Welcome to Neurology

ABOUT US/FACILITIES

History

The origin of the University of Tennessee can be traced to 1794 when the Legislature of the Federal Territory chartered Blount College in Knoxville (William Blount was the governor of the territory). The college became East Tennessee State College in 1807, was designated a Federal Land-Grant Institution in 1869, and was named the University of Tennessee in 1879. Over the years, the University grew to comprise 21 different colleges in several locations. The University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis was established in 1911, and has developed into one of the country's largest and most comprehensive groupings of health sciences programs. Currently, 2000 students are enrolled in the Colleges of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, Basic Medical Sciences, Community and Allied Health Professions, and the Graduate School of Medical Sciences.

When the University of Tennessee College of Medicine was established in 1911, the first professor and chairman of Psychiatry and Neurology was Dr. B. F. Turner, the "father" of Neuropsychiatry in Memphis. Neurology became independent of psychiatry in the 1930s, when Dr. Nicholas Gott, a neurosurgeon, assumed the chairmanship. He was succeeded by a neurologist, Dr. Gene M. Lassiter, in 1957, and by Dr. Robert Utterback in 1959. Under Dr. Utterback's leadership, Neurology became a major teaching and scientific discipline, and achieved independent Departmental status in 1967. Basic research was greatly expanded and the Charles B. Stout Neuroscience Mass Spectrometry Laboratory was established. After Dr. Utterback's untimely death in 1974, a number of nationally eminent neurologists headed the Department. In 1992, the University recruited William Pulsinelli, PhD, MD from Cornell Medical Center/New York Hospital to assume the Chairmanship in Neurology.

Clinical and Research Facilities

Link Building	The Department of Neurology is located in the Link Building overlooking the Medical School's historic courtyard and Forrest Park. The facility joins two buildings, the Johnson and Wittenborg Buildings, that house state-of-the-art laboratories for Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Anatomy and Neurobiology. Together, this large complex forms the nucleus of the Neuroscience Institute, which brings together over 50 faculty members from various disciplines and which receives competitive funding for research in excess of $7,000,000 each year. The Medical School Library, conveniently located next door, includes among its many services internet access to major basic and clinical neuroscience journals, and a comprehensive selection of books and journals devoted to the clinical and basic neurosciences. The Center for Neurosciences thus affords outstanding research and educational opportunities for students, residents and fellows training in the neurological sciences.
The Department of Neurology, the Health Science Center and the University's four affiliated hospitals are located within walking distance of each other. This health complex comprises the major Medical Center serving the Mid-South, and draws from a state area 200 miles in radius containing approximately 2.5 million people. Clinical training in neurology takes place in these four hospitals within the Medical Center. Methodist University Hospital is a modern, private 696-bed facility, and is the principal adult private teaching hospital for the University of Tennessee. It has a Neurology teaching service with approximately 600 admissions per year. The newly constructed Memphis Veterans Administration Hospital has approximately 300 admissions per year. The Regional Medical Center has approximately 700 admissions to the neurology service per year. All four hospitals house state-of-the-art neurological diagnostic facilities including MRI (multiple 1.5 Tesla and one 3 Tesla magnet) and CT scanners. The Methodist University Hospital also has PET and SPECT scanning available. Diagnostic electrophysiology facilities include a four-bed video EEG monitoring unit, two fully equipped sleep laboratories, and complete EMG and nerve conduction facilities. A Magnetoencephalograph was recently installed at the LeBonheur Childrens Hospital for clinical and research use in epilepsy and other neurological disorders.		Methodist University Hospital The Regional Medical Center Memphis VA Hospital LeBonheur Children's Hospital