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SNS 2026 Featured SpeakersLearn more about our honored guests at the 76th Annual Meeting Downing Lecturer
Joseph J. Magliocco is President of Louisville-based Michter’s Distillery as well as its parent Chatham Imports, a supplier of imported wines and niche spirits. Upon completing his studies, he immediately began his full-time work in the spirits industry, with one of his first bosses being R.C. Wells, who had previously served as President of Four Roses. In the 1990's, working with his consultant and mentor Dick Newman, former President of Austin Nichols, the maker of Wild Turkey, he restarted the Michter's brand which had been abandoned after the Pennsylvania company's 1989 bankruptcy. Joseph has received several honors during his career including his 2023 induction into The Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame® and his 2024 induction into The Whisky Magazine Hall of Fame. He has served as Vice Chairman and is one of the fifteen founding members of the Order of the Writ, "the fraternal and charitable organization that embraces the spirit of Kentucky Bourbon education, responsibility, environmental stewardship, history, scholarship and unwavering commitment to the furtherance of America's only native spirit". Additionally, he has served on the Board of Directors of the Kentucky Distillers Association, where he was Treasurer and later on Vice Chair. Inducted in Bordeaux as a Commandeur de L’Ordre du Bontemps de Medoc et de Graves, he has considerable experience working with not just spirits, but wines as well.
Hudson Lecturer
Dr. Carlos David is a Professor of Neurosurgery in the Department of Neurological surgery at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine. His range of expertise includes all skull base and complex brain tumors, endoscopic skull base surgery and all aspects of cerebrovascular surgery, including bypass surgery. He joined the faculty at UNC from the Lahey Clinic (Director of Cerebrovascular and Skull Base surgery) and Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston (Associate Professor.) Dr. David is recognized for his microsurgical skill and dedication to teaching and his patients. He was recognized in Castle Conolly’s America’s Top Doctors and Boston Magazine Top Docs from 2006 through his departure in 2022. Dr. David attended University of Miami School of Medicine, and completed his neurosurgery residency training at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital. He completed training in cerebrovascular and skull base surgery under Dr. Robert Spetzler at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, AZ. Dr. David also served as a Commander in the United States Naval Reserve from 1998 through 2006. He served on active duty during Operation Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom, receiving various decorations including a Naval and Marine Corps Commendation medal for his service. Dr. David is active in organized neurosurgery having served as past vice chair of the AANS/CNS Section on Cerebrovascular Surgery. He is an officer in the North American Skull Base Society. He is passionate and dedicated to teaching. He has led and participated in numerous courses and symposia over the years. In his role as associate residency program director for the Tufts Neurosurgery program, he coordinated the neurosurgical residents rotating at the Lahey Clinic. He is also significantly involved in medical education, having served as faculty for the medical student neuroscience course and neuroscience core clerkship at Tufts University school of medicine. He also served in the medical student coaching program, and the Tufts School of medicine admissions committee. In 2020, he was honored with the Samuel Moschella clinical educator of the year award. In April 2022 he was honored by the AANS/CNS section on cerebrovascular surgery when he was invited to be the Donaghy lecturer.
Semmes Lecturer
Dr. Kevin Foley is a professor of neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, and biomedical engineering at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tennessee. He serves as chairman of Semmes Murphey Clinic, director of complex spine surgery at Semmes Murphey, emeritus director of the spine fellowship program for the University of Tennessee Department of Neurosurgery, and medical director for the Medical Education & Research Institute. Dr. Foley studied at UCLA for medical school, returning in 1980 to complete his neurosurgery residency. Following residency, Dr. Foley served as a neurosurgeon in the United States Army Medical Corps. In 1992, Dr. Foley left the military and joined the Semmes Murphey Clinic and the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Dr. Foley is actively involved in research in minimally invasive spine surgery, disc regeneration, image-guided spinal surgery, robotics, spinal biomechanics, and neurosurgical outcomes. He has authored more than 40 book chapters and more than 245 scientific journal publications. He is the inventor of many medical devices and biologic products and has been issued more than 180 patents by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Several of his inventions have advanced the field of minimally invasive spine surgery, to include tubular retractors, percutaneous screw fixation using detachable extenders, and tapered and expandable interbody implants.
Distinguished Practitioner
Jacques J. Morcos, MD, FRCS(Eng), FRCS(Ed), FAANS, FCNS was appointed in 2023 to be Professor and Chairman of the Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. He holds the John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Distinguished Chair, is Co-Director of UTHealth Houston Neurosciences and Director of the Cerebrovascular and Skull Base Surgery Program and Fellowship. He had spent the first 28 years of his academic career at the University of Miami, where he had been most recently a co-Chairman of the Department, prior to his move to Houston. He obtained his Medical Degree from the American University in Beirut, Lebanon in 1985, and then spent four years in England, including spending time as Registrar at the National Hospital for Neurological Diseases at Queen Square and Maida Vale in London. During his time in the UK, he won the Henry Arthur Dalziel Ferns Prize from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Scotland, "for the most outstanding candidate in the worldwide Primary FRCS examinations for the year 1987/1988 among more than 1,400 candidates”. Always eager to train in the US, he was delighted to be recruited by Dr Roberto Heros to fill in a vacancy in the neurosurgical residency at the University of Minnesota, from 1990 to 1994. There, he won the Peyton Society Award, “for ranking 1st in the USA on the American Board of Neurological Surgery (ABNS) written exam of 1993”. He then completed a six-month Fellowship at the University of Florida under Dr. Arthur Day in Cerebrovascular Surgery, and then a one-year Fellowship at the Barrow Neurological Institute 1994/1995 in Cerebrovascular and Skull Base Surgery under Dr. Robert Spetzler. He joined the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Miami in 1995 until his move to Houston in 2023. Dr. Morcos has served organized neurosurgery abundantly, nationally and internationally. He is the current AANS President (2024-25), President-Elect of the World Federation of Skull Base Societies (WFSBS) (2022-25), President of the WFSBS Congress (2025) and President of the 8th MASSIN Congress (2024). He is Past President of the North American Skull Base Society (NASBS), the Society of University Neurosurgeons (SUN) and the World Association of Lebanese Neurosurgeons (WALN). He is Past Chair of the Joint AANS/CNS Section on Cerebrovascular Surgery. He is an active member of multiple societies including the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), the American Academy of Neurological Surgeons (AAcNS), the Society of Neurological Surgeons (SNS), the World Academy of Neurological Surgeons (WANS) and the newly created (2024) Yaśargil Microneurosurgery Academy (YMA). He is a delegate to the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS). Dr. Morcos serves on several Editorial Boards, including “Journal of Neurosurgery”, “Neurosurgery”, “World Neurosurgery”, “Journal of Neurological Surgery Part B: Skull Base” and others. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Society of University Neurosurgeons (SUN), was inducted in the AOA Honor Medical Society, selected by US World and News Report as top 1% of US physicians, and has received numerous other awards from America’s Top Doctors, Marquis’ Who’s Who, Patients Choice and others. |
Joseph J. Magliocco
Carlos David, MD
Kevin Foley, MD
Jacques Morcos, MD