Neurology and Neurosurgery at the Montreal General Hospital 1960-1980

Abstract

Neurology and neurosurgery are among the most active disciplines at the Montreal General Hospital (MGH) today with impressive academic and neuroscientific profiles. This paper records an earlier period of activity when the feasibility of such research and clinical developments was only a dream.The history of neurology and neurosurgery at the MGH dates from the early days of this century – a story which is well-told by Preston Robb in “The Development of Neurology at McGill”. The level of clinical activities varied from decade to decade and from the 1930s was closely linked to the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI). An MGH Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery was established in the 1940s. Francis McNaughton was the first director and, on his move to become neurologist-in-chief at the MNI in 1951, he was succeeded by Harold Elliott, the neurosurgeon. Preston Robb was then the senior neurologist, assisted over variable periods of time by colleagues Norman Viner, Miller Fisher, William Tatlow, Bernard Graham, and David Howell. Dr. Robb reluctantly resigned in 1953 after having “met with the authorities to see if a basic research program could be developed. I was told that this was not possible, it was not in the tradition of the hospital, and research was the responsibility of the university.” For a short period in 1955 and 1956, JGS was a junior staff member in neurosurgery before joining Bill Feindel at the University of Saskatchewan. Despite these impressive hospital rosters, neurologists and neurosurgeons at the MGH were not full-time and the bulk of the academic and training activities of the McGill Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery continued at the MNI.