Selected drake teachings: an affectionate look back and a look forward--the Charles G. Drake lecture: 2006

The clinical neurosciences were blessed in the past century by the life and works of Dr. Charles Drake. The senior author (HHB) was honored to deliver the 2006 Charles Drake Lecture at the Annual Meeting of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. Numerous colleagues in attendance requested that we prepare a written document reflecting the content of that presentation. In this article, we attempt to convey some of the primary teachings of Dr. Drake as he communicated them to his residents and fellows and to the international neuroscience audience through his hundreds of presentations and publications. We do our best to portray the unique style and humanism of this pioneer as he approached difficult diseases, critically ill patients, grieving families, and his trainees. Drake made major contributions to the knowledge of giant intracranial aneurysms, posterior circulation aneurysms, and intracranial arteriovenous malformations; we will focus on these topics. We dissect the principles he articulated and how they applied to his practice, look at how those ideas have influenced our contemporary thinking, and look to where we--as a discipline--may be going, having been leveraged by his enormous contributions. We attempt to articulate the unique perspectives "Charlie" provided with respect to how we learn our craft, integrity of reporting, and how we must progress into the future. It is our hope that this presentation brings to life for young neurosurgeons the unique character of Dr. Drake and his unprecedented blend of genius, creativity, technical skill, introspection, and ever-present humility.