title: A History of the Council of State Neurosurgical Societies.
abstract: As neurological surgery evolved into its own subspecialty early in the 20th century, a need arose to create an environment for communication and education among those surgeons working in this burgeoning surgical discipline. As the socioeconomic climate in health care began to change in the United States, an unforeseen need arose that was outside the scope of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and Society of Neurological Surgeons. The capacity to understand and address the evolving socioeconomic landscape and to offer a platform for advocacy required a new entity. Grassroots efforts of neurosurgeons at the state level ultimately yielded a formal organization of state neurosurgical societies to fill this void by recognizing, understanding, and addressing socioeconomic factors affecting the practice of neurological surgery. This formal organization became the Council of State Neurosurgical Societies (CSNS). The CSNS provides a forum in which state societies can meet to identify, understand, and advocate for policies on behalf of organized neurosurgery. The purpose of this paper is to detail the history of the formation of the CSNS. By understanding this history and the need for the development of the CSNS, it is hoped that its evolving role as a voice for neurological surgeons in the modern era of health care will be made clear.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Joseph's Hos-pital and Medical Center, Phoenix, Ari-zona.
authors.forename: Hasan A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Zaidi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Joseph's Hos-pital and Medical Center, Phoenix, Ari-zona.
authors.forename: Luis M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Tumialán
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Northwestern University Feinberg Sch-ool of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Joshua M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rosenow
authors.affiliation: Mc-Laren Northern Michigan, Petoskey, Michigan.
authors.forename: Chaim B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Colen
authors.affiliation: Central Illinois Neuro Health Sciences, Bloomington, Illinois.
authors.forename: Ann R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Stroink
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurological Surgery, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Linskey
authors.affiliation: Bay-state Neurosurgery, Springfield, Massa-chusetts.
authors.forename: Clemens M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Schirmer
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida.
authors.forename: Clarence
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Watridge
mesh_terms: D026683:Advisory Committees / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000266:history*; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000266:history*; D014481:United States
keywords: Council of State Neurosurgical Societies; History; Political action committee