Beginning in 1965 with Louise Eisenhardt, MD, an accomplished guest is invited to present the Cushing Oration each year during the AANS Annual Scientific Meeting. In 2024, attendees were treated to tech and AI pioneer Craig J. Mundie.
Past Cushing Orators
| 2024 | Craig J. Mundie |
| 2023 | JJ Abrams |
| 2022 | Yo-Yo Ma |
| 2021 | Boyd Varty |
| 2020 | Mike Krzyzewski |
| 2019 | Jim Yong Kim, MD, PhD |
| 2018 | General Stan McChrystal |
| 2017 | Meg Whitman |
| 2016 | President George W. Bush |
| 2015 | Charles Krauthammer |
| 2014 | Clayton Christensen |
| 2013 | Chesley B. (Sully) Sullenberger III |
| 2012 | J. Craig Venter, PhD |
| 2011 | Nathaniel Philbrick |
| 2010 | Newt Gingrich, PhD |
| 2009 | Uwe E. Reinhardt, PhD |
| 2008 | Douglas Brinkley, MD |
| 2007 | Thomas Friedman |
| 2006 | George F. Will |
| 2005 | Edmund Morris |
| 2004 | Ken Burns |
| 2003 | Henry A. Kissinger, PhD |
| 2002 | Benazir Bhutto |
| 2001 | Tom Brokaw |
| 2000 | Doris Kearns Goodwin |
| 1999 | President George Herbert Walker Bush |
| 1998 | Eric Wieschaus, PhD |
| 1997 | William J. Bennett, PhD |
| 1996 | William F. Buckley Jr. |
| 1995 | General Colin L. Powell |
| 1994 | Beverly Sills |
| 1993 | The Hon. Morris B. Abram, Esq. |
| 1992 | Susan Eisenhower |
| 1992 | Ronald Z. Sagdeev, PhD |
| 1991 | Yevgeny Yevtushenk |
| 1990 | President James Earl Carter Jr. |
| 1989 | Theodore Cooper, MD, PhD |
| 1988 | The Hon. Brian Dickson |
| 1987 | H. Ross Perot |
| 1986 | The Hon. Richard D. Lamm |
| 1985 | Raymond E. Arvidson, PhD |
| 1984 | Robert M. Rosenzweig, PhD |
| 1983 | Edmund D. Pellegrino, MD |
| 1982 | Mortimer J. Adler, PhD |
| 1981 | Julius Axelrod, PhD |
| 1980 | The Hon. Kingman Brewster |
| 1979 | The Hon. Paul Rogers |
| 1978 | C. Rollins Hanlon, MD |
| 1977 | Eli Ginzberg, PhD |
| 1976 | Robert O. Egeberg, MD |
| 1975 | Paul W. McCracken, MD |
| 1974 | Malcolm Moos, PhD |
| 1973 | Wernher von Braun, PhD |
| 1972 | Robert Q. Marston, MD |
| 1971 | Wilder Penfield, MD |
| 1970 | Edwin L. Crosby, MD |
| 1969 | John S. Millis, PhD |
| 1968 | Buckminster Fuller, PhD |
| 1967 | William H. Stewart, MD |
| 1966 | Philip Handler, MD |
| 1965 | Louise Eisenhardt, MD |
