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In 1957, T.R. Johns, renowned clinician and researcher in the early
studies of myasthenia gravis, established the Neurology Residency at
UVa - one of the first accredited neurology training programs in the
United States. After shifts in departmental affiliations, as was
common for neurology sections in the early/mid-1900s, the Neurology
Services were formally established as a separate Department in 1967 by
Dr. Johns, who would serve as chair until his death in 1988.
A seminal event in the history of UVa Neurology occurred in 1959 when
Dr. Johns recruited Fritz “Fred” Dreifuss from Queen’s Square to move
to Charlottesville and join the neurology faculty. Dr. Dreifuss
(along with Jim Miller – see below) established a series of field
clinics in epilepsy and child neurology throughout the Commonwealth of
Virginia, with a mission to provide neurological care for underserved
patients in Appalachia at one time spanning a region from the Atlantic
to the Mississippi. Dr. Dreifuss and subsequent generations of
trainees would be integral to the development of Comprehensive Epilepsy
Programs, including video-EEG monitoring, of which UVa was one of three
original centers in the U.S. Dr. Dreifuss is perhaps best known
by his 1961 description with Professor Alan Emery of a family in
southwest Virginia with a distinct form of systemic muscle disease, now
known as Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy.
In 1962, the UVa Neurology faculty was joined by one of its first
trainees, James Q. Miller. Dr. Miller was a true “renaissance”
neurologist. Dually trained in neuropathology, he started the
first cytogenetics laboratory in Virginia to facilitate statewide
screening for a range of childhood neurological disorders, and made an
original description of familial lissencephaly now known as
Miller-Dieker syndrome. Later in his career, he established one
of the first comprehensive multiple sclerosis programs in the country
(now James Q. Miller Center for Multiple Sclerosis) and was highly
active in research and advocacy efforts in MS at the national level.
Yet, Dr. Miller’s greater legacy lies in medical education, serving as
Assistant Dean for student affairs from 1965-1970 and, being honored by
both the American Academy of Neurology’s A.B. Baker Teaching Award and
the American Neurological Association’s Distinguished Teacher
Award.
During his tenure, Dr. Johns laid the groundwork for a nationally
known neurology program and served as Director of the American Board of
Psychiatry and Neurology from 1975 to 1982. Dr. Johns was
succeeded in 1989 by the appointment of G. Frederick Wooten, recognized
clinician and scientist in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
Under Dr. Wooten’s leadership, UVa Neurology thrived growing to its
current stature of over 40 faculty members and graduating as many
neurologists into academic careers as any other program of its
size. Dr. Wooten would see the expansion of neurology into new
and vibrant subspecialties recruiting leaders in stroke, neurocritical
care, neuro-oncology, memory disorders, and neuroimmunology, among
others. In 2007, UVa appointed its third Neurology chair, Karen
C. Johnston, former Vice Chair of Research and leader in the field of
acute stroke and clinical trials outcomes. As Chair and educator,
Dr. Johnston has furthered the Department’s long tradition of
mentorship developing the UVa Academy of Distinguished Educators and
fostering career mentorship programs in conjunction with several
national bodies including the ANA and NINDS. The paradigm of
neurology at UVa was further broadened in 2008 by the appointment of
Steven T. DeKosky, former chair of the Department of Neurology at the
University of Pittsburgh and leading researcher in Alzheimer’s disease,
to Dean of the UVa School of Medicine.
Other notable milestones in
our history:
1906: Neurology is first taught at the UVa School of Medicine by John
Staige Davis in the Department of Medicine, a third generation UVa
professor whose grandfather was one of the University’s first graduates
and whose father was a noted professor of anatomy throughout the latter
half of the 19th century.
1918: R.H. Whitehead, foremost neuroanatomist, is appointed Dean of
the UVa School of Medicine. His 1901 textbook was widely used in medical education
during the period.
1929: David C. Wilson (UVA SOM ’19) becomes first Professor of
Neurology and Psychiatry and leads neurological services throughout the
1930-40s; notably introduces EEG to Virginia in 1947.
1939: First neuropsychiatric unit is established as the Davis Wing, in
honor of John Staige Davis, II.
Early 1940s: Hugh Page Newbill pioneers the development of
electroencephalography.
1947-1955: UVa graduate, Walter O. Klingman, returns from Columbia to
chair the Neurology section. Dr. Klingman would later help found
the American Academy of Neurology and serve as its 4th
President.
1957: TR Johns joins the UVa faculty from the famous New York
Neurological Institute, where he trained under H. Houston
Merritt.
1960: First annual departmental photo is taken featuring 3 attendings,
5 residents, and one pathologist.
1967: Drs. Dreifuss and Miller establish the Southwest VA Field
Clinics to provide neurological care for underserved patients in rural
Virginia, maintained by present faculty, fellows, and residents to this
day.
2009: UVa celebrates the 50th anniversary of the accredited
neurology residency program, training over 300 neurologists to
date.
2011: Archives of Neurology article lists UVa as top 15
residency program and top 20 medical school graduating neurologists
into academic medicine, and in the very top accounting for program
size.
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