AJMONE-MARSAN 153Baldwin’s heading the Surgical Neurology Branch of the institute illu
strated Bailey’s intentions to make epilepsy, with an emphasis on this
special form of treatment, one of the major areas of research within the
intramural program.
In keeping with this specific goal, related branches were established
at the end of 1953, such as my Electroencephalography (EEG) Branch.
Beginning in 1950, I had spent 18 months collaborating with Herbert H.
Jasper, at the MNI, on a number of experimental research projects includ
ing a successful Stereotaxic Atlas of the Cat Diencephalon.^4 I learned
clinical EEG and electrocorticography and actively participated in the
selection and work-up of epileptic patients who were potential candidates
for surgical treatment. At the end of my fellowship, I accepted a permanent
position at the MNI, which I held until the end of 1953 when I accepted
Milton Shy’s invitation to move to the NIH in January 1954. Shy and
Baldwin were familiar with my expertise in epilepsy and surgical treatment,
and Laurence L. Frost–the first neuropsychologist who was originally with
them in Colorado and had some experience in EEG–was the tempor
ary chief of the branch until I arrived.^5 I remained at the NIH through
June 1979, when I left to join the Department of Neurology at the Uni
versity of Miami.
We were soon joined in 1955 by other MNI alumni with a more or
less direct interest in the field of epilepsy. They included, among others:
Choh-luh Li, associate neurosurgeon of the Surgical Neurology Branch,
Igor Klatzo in the Surgical Neurology Branch’s Section on Clinical Neu
ropathology, and John M. Van Buren, associate neurosurgeon of the
Surgical Neurology Branch.
To complete the original NINDB intramural nucleus of scientists with
a more or less direct interest in the field of seizures, additional faculty mem
bers were recruited who did not come from Montreal. These included
Giovanni DiChiro (trained at the then famous neuroradiological School
of the Serafinerlazarettet in Stockholm, Sweden), who was invited from
Naples to head the Section on Neuroradiology within the Medical
Neurology Branch in late 1957; and Paul O. Chatfield, who had worked
with Alexander Forbes and Dominick Purpura, to head the Medical
Neurology Branch’s Section on Clinical Neurophysiology (however, with
only a marginal interest in seizure disorders).