UF College of Medicine celebrates outstanding research productivity; honors extraordinary faculty member

The University of Florida College of Medicine recently celebrated its researchers’ outstanding productivity and honored an extraordinary faculty member for his extensive contributions to the field of neurosurgery.

During an Oct. 9 reception hosted by the college’s faculty council and the dean’s office, Albert L. Rhoton Jr., M.D., chairman emeritus of neurological surgery, was honored with the College of Medicine’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his exemplary academic career, compassionate patient care and teaching, and outstanding research discoveries. Faculty council members selected the winner.

Faculty council President Satya Kalra, Ph.D., said the reception served as a way to recognize the college’s contributions to applying new knowledge to patient care and research.

Dean Kenneth I. Berns, M.D., Ph.D., said he was proud of the faculty’s research efforts, calling fiscal year 2000-2001 a “banner year,” with funding from the National Institutes of Health increasing 35 percent and overall research funding increasing more than 35 percent over the previous year’s funding. He also praised Rhoton for his many accomplishments.

Rhoton, who is affiliated with the Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute of UF, is known internationally for advancing brain anatomy and surgery, particularly through his achievements in mapping the circuitry of the brain. A pioneer in using microscopes in brain surgery, Rhoton has designed refined surgical instruments, and developed innovative, life-saving techniques for clipping cerebral aneurysms and removing tumors from the pituitary gland, the hearing nerve and fluid-filled spaces of the brain.

He has won some of the premier awards in his field, including the highest international recognition given to a neurosurgeon, the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies’ Medal of Honor, which was presented to him this September at a meeting in Sydney, Australia. He also has headed most of the world’s leading neurosurgical societies.

Rhoton continues to direct an international neurosurgical training program at UF’s Health Science Center, through which more than 1,000 visiting neurosurgeons have learned new microsurgical techniques. His work’s global reach expanded further when a textbook-sized collection of his scholarly work was published in fall 2000 as a supplement to the international journal Neurosurgery.

Rhoton, who joined the UF faculty in 1972, is the third recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Berns presented him with a plaque and William A. Friedman, M.D., chairman of neurosurgery, highlighted his many accomplishments. Friedman also occupies an endowed chair established in honor of Rhoton.