PERSPECTIVE

Awards, lectures, and fellowships sponsored by the AANS/CNSSection on Tumors

Darryl Lau • Fred G. Barker II • Manish K. Aghi

Received: 7 March 2014 / Accepted: 28 April 2014

� Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Abstract A major goal of the Section on Tumors of the

American Association of Neurological Surgery (AANS) and

Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) since it was founded

in 1984 has been to foster both education and research in the field

of brain tumor treatment and development. In support of this

goal, the Section sponsors a number of awards, named lectures,

and fellowships at the annual meetings of the AANS and CNS.

In this article, we describe the awards given by the AANS/CNS

Section on Tumors since its foundation, the recipients of the

awards, and their philanthropic donors. The subsequent history

of awardees and their work is briefly examined. Specifically for

the Preuss and Mahaley Awards, this article also examines the

rates of publication among the award-winning abstracts and

achievement of grant funding by awardees.

Keywords American Association for Neurological

Surgeons � Congress of Neurological Surgeons � Awards

Introduction

After the AANS/CNS Section on Tumors was created in

1984, under the directorship of Mark Rosenblum, the Section

sought to secure funding for awards to recognize advances in

both basic science and clinical research. The first two awards

were the Preuss Resident Research Award and the Mahaley

Clinical Research Award. Subsequently, the Section secured

several other awards and lectureships (Table 1). In this

article we briefly review each of the currently offered awards

in follow-up to the 2005 work from Barker et al. [1].

In addition, we continue the work Barker et al. started in

2005 [1] by exploring the subsequent history of Preuss

Award and Mahaley Award recipients and their work, by

examining three endpoint measures: publication rate in

peer-reviewed journals, citation rate of published articles,

and acquisition of National Institute of Health (NIH) grant

funding by the awardee as principal investigator.

Methods

Publication rate was assessed by searching NIH’s PubMed

database (www.pubmed.com) and google scholar (www.

google/scholar.com) using the first and last authors’ names

and keyword from the abstract title. Citations of published

articles were tallied using the ISI Science Citation Index

Expanded (http://isiknowledge.com). NIH grant funding

was assessed by searching for the Preuss awardee’s name

in the web-based NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting

Tools (http://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter.cfm).

Results: summary of current awards and lecutreships

Preuss Award

The Preuss Award, established by the Preuss Foundation

for Brain Tumor Research in 1985, was first awarded at the

D. Lau � M. K. Aghi (&)

Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California,

San Francisco, 505 Parnassus Avenue Room M779,

San Francisco, CA 94143-0112, USA

e-mail: aghim@neurosurg.ucsf.edu

F. G. Barker II

Neurosurgical Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston,

MA, USA

F. G. Barker II

Department of Surgery (Neurosurgery), Harvard Medical

School, Boston, MA, USA

123

J Neurooncol

DOI 10.1007/s11060-014-1469-3

1987 AANS annual meeting. This is the longest-standing

Tumor Section award and recognizes the best basic science

research paper submitted by a neurosurgery resident. The

award presently carries a $1,000 stipend and is presented at

both the AANS and CNS annual meetings.

Most Preuss Award winning abstracts have represented

glioma research, and there continues to be a trend for more

winning abstracts to be related to glioma over the years. Of

the first 17 Preuss Award abstracts (1987–1995), 56 %

reported research on malignant gliomas, compared to 75 %

of the next 20 award abstracts (1995–2005), and 81 % of

the next 16 award abstracts (2006–2014). To date, there

have been 53 Preuss awardees and 46 Mahaley awardees

(see below), but among these recipients, only 6 individuals

have ever won both awards (Tables 2, 3). The Preuss

awardees represent 35 geographic locations, with 3 awar-

dees training outside North America (Fig. 1).

Among Preuss Award winning abstracts from 1987 to

2005, over two-thirds of the winning abstracts had reached

full publication in peer-reviewed journals by 5 years or

about 75 % by 8 years after the Preuss Award presentation

[1]. This 8-year publication rate is similar to the

2006–2014 awarded abstract publication rate of 69 %

(Fig. 2). Among all total winners from 1987 to 2014, 74 %

Table 1 List of Current Tumor Section Awards and Lectureships and

which of the two annual meetings of national neurosurgical organi-

zations they are presented at

Award name Sponsor AANS CNS

Preuss Award Preuss

Foundation

Presented Presented

Mahaley Award National

Brain

Tumor

Foundation

Presented Presented

Young

Investigator

Award

American

Brain

Tumor

Association

Presented Presented

Journal of

Neuro-

oncology

Award

Journal of

Neuro-

oncology

Presented Presented

Ronald Bittner

Award

Ronald L.

