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A Brief History of Neurosciences and Neurosurgery at the University of Chicago

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Javad Hekmat-panah - February 7, 2022

The first University of Chicago was originally established in 1857, offering college courses, courses in medicine, and courses in law. But because of escalating financial cost, the first school closed in 1886. The present University of Chicago was founded in 1890 by the American Baptist Education Society and John D. Rockefeller. William Rainey Harper became the first president of the University in June 1891. There were 544 students and 103 faculty members. Class began at 8:30 a. m. on Saturday, October 1, 1891.

Three people: Frederick T. Gates (1853-1929), John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937), and Abraham Flexner (1866-1959) influenced the development of the University of Chicago. William Rainey Harper’s goal was to make a modern research university, and they had the means to attract the best scientists in the country. The first group of Neuroscientists included: C.J. Herrick, Professor of Neurology, Harvey Carr, Professor of Experimental Psychology, G.W. Bartelmez, Professor of Anatomy, Anton J. Carlson, Professor of Physiology and Natural Sciences, and Julius Grinker, Professor of Clinical Neurology.

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- William Rainey Harper

In 1927, Dr. Franklin C. McLean became the Chairman of Medicine and Dr. Dallas B. Phemister became Chairman of Surgery. McLean's goal was to have a full-time clinical teaching staff devoted to clinical research and medical scholarship. His motto was “alias edificant," which means "build for others." Phemister’s goal was to have a central position in medical sciences by fusing research, education, and practice. His motto was “No man shall be permitted to teach unless he is engaged in research." He often asked the faculty “What have you discovered today?"

In 1928, Dr. Phemister hired Dr. Percival Bailey to head Neurosurgery at the University of Chicago. Dr. Bailey wrote that he accepted the offer, despite having little independent operating experience. When Dr. Cushing heard of this, he remarked dryly to Bailey: “I don’t know what will become of you; you will never be a surgeon” (Reference 4, Page 126). Fortunately, Dr. Phemister asked John Homans about Bailey, not Dr. Harvey Cushing. Homans said: “The boy will do all right.”

Shortly after his arrival, and after a difficult operation on a hot day, Dr. Bailey became dehydrated and very ill, eventually being hospitalized. He had developed mumps encephalitis and had become comatose. Several days after he woke up, he saw his first resident, Dr. Paul C. Bucy. Dr. Phemister had hired him to assist Dr. Bailey. Thereafter, Dr. Bailey, as chief, and Dr. Bucy, as resident, set up the neurological surgery residency program at the University of Chicago. After four years, Dr. Bailey turned over most of the operations to Dr. Bucy in order to have more time to do research.

Dr. Bailey had a strong background in neuroscience and was dedicated to research. Prior to receiving an M.D. degree from Northwestern University in 1918, he had received a B.S. in 1914 and a Ph.D. in 1918 from the University of Chicago. He was educated under the following teachers:

Julius Grinker's son, Dr. Roy Grinker Sr., taught at the University of Chicago in 1927. From 1933 to 1935 he studied under Sigmund Freud, and later, in 1946, he founded the Institute for Psychosomatic and Psychiatric Research and Training at Michael Reese Hospital. 

In 1919, Dr. Bailey applied to Dr. Cushing's neurosurgery training in Boston and to Dr. Adolf Meyer's psychiatry training at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Cushing accepted him right away, and Dr. Bailey traveled to Boston. Dr. Meyer accepted him three months later, but he stayed with Dr. Cushing, on and off, from 1919 to 1928.

Dr. Bailey established the “Neurology club” together with his following colleagues:

Neurosurgery Neurology Anatomy Neurophysiology Psychology

Percival Bailey, MD

Paul Bucy, MD

Douglas Buchanan, MD

Roy Grinker, Sr., MD

Charles Herrick, MD

George Bartelmez, MD

Stephan Polyak, MD

Paul Weiss, MD

Ralph Gerald, MD

Harvey Carr, MD

Karl Lashley, MD

Heinrich Klüver, MD

Dr. Bailey’s residency program soon developed national and international fame. He trained many neurosurgeons from the U.S. and from other countries across the world, most of whom became professors and chairpersons. 

