The Eric Oldberg Association, which is the original title of the Department of Neurosurgery Alumni Association has been reconstituted.

Eric Oldberg was born in Evanston, Illinois, November 7, 1901, the son of a professor of Music at Northwestern University. After attending the public schools in Evanston, he attended Northwestern University (BS, 1926; MS, 1926; MD, 1927; PhD, 1928) while working toward his PhD degree, he was Instructor in Physiology and Elizabeth J. Ward fellow in Physiology.

Dr. Oldberg received his neurosurgical training at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (Surgical House Officer, 1928-29; Assistant Resident in Surgery, 1929; resident in Neurosurgery, 1929-30) and was the last person to serve alone as Chief Resident under Dr. Harvey Cushing (1929-30). He resigned a Guggenheim Fellowship to become a George Gorham Peters Travelling Fellow at Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Berlin, Germany, and Oxford University (1930-31)

Dr. Oldberg returned to the United States, joined the teaching faculty at the University of Illinois School of Medicine and served as Assistant Professor of Surgery (1932-1934); Associate Professor of Surgery and acting Head of the Department of Surgery (1932-36).

The Association fell into disuse after the 1971 meeting at the American Association of Neurosurgical Association (AANS) meeting in Houston. This occasion was a tribute to Dr. Eric Oldberg on the occasion of his retirement from first Head of the department of Neurology and Neurosurgery (1936-1971) at the University of Illinois School of Medicine.

An unofficial meeting of the Association was held spontaneously when the AANS met in Chicago some years later. During the tenure of Dr. James Ausman as Chairman, the alumni of the Department were notified regarding activities of the Department and dates of Departmental and Saturday educational meetings.

No official meetings of the group were held at the traditional time, the annual meeting of the AANS. Dr. Fady Charbel has felt it would be appropriate to renew the meetings of the Association. The most recent meeting was held June 29-30, 2007 in honor of Dr. Jafar J. Jafar.