SNS 2027 Featured Speakers

Learn more about our honored guests at the 77th Annual Meeting

Downing Lecturer

John T. Edge
Author, House of Smoke and The Potlikker Papers

John T Edge, author House of Smoke: A Southerner Goes Searching for Home, writes and hosts the National Emmy Award-winning television show TrueSouth, now in its ninth season. He has written or edited more than a dozen other books including The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the American South. Edge is a widely published magazine writer who now serves Garden & Gun  as a columnist. From 1999 through 2021, Edge directed the Southern Foodways Alliance. At the University of Mississippi, he now serves as a Writer-in-Residence and leads development of Greenfield Farm Writers Residency, set on William Faulkner’s onetime mule farm. Edge lives in Oxford with his wife, the artist Blair Hobbs.

Hudson Lecturer

Daniel Prevedello, MD

Dr. Daniel Prevedello served as Vice Chair for Academic Affairs and Director of the Skull Base and Pituitary Surgery Programs at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. He joined OSU in 2010 and was promoted to Professor in 2017. In October 2026, he left Ohio State to serve as Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

His medical journey began in Brazil, where he attended medical school and completed his residency training. He subsequently completed a fellowship in Neuroendocrine and Pituitary Surgery at the University of Virginia, followed by a fellowship in Skull Base and Cerebrovascular Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Prevedello specializes in brain and skull base tumors and is a pioneer in the endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA) and other minimally invasive techniques for brain tumor removal. He is among a select group of neurosurgeons worldwide who have performed more than 2,000 EEA procedures. This technique enables surgeons to access the skull base, intracranial cavity, and upper spine through the nasal passages and paranasal sinuses, minimizing the need for traditional open approaches.

His research focuses on developing innovative minimally invasive approaches to the brain and skull base that maximize tumor resection while minimizing disruption to healthy tissue.

Dr. Prevedello values an individualized approach to patient care and believes that the combination of highly specialized surgical expertise, collaborative care, and a commitment to innovation is the key to achieving the best outcomes for patients.

Semmes Lecturer

Judy Huang, MD

Since joining the Department of Neurosurgery of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2002 as the first woman faculty in the history of the department, Dr. Judy Huang has achieved a distinguished record of accomplishment and is currently the Irving J. and Florence Sherman Endowed Professor, Vice Chair, and Residency Program Director. She also serves as the Fellowship Director for Cerebrovascular Neurosurgery and Director of the Trigeminal Neuralgia Center.

Dr. Huang's clinical practice is dedicated primarily to the microsurgical treatment of cerebrovascular diseases. In parallel, Dr. Huang's research is focused upon improving outcomes for stroke patients with arteriovenous malformations, intracerebral hemorrhage, and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. She is committed to developing predictive models that optimize treatment plans for individual patients. Her bibliography includes more than 390 journal publications and book chapters, including a textbook with Chinese and Portuguese translations. Citations of her publications number over 18800, with an h-index of 65. Widespread appreciation of her influential scholarly contributions led to her appointments on the editorial boards for both of the specialty’s premier journals, Neurosurgery and Journal of Neurosurgery, where she has completed service as Associate Editor. She is often invited to lecture nationally and internationally on her outcomes research, and has been honored with several named lectureships across many neurosurgical departments and societies, including the 2025 Donaghy Lecture at the CV Section of the AANS Annual Meeting and the 2026 Drake Lecture at the CNS Annual Meeting. Dr. Huang has received numerous recognitions for research, teaching, and clinical excellence.  As a devoted educator, she has received a number of teaching awards, notably the Richard Otenasek Teaching Award twice from her residents.  She has been recognized for outstanding patient care with Patients' Choice and Golden Heart awards and induction into the Miller-Coulson Academy for Clinical Excellence.  

