Meet the Recipients  2008 Visiting Fellowship  My Experience At Duke Medical Center By Okezie Obasi Kanu I arrived at Duke University in North Carolina on June 30, 2008 and was initially welcomed by Dr. Cory Adamson (AANS Young Neurosurgery Committee liaison to the AANS International Outreach Committee). Dr. Adamson graciously helped me get acclimated to Duke. I immediately met my mentor, Professor Allan Friedman, and was subsequently introduced to the rest of the neurosurgery attending and resident staff the following day. I spent most of the first and second month closely observing Professor Friedman and the other attending neurosurgeons at Duke, covering all aspects of the field ranging from complex spine to pediatric neurosurgery, but primarily focusing on my primary areas of interests: neuro-oncologic and cerebrovascular surgery. I also spent some time at the research lab of Dr Adamson, helping to study targeted combination therapies in GBM xenograft animal models. I had the honor and pleasure of also observing Dr. Takanora Fukushima (an AANS International Member) along with Professor Friedman (the "Tiger wood" and "Mozart", as they're respectively known) working together in the operating room to remove complicated skull base tumors. I was fortunate to be able to follow Dr Fukushima while he assisted other Duke neurosurgeons on complex cases. Dr. Fukushima hosted me at his other operating arena in Duke Raleigh Hospital (Raleigh, NC), where he kindly lodged me in his skull base fellows’ house and spent hours teaching me both in his office and in the operating room. While at Duke, I made very good use of the skull base laboratory, courtesy of Drs. Fukushima, Friedman and Nonaka (Fukushima fellow who has been my “sparing partner” in the dissection room). I often worked with Dr Nonaka late into the evenings on our dissecting projects. The neurointerventional endovascular suite at Duke also hosted me a couple of times, where I was able to enjoy the talents of Drs. Garvin Britz, Ali Zomorodi, and Ciaran Powers (current vascular fellow). I have thoroughly enjoyed my hands-on experiences in the skull base and research labs. As a little side adventure during my fellowship, Professor J.T. Goodrich hosted me at Albert Einstein College of Medicine for two weeks in September to observe him. I also had a wonderful experience at his center. Throughout my time at Duke I built numerous long-term relationships across many departments, from the residents to the attending surgeons, and the operating room staff and the staff at the laboratories. I am grateful for this camaraderie and suspect the relationships will benefit me for years to come. I am also indebted to the neurosurgery chief residents at Duke for helping me fit in comfortably, and most notably to Dr. Friedman and his staff for a remarkable experience. Lastly, I am tremendously grateful to the AANS for this wonderful opportunity! I hope to build on this experience and these new relationships in the future and continue to establish meaningful collaborations throughout my career, especially in the area of oncology research.