Name Title & Hospital Affiliation
Paul C. Bucy, MD Professor & Head Div. of Neurological Surgery at Northwestern Univ. Med. School
Earl A. Walker, MD Professor & Head of the Division of Neurological Surg. at the Johns Hopkins Med. School
William H. Sweet, MD Professor & head of the Dept. of Neurological Surg at Harvard Univ. & Mass. General Hosp.
Cobb Pilcher, MD Professor of Neurosurgery at Vanderbilt
Sidney Gross, MD Professor & head Dept. of Neurosurgery at Mt. Sinai Hosp. in New York City
Adolfo Ley Gracia, MD Professor of Neurosurgery in Barcelona & the 1st Neurosurgeon in Spain
Arist Stender, MD Professor & head of the Dept. of Neurology & Neurosurg. at Frei. Univ. in W. Berlin
Jerzy Chorobski, MD Professor & head of the Dept. of Neurosurgery in Warsaw, Poland
Wallace Hamby, MD Professor of Neurosurgery at the Univ. of Buffalo; later head of Neurosurgery. at Cleveland Clinic
Jess D. Hermann, MD Professor & head Neurosurgery at the University of Oklahoma
John E. A. O'Connell, MD Head of Neurosurgery at S. Bartholomew's Hospital, London
Stephen Kornyey, MD Professor, & head of the Dept. of Neurology, Pecs, Hungary
Clovis Vincent, MD France (already distinguished Neurologist; learned Neurosurgical techniques)
Marcel David, MD Pupil of Vincent; ultimately professor of Neurological Surg. In Paris
Chisato Araki, MD Kyoto
Kenji Tanaka, MD Tokyo
Kentara Shimizu, MD Tokyo

Dr. Bailey, along with being a successful neurosurgeon, was also a serious scientist interested in the function of the entire brain. He was a permanent investigator and prolific writer. His bibliography is too long to accommodate in this brief history, but it can be seen in an article by Dr. Paul Bucy in the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Biographical Memoirs Volume 58, from which some of this writing comes. Only a few of them are included in the references below. His bibliography indicates that he was involved in research in person and in collaboration with other scientists, a discipline that was present among his trainees. For example, Dr. Bucy operated on Dr. Heinrich Klüver’s monkey, discovering what is commonly known as Klüver-Bucy syndrome.

Because of his interest in the entire brain, Dr. Bailey’s goal was to establish a Neurological Institute at the University of Chicago, including neurological psychologists Karl Lashley and Heinrich Klüver. However, for various reasons partly related to economic conditions caused by the great depression of 1930-1939, and partly because of interpersonal relationships, he left the University of Chicago in summer of 1938 in disappointment. But soon after he received an invitation from Dr. Eric Oldberg for professorship at the University of Illinois, where they were building a Neuropsychiatric Institute. “My spirits shot up like a released balloon,” he wrote.

The brevity of this history does not do justice to what Dr. Bailey accomplished and wanted to accomplish. From the time he left home at the age of 14 to go live with his uncle doing hard farm work and digging ditches, until his death in August 1973, he struggled in pursuit of knowledge. With respect to the neurosciences in particular, he worked with absolute scientific honesty. His scientific writings are essential to review for a neuroscience student, and his autobiography (titled "Up from Little Egypt") introduces the reader to the man he was. They show how a serious student can advance against odds in nature and against manmade obstacles. As Dr. Bucy put it, “The world had lost one of its most outstanding men—a man of catholic interests, both general and scientific—a truly renaissance man, the likes of which we shall probably never see again” (Reference 1, Page 31).

After Dr. Bailey’s departure, his residents, Drs. Bucy, Walker, Rasmussen, and Cloward, became chairman at the University of Chicago, each in turn for several years. They then left the University and became chairmen elsewhere.

A Recount of Historical Events

Historical Women of Neurosurgery
  1. Paul C Bucy: National Academy of Sciences 1989. Biographical Memoirs: Volume 58.
    Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/1645.
  2. THE ISOCORTEX OF MAN / BY PERCIVAL BAILEY AND GERHARDT VON BONIN. Published 1951
  3. Bailey, Percival, Intracranial Tumors, Published by Charles C. Thomas.1933
  4. Bailey, Percival.: Up from Little Egypt. Published. 1969.
  5. Bailey, Percival: Sigmund the Unserene, :a Tragedy in Three Acts. With a foreword by Roy R. Grinker. Springfield, IL. Charles C. Thomas. Publisher, 1965.
  6. INTRACRANIAL TUMORS OF INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD
    Bailey, ; Percival, ; Buchanan, ; N, Douglas; Bucy, ; C, Paul
  7. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease: October 1940 - Volume 92 - Issue 4 - p 5