Bittner

Foundation

Presented Not presented

Integra

Foundation

Award

Integra

Foundation

Presented Presented

Synthes Skull

Base Surgery

Award

Synthes

Foundation

Presented Presented

BrainLAB

Community

Neurosurgeon

Award

BrainLAB

Foundation

Presented Presented

Leksell

Radiosurgery

Award

Elekta

Foundation

Presented Not presented

Stryker Neuro-

Oncology

Award

Stryker Presented Presented

Guha

Lectureship

Section on

Tumors

and SNO

Not

presented

Presented every

other year

(alternating with

SNO meeting)

Ronald Bittner

Lectureship

Ronald L.

Bittner

Foundation

Presented N/A

Distinguished

Service

Awards

Tumor

Section

Not

presented

Not presented

Dr. Charles B.

Wilson Award

Brain Tumor

Society

Not

presented

Not presented

Note that the distinguished service award and Charles B. Wilson

Award are typically presented at one of the Tumor Section Biannual

Symposia

Table 2 Preuss Research Award recipients

Year AANS CNS

2014 Loyola Veronique Gressot

2013 Michael Oh Peter Fecci

2012 Michael Lee Mumert Shih-Shan Lang

2011 Ganesh Rao Not given

2010 Viviane S. Tabar Nader Sanai

2009 Raymund Yong Charles Kanaly

2008 John K. Park Cameron Brennan

2007 Michael Synowitz Daniel P. Cahill

2006 Florence LeFranc James Waldron

2005 Corey Adamson Mary Murphy

2004 Manish K. Aghi Justin G. Santarelli

2003 Markus Bredel John Y. K. Lee

2002 Jorge Gonzalez-Martinez Loi Phuong

2001 Jeffery Leonard Andrew Parsa

2000 Amy Heimberger Michael Taylor

1999 Sandeep Kunwar Terrence Julien

1998 Matthias Feldkamp Bob Carter

1997 Andrew Metzger Walter Jean

1996 Margaret Wallenfriedman Barry Birch

1995 John Brayton John Yu

1994 Kamal Thapar Eric Flores

1993 Frederick Lang Michael Haglund

1992 Douglas Brockmeyer Mark Linskey

1991 William Couldwell Douglas Kondziolka

1990 Charles Gordon Alfred Bowles

1989 Jacob Rachlin Ian Pollack

1988 Not given Charles Wrobel

1987 John Zovickian Corey Raffel

J Neurooncol

123

of the winning abstracts had reached full publication in

peer-reviewed journals by 8 years, and nearly 25 % were

published before presentation at the AANS or CNS meet-

ing, or in the same month as presentation. This rate of

publication is remarkably high. The average publication

rate for oral presentations at medical meetings by 4 years

after intitial presentation is 41 % [2]. Specifically, awarded

abstracts from general surgery, spine, and neuroradiology

meetings, have achieved lower publication rates [3, 4].

Journal of Neurosurgery, Neurosurgery and Cancer

Research were the most frequent journals of publication.

Other prominent journals in which the awardees published

their studies include Nature and Clinical Cancer Research.

To date, 5 of these articles have been cited more than 100

times by other publications [1, 5, 6].

About one-third of the 1987–2005 awardees had

received NIH-sponsored grants by 7-years after their Pre-

uss Award (17 grants to 9 awardees) [1]. Similarly, among

the 2006–2014 awardees, 38 % of the awardees received

additional NIH-sponsored grants (13 grants to 6 awardees)

and 13 % received a NIH R01 grant within 7-years (3

grants to 2 awardees) (Fig. 3). Although a similar propor-

tion of winners received NIH funding from 2006–2014 as

compared to 1987–2005, given increasing competition for

NIH funding over time, this stable rate may reflect

increased success of awardees in obtaining grants. Most

initial grants were training grants, such as the K08 series.

By 12 years after receiving the Preuss Award, 8 awar-

dees in total had received NIH R01 grants, and among the

8 awardees, 10 NIH R01 grants were obtained.

