COVID-19 In Memoriam.

2020 has been a challenging and truly tragic year in many ways. Our international neurosurgery community has lost 18 of its own to COVID-19:

Shebl Abdelsalam

Marino Purizaca Amaya

Lukas Budiono Atmaji

Francisco Brito Barrera

Ronald Brisman

Jesus Vaquero Crespo

Mahmoud Mahmoud El Hendawy

Alexey Filippov

James T. Goodrich

Simon Hercules

Robin Humphrey

Tahir Khalili

Hugo Diez Perez

Jorge Chica Ramirez

Edilson Toshio Shoji

Jeanne P. M. R. Winaktu

Sameh Zakaria

Liu Zhiming

We honor all of them in this December 2020 issue of WORLD NEUROSURGERY. We have received “In Memoriam” for three of the fallen, which are included in the pages that follow. Each is emblematic of the dedication of neurosurgeons to the people they care for and their commitment to humankind. We all honor, and hold in the highest of regard, the gift each of them gave to us all. We thank fellow neurosurgeon Scott Litofsky for his imagery that provides the backdrop for this month's cover that honors the fallen. In his words,

While trying to maintain a positive attitude at work and to be an effective leader for my faculty, residents, and staff, I suppressed my own dark thoughts, only to have them emerge in this work. The release I felt while painting gave me the resilience to face the uncertain future.

We all have experienced similar emotions and have dealt with them in innumerable ways. Please read these wonderful “In Memoriam” contributions and, in some way, use them to enlighten ourselves and to help us remember how lucky we are to be alive.