The use of lenses to improve vison dates back to the 13th century. Within the medical field, neurosurgeons were among the first to use lenses to improve surgical accuracy at the beginning of the 19th century, first as loupe magnification, than as a microscope and more recently as an endoscope and exoscope. As a neurosurgeon, I believe in and rely on lenses every day to perform operations. The current issues of the AANS Neurosurgeon , entitled “The Current Lenses of Neurosurgery,” are designed to provide a snapshot of today’s neurosurgical community. They touch upon themes important to our daily practice, for both neurosurgeons and their patients, such as diversity, family responsibilities, work/life balance, sexual identity/orientation, disability and religion.
The overarching theme of this first issue, entitled “Diversity Within the Neurosurgery Workforce,” focusses on diversity within our workforce. In business, studies have shown that diversity yields higher innovation and creativity by bringing together varied perspectives and experiences.1,2 Additionally, enterprises with diverse leadership and workforces have higher profits and less employee turnover than those with a less diverse workforce.3 Medicine and neurosurgery are an art and a science, but they ultimately are also a business. Perhaps lessons learned outside neurosurgery can be applicable to and advantageous to the field.
In the current issue, the concept of advantages and challenges of diversity in neurosurgery are explored by Zerubabbel Asfaw and Alexa Canady, MD, FAANS(L), in their article “Paving the Way and Building the Future: Does Diversity Matter?” If diversity within the workforce is desirable by a neurosurgeon leader – in academia or practice – how can it best be accomplished? Is there a secret sauce? In the article “Leading a Diverse Department,” E. Antonio Chiocca, MD, PhD, FAANS, and Parastou Fatemi, MD, share some practical examples. Neurosurgery as a field prides itself in its constant advancement and improvement. Sabrina Heman-Ackah, MD, PhD, and Odette Harris, MD, MPH, FAANS, provide their prospective in “Striving for Inclusion in Neurosurgery: Changing but Not Changed.” To further progress in our quest for improvement, Hodges and Aviva Abosch, MD, PhD, FAANS, review strategies around the concept of creating leadership pipelines in “Creating Pipelines for Diversity in Neurosurgery.” Perhaps during the pandemic more than ever, the realization that we are globally connected has become a stronger reality. This gives us the opportunity to build bridges and collaborate to continue our quest to improve the care of our patients in the world. “Why I Co-founded the Society for Neuro-oncology in Sub-Sahara Africa” by Edjah Nduom, MD, FAANS, provides a concrete example on “how to do it.” Finally, a prospective on the process of inclusion without “taxation” is presented and discussed by Scott M. Porter, MD, and Theresa Williamson, MD.
As a guest editor for the “The Current Lenses of Neurosurgery” AANS Neurosurgeon, I thank Dr. Aruna Ganju, Editor for giving us the opportunity to collaborate in sharing aspects of the changing landscape of neurosurgery. We hope that sharing experiences and allowing each of us to explore territories perhaps a bit “out of own comfort zone” will help us in growing stronger as a community, and improving the care we deliver to our patients.
References
- Deloitte Australia, Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission. Waiter, Is That Inclusion in My Soup?: A New Recipe to Improve Business Performance : Research Report.; 2012. https://books.google.com/books?id=YxJdrgEACAAJ
- Teams Solve Problems Faster When They’re More Cognitively Diverse. Harv Bus Rev. Published online March 30, 2017. Accessed March 8, 2021. https://hbr.org/2017/03/teams-solve-problems-faster-when-theyre-more-cognitively-diverse
- Barta T, Kleiner M, Neumann T. Is there a payoff from top-team diversity? | McKinsey. Accessed March 8, 2021. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/is-there-a-payoff-from-top-team-diversity#