Mahaley Award

In 1991, the tumor section initiated its second award for

meeting presentations, the Mahaley Award. This award

was named in memory of M. Stephen Mahaley, an inter-

nationally known neurosurgeon and dedicated clinical

investigator. This prize, which currently carries a stipend of

$1,000, is awarded annually at both the AANS and CNS

Table 3 Mahaley Award recipients

Year AANS CNS

2014 Kristen A. Batich

2013 Andrew Sloan Russell Lonser

2012 Frederick Lang Ian F. Pollack

2011 Zachary Litvack William T. Curry

2010 Nader Sanai Mustafa Hatiboglu

2009 Jeffrey Bruce Hideyuki Kano

2008 Andrew Parsa Amy Heimberger

2007 Stefan Kim Randy Jensen

2006 Manish Aghi David Mathieu

2005 Ajay Jawahar John Yu

2004 Ossama Al-Mefty Marvin Bergsneider

2003 Marcus Ware Franco DeMonte

2002 Joung Lee Gene Barnett

2001 Yutaka Sawamura Hae-Dong Jho

2000 Robert Weil Ronald Warnick

1999 Douglas Kondziokla Bruce Pollock

1998 Prem Pillay Byron Young

1997 Douglas Kondziokla Fred Barker

1996 William Hitselberger Walter Hall

1995 Wolfgang Koos Robert Selker

1994 Shlomi Constantini Albino Bricolo

1993 Georg Noren John Schneider

1992 Robert Sanford Mark Bernstein

1991 Not given James Melisi

Fig. 1 Map showing the geographic distribution of residency

programs for Preuss Award-winning residents

Fig. 2 Actuarial publication rate of 2006–2014 Preuss Award-

winning abstracts

J Neurooncol

123

meetings to a neurosurgery resident, fellow or attending

physician who submits the best clinical study in neuro-

oncology.

The Mahaley Award was initially funded through a

combination of donations from the membership and an

allocation from Tumor Section general funds [7]. In 1995,

the award became sponsored by the National Brain Tumor

Foundation (NBTF) [8]. The NBTF was founded in 1981

as a non-profit health organization dedicated to providing

information and support for brain tumor patients, family

members and health care professionals while also sup-

porting innovative brain tumor research. In 2008, the

NBTF and another patient support group, the Brain Tumor

Society, merged to form the National Brain Tumor Society,

which continues to support the Mahaley Award along with

numerous scientific grants described at their website

(http://www.braintumor.org/).

A total of 46 awards have been given since the initiation

of the Mahaley Award in 1991 (Table 3). Historically, the

Mahaley Award has recognized work on a broad variety of

tumors, but more recent awards have been given to projects

concentrating on glioma related research. Up until 2005,

only 9 of 29 Mahaley Awards (31 %) were related to gli-

oma. From 2006 to 2014, 10 of 17 (59 %) awards were

recognized for glioma research, a nearly 30 % increase.

Other tumor types studied among the award recipients have

included medulloblastoma, acoustic neuroma, meningi-

oma, pituitary tumor, colloid cyst, germinoma, brain

metastases, and hemangioblastoma. To date, four Mahaley

Awards have recognized multicenter trial results.

Figure 4 shows the geographic distribution of the Maha-

ley awardees, representing 29 individual institutions.

Compared to Preuss Award winners, more Mahaley awar-

dees have practiced outside North America; 6 awardees

representing 6 different countries in Europe and Asia have

been honored. Among the 1997–2005 Mahaley-awarded

abstracts, about two-thirds were published in peer-reviewed

journals by 8 years after presentation [1]. This publication

rate is slightly lower than the 1987–2006 Preuss awarded-

abstracts. However, more recent Mahaley Award-winning

abstracts from 2006 to 2014 have achieved a similar 8-year

publication rate as Preuss awarded-abstracts. For 2006–2014

Mahaley awarded abstracts, the 8-year publication rate was

71 % which is similar to the 2006–2014 Preuss award pub-

lication rate of 69 % (Fig. 5). Overall, Journal of Neuro-

surgery and Neurosurgery were the most frequent journals of

publication, with other studies published in JAMA and

Journal of Clinical Oncology. To date, one publication

linked to a Mahaley Award abstract has been cited more than

100 times by other publications. Because Mahaley Awards

commonly recognize mid-career investigators, and the

Award recognizes clinical work, we did not investigate NIH

funding rates for Mahaley awardees.

