16th Asian Australasian Congress of Neurosurgery Jerusalem Israel 5-9 September 2022 “Jerusalem…where history meets science”
This Congress is the major scientific meeting of the Asian Australasian Society of Neurosurgery (AASNS), held every four years, although in the future it will be biennial. Hosted by the Israeli Neurosurgical Society, it was an outstanding success in both the quality of the scientific presentations and the social and personal interactions. The American Association of Neurosurgery (AANS), the European Association of Neurosurgery (EANS) and the AASNS were the formal invited societies; their members participated actively in the program. Yigal Shoshan, then President of the Israeli Neurosurgical Society, was the Congress President, whilst Wan Tew Seow was the President of the AASNS. Shlomi Constantini from Tel Aviv was the Chair of the Organising Committee, and Andrew Kaye from Jerusalem the Chair of the Scientific Program Committee. The Scientific Program covered all subspecialities of adult and paediatric neurosurgery. There were over 1200 registrants, more than 600 lectures by neurosurgeons from 59 countries, 400 abstracts accepted for presentation, 11 pre-congress workshops, 21 Masterclass sessions, 42 main topic sessions, 31 free paper oral sessions, a full day of Nursing sessions, and Young Neurosurgeons sessions, 9 Plenary sessions with 45 presentations from leading neurosurgeons from all continents, and non-neurosurgery lectures: Aaron Ciechanover (Nobel Prize winner), Amos Gilead (past head, Israeli military intelligence), Shlomo Dovrat (leading start-up entrepreneur), Thimappa Hegde (Director, Narayana Institute of Neurosciences), and Stefan Vilsmeier (CEO and founder, Brainlab). Nineteen travel grants were awarded to young neurosurgeons and residents from disadvantaged countries. The Congress included a full day meeting of innovation and start-up companies in neuroscience, “BRAINS” (Brain Research And INnovation Summit). This mini congress showcased the best of Israeli and international neuroscience start-ups, and gave Congress participants access to the most recent and innovative research. The Congress included an active social program each evening, with functions held in the famous David Citadel (Old City of Jerusalem), an evening tour of the Old City, and an amazing gala dinner at which the prime Minister of Israel Yair Lapid presented on the importance of global scientific and medical interactions to meet the challenges of trans-continental diseases.
The new Administrative Council of the AASNS was elected: Kate Drummond (Australia) President, Yigal Shoshan (Israel) Chair Education Committee, Iddo Paldor (Israel) and Akio Morita (Japan) Vice Presidents, Mohamed Al Olama (UAE) Treasurer, VD Sinha (India) Secretary General, and Lin Lourdes Lucina (Philippines) Chair, Trauma Committee. Future AASNS Congresses: Taiwan (2024) and the Philippines (2026).
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