1. History of Neurology New York Neurology Part IV ________________________________
Robert Foster Kennedy MD
Harold George Wolff MD
Robert J. Joynt MD
Fred Plum MD

2. Robert Foster Kennedy MD (1884-1952)
B. Belfast
Med school Belfast, Final exams Dublin 1906
Queens Square Neurology resident
Mentors Gowers, Jackson, Horsley, Head
1910 joined New York Neurological Institute (new)
1911 WW1- Founded French Military Hosp,
Then British unit-numerous medals
Bellevue Hosp. & Prof of Neurology at Cornell
At Neurological Institute
Succeeded Charles Dana
Took care of Winston Churchill in 1931 in NYC, when he was hit by a car. –scalp wounds
President ANA 1940

3. Robert Foster Kennedy MD (1884-1952) Foster Kennedy Syndrome.
1911-”Retrobulbar neuritis as an exact diagnostic sign of certain tumours and abscesses in the frontal lobe”, in: American Journal of Medical Sciences, 162: (1911) Foster Kennedy Syndrome
Optic atrophy in the ipsilateral eye
Disc edema in the contralateral eye
Central scotoma (loss of vision in the middle of the visual fields) in the ipsilateral eye
Anosmia (loss of smell) ipsilaterally
 Due to optic nerve comp, CP) forms mass (meningioma)

4. Robert Foster Kennedy MD (1884-1952) Darker side
Suggested widespread eugenical sterilization and castration
At Am Psych Assoc in 1941, he called for the extermination of incurably severely retarded children over the age of five
Goal- relieve "the utterly unfit" and "nature's mistakes" of the "agony of living" and save parents cost of caring for them
Kennedy, F. Sterilization and eugenics. J. Obstetr Gynecol 1937;34:519
Kennedy, F. The problem of social control of the congenital defective: education, sterilization, euthanasia. Am J Psychiatry 1942;99:13-16
Psychiatry during the Nazi era: ethical lessons for the modern professional; Rael D Strous; Annals of General Psychiatry 2007, 6:8

5. Harold George Wolff MD (1898-1962)
B New York City
HMS MD (1923) studied under Cobb
Worked with Lennox & BCH
Researched- relations of nerves surrounding cerebral vessels & study of BCH
Studied in Austria (Loewi) & in Leningrad (Pavlov)
Cornell Med Center-Head of Neurology ( )
Ed: Archives of Neurology & Psychiatry 1956, then Archives of Neurology 1959
539 pages (14 books)
Book: Wolff’s Headaches and Other Head Pain
1st edition 1948; 8 editions (last 2008)

6. Robert J Joynt MD (1925-2012) B Le Mars, Iowa
WWII; US Army Signal Corps
Med School- U. Iowa, intern Montreal (Royal Victoria)
Fullbright fellowship at Cambridge (Caius college)
Neuro residency at U Iowa
Asst/Assoc Prof Iowa, Masters/PhD Anatomy
1966-U. Rochester founding chair of Dept.(Neuro)
Huge growth in dept. – national prominence
Dean 1985, then VP Health Affairs
President AAN , & ANA
Editor Archives of Neurology (now JAMA Neurology)
Founding editor Seminars of Neurology
Edited Baker’s Clinical Neurology
2012- Died on way from office to Neuro Grand Rounds
Succeeded as chair by Robert C (Berch) Griggs
Griggs was Chairman from
Bakers Clinical Neurology

7. Fred Plum MD (1924-2010) B Atlantic City, NJ
Dartmouth undergrad; Cornell MD (1947) neuro residency Cornell
Chief of Neurology at Univ WA (Seattle) in 1953; age 29
Returned to Cornell (1963), Chair of Neuro ( ) (He succeeded Wolff)
Created a respiratory center for comatose pts
Developed guidelines for unconscious & coma
Book: The Diagnosis of Stupor and Coma in 1966 with Jerome Posner; 4 editions, (last 2007)
Jerome Posner trained him in Seattle
Developed Glasgow Coma Scale with Neurosurgeon Byron Jennett
Termed “locked-in Syndrome”
Termed- “persistent vegetative state”
Retired in 1998
Died of primary progressive aphasia/dementia

8. Plum & Posner’s Diagnosis of Stupor and Coma
4 Editions
1st Edition
2nd Edition
3rd Edition –My residency book
4th Edition .
1966
1972
1980
2007
Is this a dead book?
Or a vegetative state?!?!?