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AANS Archives - Neurosurgery Blog

Ann R. Stroink, MD, FAANS Retires from Neurological Surgery

By AANS Spotlight, CareerNo Comments

Ann R. Stroink, MD, FAANS, a neurosurgeon at the forefront of advocacy efforts, retired from neurosurgery practice at Carle BroMenn Medical Center on Nov. 22, 2023. Throughout her career, Dr. Stroink has been an indefatigable force in advocating — in the halls of Congress, before the Illinois state legislature, with health plans and within organized medicine — for sound health policy to ensure patients have timely access to care. Throughout her career, she held critical leadership roles within organized neurosurgery, including president of the Illinois State Neurosurgical Society, chair of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS)/Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) Council of State Neurosurgical Societies, chair of the AANS/CNS Washington Committee for Neurological Surgery and AANS president.

Following her retirement from active neurosurgical practice, Dr. Stroink has taken on another crucial role, serving as the interim CEO of the AANS. “It’s an exciting opportunity to lead the most prestigious neurosurgical organization in the world,” said Dr. Stroink. “I’m really looking forward to my stint.”

Carle Health highlights Dr. Stroink’s dedication and contributions to their organization, pointing out that her affiliation with Carle BroMenn Hospital (then Brokaw Hospital) began when her father, Hans Stroink, MD, was a pathologist. Said Dr. Stroink,

I started working in the lab and that’s where I got the buzz. I performed autopsies with my father, but the first time I saw live tissue, I knew I wasn’t going to do anything else. I’m very happy to have served patients for years.

Dr. Stroink assisted her father from seventh grade until she left for college, maintaining a connection to Carle throughout her career, given the need for neurosurgical services in her community.

She also made her mark as a female neurosurgeon. Dr. Stroink attended Southern Illinois School of Medicine, the first U.S. school to enroll 30% of women. “Having already decided to make my career in medicine, I was acutely aware of the barriers to getting into medical school as a female,” states Dr. Stroink. On the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX in 2022, she shared her experiences on gender equity in neurosurgery in the California Association of Neurological Surgeons newsletter.

Dr. Stroink was the first woman to enter the neurosurgical residency program at the Mayo Clinic. “I’m really grateful to the Mayo Clinic because they didn’t have to accept a woman, but they did,” said Dr. Stroink. “I was very happy to be a resident. Even though it was a new experience for them to train a female resident, it was a benefit for them and me.”

In 1985, Dr. Stroink founded the Central Illinois Neuro Health Sciences practice in Bloomington, Ill. She spearheaded the creation of a neurosurgery resident program at the hospital and considers teaching doctors essential and one of her favorite parts of her work.

We wish Dr. Stroink all the best in her retirement from practicing neurological surgery.

Editor’s Note: We hope you will share what you learn from our posts. We invite you to join the conversation on Twitter by following @Neurosurgery and @NeurosurgeryRE and using the hashtag #Neurosurgery.

January 9, 2024
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AANS Neurosurgeon Spotlight: Winter 2020 – The Mind of a Neurosurgeon Part III

By AANS Spotlight, Career, Faces of Neurosurgery, Food for thoughtNo Comments

From training appraisal to relocation, authors explore the neurosurgeon perspective in AANS Neurosurgeon’s The Mind of a Neurosurgeon. Prominent neurosurgeons discuss their unique experiences in a field in which few have the opportunity to work and thrive.

Changing Gears: Mid-Career Relocation as a Catalyst for Better Patient Care
Daniel Orringer, MD, FAANS

  • Inspirational leadership; state-of-the-art facilities; a cumbersome electronic medical record; affiliation with a top-notch medical school; and a culture and history of excellence.
  • Navigating geographic change – from Ann Arbor to New York.
  • Navigating institutional change – evaluating essential components of a routine.
  • A new team – leading with the patients’ interest in mind.

The Mindful Neurosurgeon and the Art of Doing What’s Right
Edward C. Benzel, MD, FAANS

  • The desire for personal gratification, professional advancement and monetary gain can lead one to their neurosurgical calling.
  • The mindful neurosurgeon does not look at a job from the perspective of the job being a commodity generator, but from the perspective of the job as a calling.
  • Good leaders are selfless guides, reflective and empathetic.
  • The truly mindful neurosurgeon values doing what is right over all else.

Building the Neurosurgical Mind: Critical Appraisal in Neurosurgical Training
Beverly C. Walters, MD

  • Neurosurgical training goals focus on specialty knowledge acquisition, development of technical skills involving eye-hand coordination, learning how to collect important patient data and enhancement of critical thinking ability.
  • Look at the structure of research that tries to promote changes in practice to develop skills in evaluation of data and to be able to decide, factually, whether the ideas are worthy of inclusion in clinical practice – or, more importantly, if they are not worthy.
  • This basic concept of understanding the successes and failures of clinical research in our specialty and development of the ability to use data in the treatment of patients became known at the end of the twentieth century as evidence-based medicine.

Read More from The Mind of a Neurosurgeon.

February 6, 2020
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AANS Neurosurgeon Spotlight: Winter 2020 – The Mind of a Neurosurgeon

By AANS Spotlight, GME, Loss of Life, MedEd, Voices of Neurosurgery DepartmentsNo Comments

In The Mind of a Neurosurgeon, join authors as they discuss navigating life as a neurosurgeon. From work-life balance to processing loss, pursuing creative outlets to the responsibility of training the next generation, neurosurgeons have a unique calling that leads to a special life serving others. Browse the articles and step into the mind of a neurosurgeon for stimulating conversations about the alternate mind, retirement, mindfulness, the outsider’s perspective, music and much more.

Check back later in January and February for more on The Mind of a Neurosurgeon. Here are just a few articles out now:

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December 30, 2019
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