ABTA Young Investigator Award

The American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) Young

Investigator Award was first given at the 1995 CNS annual

meeting. The ABTA Young Investigator Award is spon-

sored by the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA;

http://hope.abta.org/site/PageServer), and is now given

annually at the AANS and CNS meetings in the amount of

$2,000 per award to recognize and support investigators

early in their career for outstanding research. More spe-

cifically, this award is for a young faculty member

involved in neuro-oncology research who has demonstrated

Fig. 3 Actuarial rate of achieving National Institute of Health (NIH)

grant funding as principal investigator by 2006 to 2014 Preuss

awardees, plotted against years after winning the award. Solid line,

any NIH grant; grey line, R01 grants only

Fig. 4 Map showing geographic distribution of residency programs

for Mahaley Award-winning investigators

J Neurooncol

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outstanding potential for future basic science research. The

recipient must be a faculty member in neurosurgery,

member of the Tumor Section, and has been in practice for

less than 6 years. The ABTA, which sponsors the Young

Investigator Award, was founded in 1973 to support brain

tumor patient groups and research efforts throughout the

United States and Canada. In addition to the Section’s

Young Investigator Award, the ABTA sponsors fellowship

awards outside the Section to encourage talented scientists

early in their careers. In all, the ABTA’s fellowships and

grants total about 1.5 million dollars each year.

A total of 37 ABTA Young Investigator Awards have

been awarded from 1995–2014 (Table 4). Like the Preuss

Award, most ABTA Young Investigator Awards have been

given for glioma research (30 of 37, 81 %). However, there

has been a slight increase in the variety of research topics

over the past 7 years compared to prior years. From

1995–2004, 18 of the last 21 (86 %) were awarded the

ABTA Young Investigator Award for glioma related

research, while from 2006–2014, 12 of the 16 (71 %)

awarded research projects were related to glioma. Recently

awarded project topics included: medulloblastoma, post-

operative complications following craniotomy, convective

imaging distribution of gadolinium based-tracer, and use of

nanoparticles to enhance drug delivery.

Journal of Neuro-Oncology Award

The Journal of Neuro-Oncology Award, sponsored by

Kluwer Academic Publishers, recognizes high-ranking

clinical or basic science neuro-oncology abstracts. It was

first awarded in 2003 at the AANS meeting, but starting in

2009 the Journal of Neuro-Oncology Award was awarded

at both the AANS and CNS annually. The award currently

includes a $500 honorarium and a framed certificate. A

total of 17 awards have been granted from 2003–2014

(Table 5). Of those, 12 (71 %) abstracts concentrated on

glioma research, with intracranial metastases the second

most commonly studied tumor type.

Ronald Bittner Award

The Ronald Bittner Award and Lectureship (described

below) was established by the Bittner family to honor the

memory of Ronald L. Bittner, past Chairman, President and

Fig. 5 Actuarial publication rate of 2006–2014 Mahaley Award-

winning abstracts

Table 4 Young Investigator Award recipients

Year AANS CNS

2014 Eric M. Thompson

2013 Nicholas F. Marko Not given

2012 Isaac Yang Raymond L.M. Yong

2011 Ashok Asthagiri Simon Platt

2010 Markus Bredel Ganesh Rao

2009 Jason Sheehan Manish Aghi

2008 Ichiro Nakano Clark Chen

2007 Andrew T. Parsa Jose Valerio

2006 Amy Heimberger Clark Chen

2005 Carlo Benech Michael Synowitz

2004 Makoto Furuta Kyle Weaver

2003 Moneeb Ehtesham Quinze Wu

2002 Howard L. Weiner Russell R. Lonser

2001 Turker Kilic Randy L. Jensen

2000 Karen S. Aboody John S. Yu

1999 S. Walter Stummer Quentin Malone

1998 Michael Hsiao Eric H. Elowitz

1997 N. Scott Litofsky Ian Pollack

1996 Liliana Goumnerova William Broaddus

1995 Not given Douglas Laske

Table 5 Journal of Neuro-Oncology Award recipients

Year AANS CNS

2014 Manish Aghi

2013 Phiroz Tarapore Jonsong Wu

2012 Arthur Po-Fei Chou Pascal O. Zinn

2011 Griffith Harsh IV Stephen Skirboll

2010 Andrew T. Parsa Randy Jensen

2009 Tejas Sankar Tal Shahar

2008 Raymond Sawaya Not Given

2007 Christopher Nimsky Not Given

2006 Ichiro Nakano Not Given

2005 Walter Stummer Not Given

2004 Justin Smith Not Given

2003 John Sampson Not Given

J Neurooncol

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CEO of the Rochester Telecommunications Group, who

