Born into a military family in 1951, Ling Feng joined the army at 16 and was accepted into Shanghai No. 3 Military Medical University in 1970. Upon graduation, she was sent to work in Nanjing General Hospital in the capital of east China's Jiangsu Province. Four years later, she began training in neurosurgery at Capital Medical University, then pursued further studies in interventional neuroradiology in Paris. Since the early 1980s, Dr. Feng has introduced new technologies to China and trained a generation of young neurosurgeons throughout China and all of Asia in endovascular techniques. She spearheaded the development of the China International Neuroscience Institute in Beijing in 2004; a neurosurgical training center was established in 2007. Dr. Feng’s philanthropic pursuits center on an orphanage in southwest China, where her foundation supports over 200 children. She has served the WFNS as Chair of Women in Neurosurgery and will be President of the WFNS meeting in Beijing in 2019
Yoko Kato is one of the pioneer women neurosurgeons in Japan, and the first to be named full professor. She completed her residency at the Department of Neurosurgery, Aichi Medical University in 1978. She is Professor at Fujita Health University, where her focus is on cerebrovascular disease. In 1990, she founded the Women's Neurosurgical Association (WNA) of Japan. In 1996, she founded the Asian Women's Neurosurgical Association (AWNA). She has served the WFNS tirelessly as Chair of the Education Committee, circling the globe many times each year at her own expense to organize and teach courses to young neurosurgeons in the developing world. She introduced “hands on” and “live video” courses to many regions. Through the WFNS Foundation, she has donated multiple microscopes and instrument sets to neurosurgeons practicing in low and middle income countries (LMICs).
Najia El Abbadi, was named Professor of Neurosurgery in 1990, the first woman professor of neurosurgery in Morocco. She practices in Rabat, where she has a robust practice in both cranial and spinal neurosurgery. She is actively involved in the development of the Rabat program in Simulation Training for medical students. She is the immediate past-President of the Moroccan Neurosurgical Society, current President of the Mediterranean Neurosurgical Society and President-elect of the Pan-Arab Spine Society. She currently serves the WFNS as Chair of the Women in Neurosurgery Committee. She has been a champion of young and female neurosurgeons, and is organizing scholarships for 150 female neurosurgeons to attend the 2017 WFNS World Congress, Istanbul, in August.
Gail Rosseau has served as Vice-President of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and in the leadership of the Societe de Neurochirurgie de Langue Francaise. Currently Assistant Secretary of the WFNS Administrative Council, she has also served as Chair of the WFNS Young Neurosurgeons Committee and Web Developer/Manager. She has been actively involved in organized and global neurosurgery for many years. She has worked in the area of neurosurgical education by leading the CNS and AANS International Committees, the Foundation for International Education in Neurosurgery (FIENS) Volunteer Committee, and the ThinkFirst International Committee. She is a founding member and past-President of Women in Neurosurgery and currently serves as International Liaison. Long committed to neurosurgical education, Dr. Rosseau is a member of the Neurosurgical Research and Education Foundation (NREF) Cushing Circle and has actively participated in WFNS Education Committee courses in the developing world.
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