Newswise — The 2010 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting will be the first paperless meeting in the 78-year-history of the AANS, and the first paperless scientific meeting of a North American medical association to be conducted via the Apple iPod touchâ„¢. Slated for May 1-5, 2010 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the AANS is expected to host an estimated 7,000 attendees, with more than 3,000 medical professionals including neurosurgeons, neurosurgical residents, neuroscience nurses, clinical specialists, physician assistants and allied health professionals.

"This will be an expansive, new open door that you will be able to walk through " a whole new world for neurosurgery," remarked AANS President Troy M. Tippett, MD, FACS, in the video posted on the AANS Web site http://www.aans.org as part of the July 2 rollout to members.

In place of the reams of paper and printed materials that AANS medical attendees have received in the past at registration and throughout the meeting, they will be given an iPod touchâ„¢, Apple Inc's portable media player, personal digital assistant, and Wi-Fi mobile platform. With this device, medical attendees will be able to access and integrate every aspect of the AANS Annual Meeting, from the scientific education to social events, plenary lectures, seminars, exhibitors, maps " even communicate with other meeting attendees.

The Scientific Program, which opens on Monday, May 3, features breakfast seminars, oral abstract presentations on groundbreaking neurosurgical research, as well as special lectures, including the keynote lecture " 2010 Cushing Orator Newt Gingrich, PhD. Under his leadership as Speaker from 1995 to 1999, Congress passed welfare reform, the first balanced budget in a generation, and the first tax cut in 16 years. Today, Mr. Gingrich is prolific on the media front, having published 18 fiction and non-fiction books, including several New York Times best-sellers.

All of this and more will be featured on the iPod touchâ„¢ during the meeting, but the benefits to AANS members will not start or end in Philadelphia. Podcasts will be offered in the months leading up to Philadelphia, and the entire content of the meeting will be available on the Apple Web site post meeting for attendees to download.

"The exciting and innovative technology of the iPod touchâ„¢ will greatly enhance the way the AANS delivers educational content to its members, media and the public " starting now, culminating at this meeting, and well into the future," stated AANS Executive Director Thomas A. Marshall. Additional information about this educational endeavor is available at http://www.aans.org/annual/default.asp. Registration for the meeting opens on November 2, 2009.

Founded in 1931 as the Harvey Cushing Society, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is a scientific and educational association with over 7,600 members worldwide. The AANS is dedicated to advancing the specialty of neurological surgery in order to provide the highest quality of neurosurgical care to the public. All active members of the AANS are Board-certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, or the Mexican Council of Neurological Surgery, A.C.