steer the NASBS Scientific Program. The pre-meeting dissection course, a consistent highlight of the annual meeting, will take place February 24–25.
Another priority for this year is continued support for research, through improving collaboration and increasing funding and industry support. I will work with Dr. Shirley Su, Treasurer of the NASBS, together with our partners at BSC on raising funds to enhance and ensure the longevity of our educational and research missions. I will also engage our industry partners, whose support remains essential, to explore ways we could further develop mutually beneficial collaborations.
Whether we think about patient care, research or education, nothing could be achieved without the engagement of our members and industry partners. I aim to create opportunities for NASBS members to get involved in areas that align with their interests. With membership growth and continued enthusiasm for service, our society must be more creative in ways members could engage to keep the momentum and interest growing. It is a difficult problem but a great problem to have, nevertheless, one that is typical for societies like ours, in the phase of continued growth. In addition to engagement, I hope to increase international participation and membership, as another way of consolidating the NASBS role as leading international society in the field.
Please share your ideas and suggestions. I would like to hear from you, and I hope that we will together continue to make steady steps forward with significant impact for our patients. You can reach me at [email protected].
Zoukaa Sargi, MD, MPH