As warranted by longstanding tradition, incoming AANS President James T. Rutka, MD, presents Troy Tippett, MD, with the photograph and flag of his home state, Florida, that had been displayed at the AANS Executive Office during his presidential year.

I am deeply honored to serve as your AANS president. I have learned enormously from Past President Troy Tippett, MD, and thank him for his many outstanding initiatives that have moved our organization forward as well for his stalwart representation of neurosurgery's perspective during the heated healthcare reform debate. Joining us on the AANS Executive Committee are Vice President Mitch Berger, MD, President-Elect Paul McCormick, MD, Secretary Bill Couldwell, MD, and Treasurer Bob Harbaugh, MD; I already am appreciative of their talents as we consider how to adeptly finesse both challenges and opportunities across the spectrum of neurosurgery in the coming year.

The recent healthcare reform legislation represents both significant challenges and opportunities for neurosurgery. There are several facets of this legislation which will require scrutiny and vigilance by the AANS, primarily through the AANS/CNS Washington Committee. Some of these areas include the health insurance market reforms, insurance exchanges and cooperatives, linking payment to quality outcomes (as through the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative), the national strategy to improve healthcare quality, the development of new patient care models, Medicare payment changes, and the Independent Payment Advisory Board. The IPAB is a 15-member board that will present Congress with comprehensive proposals to reduce excess cost growth and improve quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries. Particularly on the IPAB there must be strong surgical representation so that the perspectives of all surgeons, including and especially neurosurgeons, are communicated at the highest level.

As I begin my term, I want to take a moment to reflect upon the resounding success of the 78th AANS Annual Meeting in May. Under the leadership of Dr. Tippett, more than 3,300 medical registrants and exhibitors attended the five-day meeting in Philadelphia, one of the country's most exciting and historical cities. In addition to the vast array of scientific program offerings that have traditionally characterized AANS annual meetings, this year was the first that an attendee could hold the entire program in the palm of one hand using the iPod touch.

A little more than a year ago, Dr. Tippett charged the Annual Meeting Committee, chaired by Tim Mapstone, MD, to identify new ways for the 2010 meeting to become even more innovative and appealing to members than what they had previously experienced. Among the many ideas which sprang forth was using a hand-held computer to deliver scientific program content, exhibitor information, a schedule of meeting events, electronic posters, and much, much more. Dr. Tippett immediately embraced this idea and established several committees that worked together toward the goal of having the first "paperless" scientific meeting in the history of neurosurgical meetings and, for that matter, in the history of medical meetings. Michael Oh, MD, initially broached the idea and chaired numerous task force meetings throughout the year to ensure successful project completion.

Special thanks must be given to AANS Executive Director Tom Marshall and Deputy Executive Director Ron Engelbreit for their leadership in successfully transforming an innovative idea and all the challenges it entailed into reality. The AANS contracted with the Parliant company to design a customized application for use of the iPod touch at the Philadelphia meeting; Parliant previously had produced a similar application for the annual meeting of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association in Ottawa. The AANS meeting content was loaded onto the devices at the AANS Executive Office prior to shipping them to Philadelphia. At the Philadelphia Convention Center each iPod touch was connected to a wireless network that allowed constant interaction: programming was constantly updated and attendees were able to e-mail with one another and participate in instant surveys during some sessions. The entire project was brought to fruition in about one year, during which carefully orchestrated marketing initiatives and tutorials familiarized exhibitors and AANS members with the technology before their arrival in Philadelphia.

The evaluations from the Philadelphia meeting are in, and the iPod touch was among the meeting's overwhelming successes. I intend to build upon this outstanding meeting experience by taking it to the next level at the 79th AANS Annual Meeting in Denver, April 9–13, 2011.

The theme of the meeting in Denver is "Discovering Neurosurgery: New Frontiers." As this theme implies, we will celebrate the great advances that have taken place in neurosurgery as a direct result of discoveries and innovations made by neurosurgeons—usually in response to significant challenges—to improve the lives of their patients. An impressive array of invited guest speakers will be showcased, in addition to a scientific program of unparalleled depth in neurosurgery. I hope you will join me in Denver, a frontier town with its eye on the future, as we scale the heights of recent advances in our field and discover how best to implement them for the benefit of our patients.

James T. Rutka, MD, PhD, FRCS, the 2010–2011 AANS president, is chair of the Division of Neurosurgery and the Dan Family Chair at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. The author reported no conflicts for disclosure.