Pittsburgh, May 3, 2026 — Costas Hadjipanayis, MD, PhD, FAANS, L. Dade Lunsford Professor and executive vice chair of the University of Pittsburgh Dept. of Neurological Surgery, was honored with the Tumor Section Distinguished Leadership Award by the AANS/CNS Joint Section on Tumors at the second annual Tumor Soirée 2.0, held during the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Annual Scientific Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, May 1 to 4, 2026.
The award recognizes Dr. Hadjipanayis "for his extraordinary leadership, dedicated service, and enduring contributions as Chair of the AANS/CNS Joint Section on Tumors." The accompanying inscription notes that his "vision, mentorship, and unwavering commitment to excellence have profoundly shaped the Section and advanced the future of neurosurgical oncology."
Dr. Hadjipanayis was elected chair of the Joint Section on Tumors in May 2024, leading the largest organized group of neurosurgical oncologists in the world. In addition to his role at Pitt Neurosurgery, he serves as director of the UPMC Center for Image-Guided Neurosurgery, co-director of the UPMC Hillman Brain Tumor Center, and director of the Brain Tumor Nanotechnology Laboratory at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.
Reflecting on the recognition, Dr. Hadjipanayis described the evening as "an incredible event bringing colleagues and friends together for a special night," and called it "certainly a highlight of my career." He emphasized the importance of such gatherings in helping the field "understand and appreciate how important it is to empower our colleagues to learn and become our next leaders."
The plaque was presented by Tumor Section leadership, including Brian V. Nahed, MD, MSc (Chair-Elect, Tumor Section), Ashish Shah, MD, and Yoshua Esquenazi, MD (Co-Chairs, ECNC), and Ankush Chandra, MD (Co-Chair, Resident Committee).
The Department of Neurological Surgery congratulates Dr. Hadjipanayis on this distinguished honor and on his continued national leadership in neurosurgical oncology.
