American Association of Neurological Surgeons Names Anthony L. Asher, MD, FAANS, as the Organization’s President

Anthony L. Asher, MD, FAANS, has been named president of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS). He will serve as the organization’s president through the 2024 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago next spring.

Asher completed his neurosurgery residency training at the University of Michigan. He was one of the original Howard Hughes Medical Institute-National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Scholars, and he subsequently amplified his basic and translational research training as a fellow in the surgery branch of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH.

Asher serves as neuroscience service line leader and president, Atrium Health Neurosciences Institute. Additionally, he is the academic lead, Department of Neurological Surgery at Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center and surgical director of the adult neuro-oncology program at Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute. He co-founded and is the recent past director of the neurosurgery residency training program at Carolinas Medical Center. He holds adjunct professorships in neurosurgery at Wake University School of Medicine, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Mayo Clinic and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

He is a member of one of the nation’s largest and most respected private practices, Carolina NeuroSurgery & Spine Associates, where his primary clinical interests include neuro-oncology, skull-base surgery, stereotactic surgery, trigeminal neuralgia and minimally invasive spine surgery.

In the field of neurosurgery, Asher has served in numerous leadership positions, including president, Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), vice chairman of the American Board of Neurological Surgery (ABNS) and treasurer of the AANS. He is also past chairman of the Central Nervous System Organ Site Committee of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group. He has been elected to the Society of Neurological Surgeons and the Academy of Neurological Surgeons.

Asher has considerable experience designing and conducting phase 1-4 cooperative clinical cancer research programs. He and his colleagues have developed novel treatment paradigms for patients with metastatic brain cancer which have now become the standard of care in a majority of North American treatment environments. He is the author or co-author of more than 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters.

Asher is passionate about improving surgical quality outcomes and has developed and directed several unprecedented national cooperative clinical databases in neurosurgery and related fields including the Quality and Outcomes Database (QOD), the American Spine Registry (ASR) and ABNS POST, the latter serving as the primary clinical data resource supporting the process of ABNS primary board certification.

 “Given the prevalence and massive societal impact of neurosurgical disorders, neuroscience research and therapies represent some of our most potent methods to positively impact the health and well-being of individuals, as well as unique populations,” says Asher. “The AANS has, throughout its long history, been dedicated to advancing the science and practice of neurosurgery for the benefit of our many domestic and international members, along with the patients we are so privileged to serve. In that regard, I am very grateful to have been named president of the AANS, and I’m thrilled to work alongside the association’s dedicated physician leadership, staff and executive leadership to advance our singular mission. It’s a true honor to serve on behalf of an association that speaks for all of neurosurgery and is committed to maintaining the vitality, integrity and relevance of our distinctive specialty.”

The 2023-24 AANS Executive Committee members are President Anthony L. Asher, MD, FAANS; Past-President Ann R. Stroink, MD, FAANS; President-Elect; Jacques J. Morcos, MD, FRCS, FAANS; Vice President John Joseph Knightly, MD, FAANS; Secretary E. Antonio Chiocca, MD, PhD, FAANS and Treasurer Sepideh Amin-Hanjani, MD, FAANS.

About the AANS:

Founded in 1931 as the Harvey Cushing Society, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is a scientific and educational association with more than 13,000 members worldwide. The AANS promotes the highest quality of patient care and advances the specialty of neurological surgery. Fellows of the AANS are board-certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada or the Mexican Council of Neurological Surgery, A.C. Neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of disorders that affect the spinal column, spinal cord, brain, nervous system and peripheral nerves.

 For more information, visit www.AANS.org.