Later Years at the NPI

John Garvin, Marianne Wallenberg Cermak, And Louis Boshes

John Garvin, Marianne Wallenberg-Chermak  (Wallenberg’s Daughter), and Louis Boshes at the unveiling of the Wallenberg Display in 1981

Upon Eric Oldberg’s retirement in 1971, neurosurgery and neurology (established in 1936) became separate Departments under Drs. Sugar (1914-2008) and John Garvin. Since June 1, 1996, the John S. Garvin Professorship of Neurology has been endowed to the Neurology Department and held by the department head or other professor in the department, providing salary support for new faculty and enhancing the education, clinical, and research programs of the department. Louis Boshes remained on faculty as professor emeritus and established the “Natalie and Louis D. Boshes Neurosciences Library” at the NPI on the 3rd floor.

Adolf Wallenberg’s diary, NPI library

Adolf Wallenberg’s diary, NPI library

The library contains modern and rare neurology books, journals, and monographs, along with artifacts such as Adolf Wallenberg’s personal diary, and serves as a resource to neurology trainees and faculty. Boshes helped design the Founders of Neurology exhibit at the NPI (http://uic.edu/depts/mcne/homepage/neurofounders.html), and was instrumental in forming the “Adolf Wallenberg: Giant in Neurology” exhibit on the NPI 7th floor containing letters, photographs, and the journal with Wallenberg’s original description in German of his syndrome.

The neurology patient care units and operating rooms merged into the new University of Illinois Hospital, which opened across the street from the NPI in 1981, becoming part of the Illinois Medical District along with Rush University Medical Center, Cook County Hospital, and the Jesse Brown West Side VA Medical Center. Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Rehabilitation clinics opened at the new UIC Outpatient Care Center in 1999. Today the combined Neurology and Rehabilitation, the Neurosurgery, and the Psychiatry Departments remain vibrant, growing entities steeped in the great tradition and housed in a marvelous, fully renovated office, research, and teaching structure is still known as the NPI.

Neurology Chairmen:

  • John S. Garvin 1971 – 1988
  • Daniel B. Hier 1989 – 2002
  • Philip B. Gorelick 2003 – 2012
  • Jeffrey A. Loeb 2013 – present

Neurological Surgery Chairmen:

  • Eric Oldberg 1931-1971
  • Oscar Sugar 1971-1981
  • Robert M. Crowell 1982-1989
  • James L. Stone (Acting) 1989-1991
  • James Ausman 1991-2001
  • Fady T. Charbel 2002-Present

Special thanks for assembling this website information to James L. Stone, MD. Dr. Stone presented some of this information in lectures to the American Academy of Neurosurgery in Chicago (April 29, 2008) and to the UIC Neurology Department in 2007 as part of the annual Boshes lecture on the history of neurology. Dr. Stone also supplied materials on the 50th anniversary of the NPI in 1992, and on Percival Bailey which were used in part as references for the material in this website.

All photographs and material on this website are the property of the Neurology and Rehabilitation Department, the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center, and cannot be reproduced in any way without the permission of the department.