PM&R to Merge Into Renamed Neurology Department

Faculty and programs from the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) will combine effective Jan. 1, 2013, with the department of neurology, which will be renamed the department of neurology and rehabilitation medicine.

The move follows action by the UC Board of Trustees, which at its meeting Tuesday, Dec. 11, approved the dissolution of the PM&R department effective Dec. 31, 2012. The dissolution had previously been approved by the College of Medicine Council.

PM&R programs and faculty will be members of the department of neurology effective Jan. 1, 2013, when the new name also goes into effect. PM&R will become a departmental division under the direction of Mark Goddard, MD, who has served since 1999 as chair of PM&R.

The department of neurology will continue to be led by Joseph Broderick, MD, Albert Barnes Voorheis Chair of Neurology and an internationally recognized stroke researcher.

"Making stroke rehabilitation part of neurology is a golden opportunity,” says Thomas Boat, MD, dean of the College of Medicine and vice president for health affairs. "With this close partnership, aided by our association with UC Health Drake Center, we can improve care across the spectrum of acute and chronic disorders and enhance research and education.

"The department of physical medicine and rehabilitation has built a premier program in neuro recovery under Dr. Goddard’s leadership. Many people still suffer from neurologic deficits following stroke, and maximum recovery will be possible only through a strong rehabilitation program.”

The neurology department’s stroke research program was the first to test and explore the use of the clot-busting drug tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, and continues to serve a leading role in both clinical and basic research for stroke and many other neurological conditions.