Valenstein appointed chair of neurology

A prominent neurologist and longtime University of Florida faculty member has been appointed chairman of the College of Medicine’s department of neurology.

Edward Valenstein, M.D., was selected to lead and manage the clinical, educational and research missions of the department, housed at the Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute of UF. The appointment took effect Jan. 1. Valenstein, a professor of neurology and clinical psychology who has been with UF since 1974, served as interim chairman since October 2000.

Valenstein will work to maintain the department’s high standards for patient care, teaching, residency training and research in the fields of behavioral neurology, neurorehabilitation, motor disorders and epilepsy.

He plans to develop a movement disorders program, focused on diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, tremor and dystonia. He intends to build a stroke program and will participate with the UF Shands Cancer Center and the department of neurosurgery to recruit a neuro-oncologist specializing in cancer of the central nervous system.

He also will be involved in developing an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the Evelyn L. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute of UF, supported by a generous endowment from SantaFe HealthCare.

Valenstein oversees 13 full-time neurologists and three Ph.D.-level scientists, and he hopes to expand his staff of neurologists over the next two years. For more than a decade, he has directed the department’s residency program.

Valenstein has studied the relationship between brain anatomy and behavioral disorders, such as neglect and amnesia. He specializes in diagnosing and caring for patients with neuromuscular disorders, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and peripheral neuropathy, and has a special interest in the care of patients with multiple sclerosis. He has reviewed manuscripts for several scientific journals and co-edited the widely used textbook “Clinical Neuropsychology.”