Future Directions for Global Clinical Neurosurgical Training: Challenges and Opportunities

OBJECTIVE: Expanded access to training opportunities is necessary to address 5 million essential neurosurgical cases not performed annually, nearly all in low-and middle-income countries. To target this critical neurosur-gical workforce issue and advance positive collaborations, a summit (Global Neurosurgery 2019: A Practical Sympo-sium) was designed to assemble stakeholders in global neurosurgical clinical education to discuss innovative platforms for clinical neurosurgery fellowships.-METHODS: The Global Neurosurgery Education Summit was held in November 2021, with 30 presentations from di-rectors and trainees in existing global neurosurgical clinical fellowships. Presenters were selected based on chain referral sampling from suggestions made primarily from young neurosurgeons in low-and middle-income countries. Presentations focused on the perspectives of hosts, local champions, and trainees on clinical global neurosurgery fellowships and virtual learning resources. This conference sought to identify factors for success in overcoming barriers to improving access, equity, throughput, and quality of clin-ical global neurosurgery fellowships. A preconference sur-vey was disseminated to attendees. -RESULTS: Presentations included in-country training courses, twinning programs, provision of surgical labora-tories and resources, existing virtual educational re-sources, and virtual teaching technologies, with reference to their applicability to hybrid training fellowships. Virtual learning resources developed during the coronavirus dis-ease 2019 pandemic and high-fidelity surgical simulators were presented, some for the first time to this audience. -CONCLUSIONS: The summit provided a forum for dis-cussion of challenges and opportunities for developing a collaborative consortium capable of designing a pilot program for efficient, sustainable, accessible, and afford-able clinical neurosurgery fellowship models for the future.