San Francisco: Departments

Neurological Surgery
The growth and development of the Division of Neurological Surgery was intimately related to the career of Dr. Howard C. Naffziger who organized the specialty of neurological surgery when he returned to the University's School of Medicine in 1912 from Johns Hopkins University. Neurological surgery was in its infancy as a specialty during these early years, but, under Dr. Naffziger's guidance, it flourished in San Francisco and in the School of Medicine, culminating in the creation of a separate Department of Neurological Surgery in 1947. In 1955, the department once again became a division within the Department of Surgery.

Concurrent with these administrative changes, there developed an increasing liaison between the Department of Neurology and the Department of Neurological Surgery in undergraduate instruction so that by the 1960's, essentially all undergraduate instruction was a joint responsibility equally shared between the two departments. Because of the increasing specialization in medicine as a whole, as well as within the field of neurological surgery, gradually the concept evolved that neurological surgery per se was not a suitable subject for undergraduate instruction except in elective courses which later were established. The neurological surgeons, therefore, joined with the neurologists on the faculty in teaching a general course of neurology in the third year, and offering only an elective course in neurological surgery in the fourth year.

As is the case with all fields of medical endeavor, research in neurological surgery changed a great deal. Initially, as the specialty grew, the major effort was in the development of technical surgical procedures and the amassing of clinical information about the disease entities which were treated. This phase of development was largely accomplished, although new techniques were still being developed in the 1960's. The major shift in emphasis was toward both laboratory research, primarily neurophysiological in nature, and in later years, joint research efforts with other fields, such as electronic engineering and physics, and the utilization of computer techniques in the study of such complex problems as the epileptic discharge.

By the mid-1960's it seemed probable that, in the future, neurological surgery would find itself working more and more closely with engineering and the behavioral sciences, and in both teaching and research the neurosurgical faculty would find themselves operating as part of a team. source

Neurology
Until the turn of the century the clinical teaching and service aspects of neuropsychiatry were covered by a single faculty member who was a member of the Department of Medicine. The growth of neuropsychiatry paralleled that of the medical school, and shortly before the Second World War period, it was represented by nine part-time staff members. This pattern of growth, however, failed to take into consideration either the development of neurology and psychiatry as separate clinical specialties or the necessity of developing neurological research as an integral part of a teaching-research center.

The first break in the old pattern occurred in 1942 with the establishment of a Department of Psychiatry, which was housed in the Langley Porter Clinic. The next development occurred as the result of a survey initiated by the Curriculum Committee of the School of Medicine, which recommended a strengthened and integrated development of neurological instruction. Neurology finally was established as a separate department in 1946. Dr. Charles Aring was invited to be chairman, and an inpatient service of six beds was created.

After further changes in arrangements for the department, Dr. Robert Aird accepted the chairmanship in 1947. A full-time staff of four members was slowly assembled, which included the late Dr. Robert Wartenberg. The undergraduate teaching was reorganized with emphasis on bedside teaching instead of the previous more didactic methods. Courses in the second, third, and fourth years were developed, an active research program was organized; and a small postgraduate program in neurology was established.

With the opening of Moffitt Hospital in 1955, the neurology inpatient service was expanded to 12 beds, and the postgraduate training program in neurology was further developed under a grant from the National Institutes of Health. Teaching services at San Francisco General Hospital, the Ft. Miley Veterans Administration Hospital, and in neuropediatrics at Moffitt Hospital were established within the next eight years. Research in the fields of neurophysiology and neurochemistry were greatly strengthened in this same period.

The growth of the department can be summarized in the following statistics: from one full-time faculty member in 1947 to eight in 1965; from six beds in 1947 to 54 in 1965; from an initial budget of $30,766 in 1947-48 to $367,678 in 1964-65 (teaching funds and research budgets included); from an annual average of 14 research papers and occasional public lectures by two authors in 1947-48 to 40 research papers and 90 public talks by 12 authors in 1965. source

San Francisco: Departments

Nursing See Colleges and Schools, School of Nursing.

Nursing
See Colleges and Schools, School of Nursing.