Dr. Huang’s strong commitment to training future surgeons propels her to mentor numerous undergraduates, medical students, residents, faculty, and visiting neurosurgeons from around the world. Dr. Huang exemplifies an outstanding role model to trainees of all levels, and is particularly inspiring to young women who aspire towards surgical careers. Dr. Huang is devoted to increasing the pipeline of accomplished women training in neurosurgery, so that they may be positioned as future leaders in the field. In addition to her years of institutional service as Chair of the Medical Board at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and member of the Professorial Promotions Committee of the School of Medicine, Dr. Huang continues to serve in leadership roles and as part of key committees of prestigious national neurosurgical organizations, including the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Society of Neurological Surgeons (Vice President 2023-24), and Joint Cerebrovascular Section of the AANS/CNS (Vice Chair 2021-22). With a national and international reputation as a preeminent leader in academic neurosurgery, Dr. Huang served as the President of the Neurosurgical Society of America in 2023-24. Furthermore, she served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Neurological Surgery to complete a 6-year term with responsibilities including the national oral boards examination, and cementing her widespread influence in shaping training and certification standards of practicing neurosurgeons nationwide. 

Distinguished Practitioner

Daniel L. Barrow, MD

Daniel L. Barrow was raised in rural Illinois, the son of a general practitioner.  He was active in varsity sports including football, golf, and track, was named an Illinois State Scholar, and appeared in Who’s Who in High School Dramatics.   Dan graduated magna cum laude from Westminster College in 1976 where he participated in varsity swimming and golf.  He received his M.D. degree from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in 1979.  He completed his general surgery internship and neurosurgical residency at Emory University Affiliated Hospitals and obtained his neurology training at Massachusetts General Hospital.  Upon completing his neurosurgical residency, he had fellowship training in cerebrovascular surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and obtained additional training at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona.  Dr. Barrow was appointed Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery in 1995 and is currently the Pamela R. Rollins Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery and Director of the Emory Stroke Center at Emory University School of Medicine.

Dr. Barrow has authored more than 300 scientific articles and chapters in medical textbooks.  He has authored or edited 19 monographs, including a major textbook of neurosurgery, The Practice of Neurosurgery.  He has been a visiting professor at major universities throughout North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.  His research interests have focused on cerebrovascular disease and stroke.  During his career in medicine, he has won many awards, including induction into the honorary medical society, Alpha Omega Alpha.  In 1997, Dr. Barrow received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, and in 1998, he received the Alumni Achievement Award from Westminster College.  He was the 2010 Honored Guest of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and was awarded the CNS Founder’s Laurel in 2019.  He was selected for the 2026 Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Health Care Champions Lifetime Achievement Award, recipient of the Emory School of Medicine Lifetime Service and Leadership Award for 2026 and named the 2027 Distinguished Practitioner by the Southern Neurosurgical Society.

Dr. Barrow has been active in organized neurosurgery, holding a variety of leadership and editorial positions.  He was on the Executive Committee of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons from 1989 – 2001 and served as Scientific Program Committee chairman (1991), Annual Meeting Committee chairman (1992), Secretary (1992-1995), and President (1999-2000).  He was President of the Georgia Neurosurgical Society and member of the AANS/CNS Washington Committee.  Dr. Barrow has been on many editorial boards, including Clinical Neurosurgery, Neurosurgery, Neurosurgical Consultations, Neurologia Medico Chirurgica, The Journal of the Korean Neurosurgical Society; has co-edited Contemporary Neurosurgery (1985-1995); edited Perspectives in Neurological Surgery (1989-1992); and chaired the AANS Publications Committee.  He has been a Director of the American Board of Neurological Surgery, has served as Secretary and Chairman of the Board.  He is past Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and President of the American Academy of Neurological Surgeons.  He was Vice President and President of the Society of Neurological Surgeons (2018-2019). 

Dan is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys hunting, fishing, and other sporting activities.  He is married to Mollie Winston Barrow, a practicing oral and maxillofacial surgeon.  They have three children, Emily, Jack, and Tom and four grandchildren, Adley and Jack Birdsong, Lucy Barrow, and Ellie Barrow.