Dr. Robert E. Harbaugh, director of the Penn State Institute of the Neurosciences and Distinguished Professor and chair of the Penn State Department of Neurosurgery, was selected as president of the Society of Neurological Surgeons (SNS) at its annual meeting June 8.
Dr. Harvey Cushing, the founder of neurosurgery, was the first president of the SNS in 1920, making it the oldest neurosurgical society in the world.
The SNS, made up of neurosurgical department chairs and other senior educational leaders, has a multi-pronged mission that includes fostering neurosurgical research, developing neurosurgical curricula and educating medical students, neurosurgical residents and neurosurgery fellows. Membership in the SNS is limited to 200 active members.
Harbaugh recently completed a one-year term as the president of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and a six-year term as director of the American Board of Neurological Surgery.