About SNS

For some time prior to 1949, a group of neurosurgeons in the mid-South had exhibited interest in the prospect of meeting informally once or twice yearly to discuss mutual clinical and technical problems.

In 1949 under the stimulus of Dr. R. Eustace Semmes, invitations were sent to some fifty neurosurgeons to meet in Memphis to discuss the formation of the group. On November 29, 1949, twenty-three of the founding group met in Memphis for the first organizational scientific meeting.

At this meeting, the idea of a true sectional society was first considered, and the name, “Southern Neurosurgical Society” was officially adopted. Dr. Semmes was elected as the first president of the Society, and a committee was appointed to draft a constitution. At the second meeting, held in Atlanta in May of 1950, the constitution was formally accepted.

At the 1968 meeting, the name of the Southern Neurosurgical Society was changed to Southern Neurosurgical Society, Incorporated, and the Society was legally incorporated in the state of Missouri as a nonprofit corporation.

The Membership has steadily grown. At present there are 147 Active, 21 Candidate and 178 Lifetime members in the Society.

Since 1968, a highlight of the annual meeting has been the R. Eustace Semmes lecture, which honors both Dr. Semmes and an outstanding neurosurgeon or neuroscientist who delivers the lecture. The William Henry Hudson lecture was added in 1976. The Edward F. Downing Memorial lecture was added in 2007 and features a topic of general interest to those living and working in the South.

Founding Members of the Society