World Neurosurg
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Clinical neurosurgery is an endangered academic discipline. Neurosurgeons have competition from many directions: orthopedists, ear, nose and throat surgeons, plastic surgeons, radio-oncologists, and interventional radiologists, among others. Academic centers are no longer the only sites of neurosurgical education at the attending level, and neurosurgery is not felt to be an indispensible part of an undergraduate medical curriculum. ⋯ When this consideration is combined with the existing shortage of neurosurgeons across the country, academic neurosurgery departments must logically focus on how best to allocate resources between "routine" clinical services and research objectives. We suggest here that new relationships may be required between university centers and community health care providers. Restructuring of the neurosurgical workforce may be necessary if academic neurosurgery is to develop as a specialty of comprehensive expertise in the challenging neurological disease entities that are its research objectives.
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Biography Historical Article
Volker K. H. Sonntag, M.D.: pioneer in spinal neurosurgery and consummate educator, colleague, and family man.
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A white coat ceremony is held to honor each medical school class as they transition from the study of preclinical medicine to clinical medicine. This prestigious milestone is a turning point in their progress toward becoming medical doctors. White coat ceremonies are held in many institutions across the country to signify each student's passage from the realm of strictly academic learning to one of clinical experience.