died at age 55 from a glioblastoma. The Bittner Award is

given each year at the AANS annual meeting to a junior

investigator based on a high-ranking abstract in the field of

neuro-oncology. The winner is chosen through careful

selection process by the Tumor Section’s abstract review

and award committees. First awarded in 2003, this award

includes a $1,000 honorarium and a framed certificate.

From 2003–2014, 24 Ronald Bittner Awards have been

presented (Table 6).

Industry sponsored awards

Several recently-initiated industry sponsored awards honor

meritorious abstracts presented at the Section’s various

meetings.

Integra Foundation Award

The Integra Foundation Award is presented at each annual

meeting of the AANS and CNS for the best submitted

research or clinical paper investigating benign brain,

spinal, or peripheral nerve tumors. The monetary compo-

nent of the award is $1,000. Both residents and attending

neurosurgeons can submit papers for consideration, and the

award is given only once to a recipient. Awardees must be

members of the Tumor Section. The award was first pre-

sented in 2005. To date, the Integra Foundation Award has

been given to 19 individuals (Table 7). Chosen abstract

topics concentrated on various benign central nervous

system tumor types; listed from most commonly awarded

to least, they consist of: meningioma, pituitary tumors,

schwannoma, craniopharyngioma, glomus tumor. Two of

the awarded abstracts studied Von Hippel Landau (VHL)-

associated tumors.

Synthes Skull Base Surgery Award

Synthes has provided multiple awards for the various neu-

rosurgical subspecialties, one of which is dedicated to skull

base tumor surgery. The Synthes Skull Base Surgery Award

is given to an attending neurosurgeon, resident, or fellow

within the Tumor Section who submits the best abstract

related to skull base surgery at the CNS and AANS meet-

ings. The award includes a $1,000 prize. The first award was

given in 2006. A total of 16 individuals have received the

award (Table 8). Among the selected studies, the distribu-

tion of tumor type was relatively equal between pituitary

tumors, meningiomas, and schwannomas. There were two

individual studies of chordoma and chondrosarcoma.

BrainLAB Community Neurosurgeon Award

The BrainLab Community Neurosurgery Award is given to a

neurosurgeon practicing in a non-academic setting with the

best abstract related to central nervous system tumors at the

CNS and AANS meetings. In 2014, the criteria were

broadened to include neurosurgeons practicing in a non-

academic or international setting. The award includes a

$1,000 prize. Since the first award was given in 2006, 11

awards have been presented (Table 9). A variety of tumors

were studies among the abstracts presented: pituitary tumors,

brainstem tumors, perioptic lesions, acoustic neuromas, and

gliomas. Interestingly, 5 of the 11 (45 %) studies focused on

radiosurgery for tumors, underscoring the availability of this

treatment modality in non-academic centers.

Leksell Radiosurgery Award

The Leksell Radiosurgery Award is sponsored by Elekta

and is presented annually only at the AANS meeting. This

Table 6 Bittner Award and Lectureship recipients

Year Award recipient Lectureship recipient

2014 Shawn Hervey-Jumper Fred Lang

2013 Orin Bloch Ennio Antonio Chiocca

2012 Daniel P. Cahill Jeffrey Bruce

2011 Isaac Yang Raymond Sawaya

2010 Michael Sughrue William Couldwell

2009 Edward Chang Robert Martuza

2008 Mathew McGirt Eric Holland

2007 Mark D. Johnson Joseph Piepmeier

2006 Cory Adamson Mitchel S. Berger

2005 Manish Aghi Darrell Bigner

2004 Alfredo Quninones James T. Rutka

2003 Sandeep Kunwar Nicholas de Tribolet

2002 Not given Andrew Kaye

Table 7 Integra Foundation Award

Year AANS CNS

2014 Jason Sheehan

2013 Jonathan George Thomas Arman Jahangiri

2012 Andrew T. Parsa Hideyuki Kano

2011 Sameer Sheth Jason Sheehan

2010 Isaac Yang Brian J. Williams

2009 James Waldron Gabriel Zada

2008 Joung Lee M. Sam Eljamel

2007 Douglas Kondziolka Martin Baggenstos

2006 Burak Sade Manish K. Aghi

2005 Bruce Pollock Joshua Ammerman

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award was first awarded in 2009, and recognizes the best

