History of the Department
and the Department Today

After Van Epps' retirement in 1945, one of his trainees, Adolph Sahs, MD, was named head in 1948. More than 50 neurologists were trained under his tutelage, many going on to distinguished academic careers of their own. His personal devotion to patient care left lasting impressions on his students, and his teaching extended beyond the bedside and lecture hall to include co-authorship of the classic neurology textbook of the era, Grinker's Neurology. Sahs gained international recognition as an expert in cerebrovascular disease. Clinical research related to intracranial aneurysms was given special emphasis, and Sahs organized one of the first multi-center NIH clinical trials in this area of investigation.

Sahs, along with Baker, Forster and DeJong—the group was known as "the four horsemen of neurology"—were key figures in the establishment of the American Academy of Neurology, of which Sahs served as president in 1961. He also served as president of both the American Neurological Association in 1967-1968 and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in 1967. During Sahs' tenure, Maurice Van Allen, MD, and Arthur Benton, PhD, established the Neurosensory Center, which became an important stimulus for future endeavors in neurological research.

At Sahs' retirement in 1974, Van Allen became the third head of the department, bringing his unique clinical insights from both neurosurgery and neurology. The department grew rapidly under Van Allen, and several highly-qualified physicians and researchers were attracted to the department, including Antonio R. Damasio, MD, PhD. Upon Van Allen's retirement in 1985, Robert Rodnitzky, MD, served as acting chief of the department. In 1986, Antonio R. Damasio, MD, was appointed as the department's fourth head and served as head until 2005, advancing the department on several research, teaching, and clinical care fronts. That tradition continues under Robert Rodnitzky, the department's fifth head.

The Department Today
The Department of Neurology offers opportunities for training in neurology and the neurosciences. The department has an established tradition of excellence in clinical training, enhanced by active research programs which operate both within the department and the university-wide Neuroscience Program. The Department of Neurology is a major participant in the latter program, for which it provides a large component of teaching and fosters communication between basic and clinical neurosciences.

For the past decade, the department has flourished on all fronts. Patient care is given the first priority, supported by teaching and both basic and clinical research. A broad spectrum of neurology is covered by subspecialty units in Headache and Pain Management, Neuromuscular Diseases, Movement Disorders, Stroke, Dementia, Epilepsy, Sleep, Neurogenetics, Neuro-ergonomics, Neuropsychology, Neuro-ophthalmology, Pediatric Neurology, and Neurorehabilitation.

State-of-the-art inpatient monitoring units for stroke, epilepsy, and sleep disorders have been developed in the department's two inpatient units. The Neurology Outpatient Clinic has been redesigned to enhance efficiency and patient comfort. The mechanics of scheduling have been modified to improve further patient satisfaction, and continuous attention is devoted to improvement in medical records.

In addition to weekly conferences and seminars held by the faculty and by many regular academic visitors, the department holds a number of additional teaching events. These include four named lectureships, The Maurice W. Van Allen Lecture in Neurology, The Ojemann Lecture in Neuroscience, the Sahs Lecture, and The Benton Lecture in Neuropsychology, each of which bring distinguished speakers to the department every year. Another program, in cooperation with the Iowa Midwest Neurological Association, hosts visiting academic neurologists who deliver lectures and hold clinical rounds throughout the year.

The department's neuroscience laboratories are supported by several federal grants and grants from private foundations. The work presented by these laboratories is highly regarded nationally and internationally. It ranges in topic across all levels of neural organization, from molecular neurobiology to the neurobiology of large-scale neural and cognitive systems.

The department has always attracted faculty and staff with diverse interests, training, and cultural backgrounds from major research universities in the nation and from many leading institutions in Europe and Asia. The department's group of 30 senior neurologists and over 20 neurologists-in-training represent virtually all areas of expertise in the clinical neurosciences, and many are members of peer review boards at the National Institutes of Health, foundation boards, and editorial boards of major journals.