Why a foundation for neurosurgery you may ask? In fact, that’s the same question we had asked ourselves prior to doing the groundwork for the creation of this foundation. The answer is that a foundation creates a direct and by far more personal link between the potential donator and the researcher than any official organ such as a national or international scientific fund. It is that personal link between the patient or the patient’s family to a doctor or to a clinical department and the resulting mutual respect, which forms the basis for funding a specific person or a specific project.
Frequently, one of our colleagues is offered a donation by one of his or of her patients. He or she may however not be personally involved in research in a particularly targeted domain. Or, we don’t have the legal instruments to deal with individual donations. Then, the money may go to more anonymous hospital or university accounts, where large institutional committees decide for which purpose the money might be used. The latter is common practice, and it doesn’t recognize the intimate relationship between the neurosurgeon and the patient, thus depriving the donator and the surgeon from assuring that the money will be used for the envisioned field of research and in desired manner. To keep that privileged and trustful relationship between the donator and the doctor is the essence of a foundation, however, and it should not be replaced by anonymous handling of the funds.
This is where the EANS Foundation comes. To provide the option for donators to offer their contributions in a personal, humane and dedicated manner, to what they truly value.