paper on stereotactic radiosurgery for CNS tumors. The

award includes a $2,000 prize. A total of 6 awards haven

been given between 2009 and 2014 (Table 10). Awarded

abstracts studied radiosurgery for a variety of tumor types:

hemangioblastoma, meningioma, cranial metastases,

schwannoma, and spinal tumors.

Stryker Neuro-Oncology Award

The Stryker Neuro-Oncology Award was first awarded in

2009. This award recognizes the highest ranking clinical or

basic science abstract related to brain tumors submitted by

a resident or medical student at both the AANS and CNS.

The senior author must be a member of the Tumor Section.

The monetary component of the award consists of $1,000.

Ten individuals have won this award (Table 11), and four

(40 %) studied intracranial gliomas. Other tumors include

intracranial metastasis, spinal cord astrocytoma, meningi-

oma, and pituitary tumor.

Named lectureships (Farber, Guha, Bittner)

Two named lectureships honor cumulative achievement

during an investigator’s entire career: Farber and Guha

Award (Table 12). The Guha Award has replaced the Farber

Lectureship. The Farber Lectureship was awarded from

1994–2010, and had been sponsored by the Anne and Jason

Farber Foundation and Mr. James Farber. The Guha award

was named after Dr. Abhijit Guha, the sixth president of the

Society for Neuro-Oncology and active leader in the AANS/

CNS Section on Tumors. Dr. Guha was a neurosurgeon who

maintained an active research laboratory, and trained

numerous post-doctoral fellows, residents, and students in

neuro-oncology research. Unfortunately, Dr. Guha passed

away on November 8, 2011, after a three-year fight against

acute myelocytic leukemia.

Like the Farber award before it, the Guha award lecture-

ship recognizes a promising and accomplished investigator

who has achieved significant results both in the laboratory

and the clinic early in their career. Candidates for this award

are selected by the leadership of the AANS/CNS joint Sec-

tion on Tumors and the Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO).

It is based on nominations received from the Executive

Committees of both societies and candidates are evaluated in

a very rigorous vetting process. The award includes a mon-

etary component of $10,000 and is given only once to a

recipient. The Guha Award and Lecture is presented alter-

nately at the AANS annual meeting or at the annual meeting

of the Society for Neuro-Oncology. The award lecture is

delivered at both meetings. Seventeen Farber Awards were

presented from 1994–2010 (Table 12). Dr. James T. Rutka

and Dr. Henry Brem received the first two Guha Awards in

2012 and 2013, respectively (Table 12). Awardees of the

Farber and Guha Awards can and have included basic sci-

ence researchers, neuropathologists, neuro-oncologists, and

neurosurgeons.

Table 8 Synthes Skull Base Award

Year AANS CNS

2014 Arman Jahangiri

2013 Sergei Terterov Hideyuki Kano

2012 Robert M. Starke Isaac Yang

2011 Joshua Wind Nicholas J. Szerlip

2010 Jason P. Sheehan Douglas Anderson

2009 Ja Sung Park Martin Baggenstos

2008 Michael Sughrue Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa

2007 Burake Sade Manish Aghi

2006 Not given Theodore Schwartz

Table 9 BrainLab Community Neurosurgery Award

Year AANS CNS

2014 Jan Coburger

2013 Jason Sheehan Not given

2012 Not given Charles Teo

2011 Leslie Nussbaum Not given

2010 Not given Anthony Asher

2009 Eric Nussbaum Melvin Field

2008 Alan Villavicencio Ali Chahlavi

2007 Richard A. Rovin Luciano Mastronardi

2006 Not given Alfred Bowles

Table 10 Leksell Radiosurgery

AwardYear AANS

2014 Isabelle Germano

2013 Hideyuki Kano

2012 Edward A. Monaco

2011 Robert Starke

2010 Raeqeeb Haque

2009 Isaac Yang

Table 11 Stryker Neuro-Oncology Award

Year AANS CNS

2014 Javier Figueroa

2013 Eric Michael Thompson Ranjith Babu

2012 Phiroz Tarapore Gillian Harrison

2011 Arthur Chou Orin Bloch

2010 Nicholas Marko Selby Chen

2009 Andrew Foy Walavan Sivakumar

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The Bittner Family Foundation, described above, also

sponsors an annual Bittner Lectureship (Table 6) awarded

by the AANS at its annual meeting. Funds were provided

directly to the AANS to establish lectureships in neuro-

oncology for an established investigator, to be presented

during the main scientific program of the annual AANS

meeting. Selection of the Bittner Lecturer is made by the

Scientific Program Committee of each AANS annual

meeting.

Distinguished Service Awards and Wilson Award

Additional awards given by the AANS/CNS Tumor Sec-

tion from time to time honor cumulative achievement

during an individual’s entire career in neuro-oncology and

service to the Section on Tumors. During its 30-year

existence, the Tumor Section has honored four individuals

with Distinguished Service Awards, which are given by the

Section for exceptional contributions to the Section. For

reasons outlined above, the first three such awards were

given to Peter Preuss (1990), to Steven Mahaley (1991),

and to Mark Rosenblum (1992). In 2004, the Section pre-

sented the fourth Distinguished Service Award to Dr.

Edward Laws for his conception and support of the Section

on Tumors over the last 20 years [9].

Also in 2004, the Brain Tumor Society established the

Dr. Charles B. Wilson Award in the amount of $5,000 to

recognize the outstanding contributions of a clinical neuro-

oncologist to the field. Dr. Wilson served as the Chairman

of Neurological Surgery at University of California, San

Francisco (UCSF) for 28-years and is the founding director

of the Brain Tumor Research Center. Dr. Wilson developed

UCSF’s integrally related, translational program of basic

science and clinical research into the biology and therapy

of brain tumors. He performed over 3,300 operations for

the removal of pituitary tumors and has contributed to the

neurosurgical literature through extensive evaluations of

his series of pituitary tumor patients. The Dr. Charles B.

Wilson Award is given from time to time at the Section’s

biannual Satellite Symposia. The first recipient was Dr.

Mark Rosenblum, who was the first Chairman of the

Tumor Section from 1984 to 1991. Following awardees

were Drs. Peter Black (2007) and James T. Rutka (2013).

Conclusions

The Section on Tumors sessions at the annual AANS and

CNS meetings and Satellite Symposia are uniquely notable

for their high quality of presented abstracts, quality

reflected by the high subsequent full publication rates for

presented work [9] and in turn leading to high attendance

rates at these Section sessions. Compared to other similar

societies, the Section on Tumors has been well supported

financially over the last 30 years through awards, fellow-

ships, and lectureships that have allowed its members to

continue their research endeavors, as well as rewarding

members for particularly high quality research. The gen-

erosity of the philanthropic donors listed above has cer-

tainly allowed the Section on Tumors to sustain an overall

high quality of basic and clinical science abstracts pre-

sented at its meetings. The future prospect for continued

excellence of research presentations at the Section’s

meetings and the ability of these presentations to ultimately

lead to meaningful changes for patients with tumors of the

central nervous system seems bright.

Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict

of interest.

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2. von Elm E, Costanza MC, Walder B, Tramer MR (2003) More

insight into the fate of biomedical meeting abstracts: a systematic

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3. Wang JC, Yoo S, Delamarter RB (1999) The publication rates of

presentations at major Spine Specialty Society meetings (NASS,

SRS, ISSLS). Spine 24:425–427

Table 12 Farber-Guha Award

recipientsYear Recipient

2013 Henry Brem

2012 James T. Rutka

2011 Not given

2010 Roger Stupp

2009 Peter Dirks

2008 E. Antonio Chiocca

2007 Paul Mischel

2006 Mitchel S. Berger

2005 James T. Rutka

2004 Eric C. Holland

2003 David N. Louis

2002 Abhiijt Guha

2001 Robert Martuza

2000 Stuart Grossman

1999 Ed Oldfield

1998 Mark Israel

1997 Peter Berger

1996 Gregory Cairncross

1995 Philip Gutin

1994 Web Cavenee

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