The Robert A. Groff, MD Teaching and Research Chair of Neurosurgery

The Chair was established in 1997 by the bequest of Mary E. Groff to honor her brother, the prominent neurosurgeon Robert A. Groff, MD (1903–1975). A Penn and Perelman School of Medicine alumnus, Dr. Groff chaired the Departments of Neurosurgery at Graduate Hospital and at the Perelman School of Medicine. He was the inaugural holder of the Charles Harrison Frazier Professor of Neurosurgery chair.

Dr. Groff graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1925 and from the Perelman School of Medicine in 1928. He pursued a variety of fellowships at Penn, in Boston, and in Europe. During World War II he served with the 20th General Hospital, the major military hospital organized and run by Penn Medicine to provide medical care for the American, British, and Chinese forces in northeastern India. The Hospital won acclaim for achieving an overall mortality rate of only 0.4 percent for its 73,000 patients despite primitive conditions and the constant threat of malaria and other infectious diseases.

Following the war, Dr. Groff joined the faculty at Graduate Hospital, becoming Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery in 1955 and Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery in the Perelman School in 1957. He had trained under the legendary Dr. Charles Harrison Frazier (1870–1936) and in 1963 was appointed the first holder of the Frazier chair. Dr. Groff was granted emeritus status in 1973.

Current Chairholder
Douglas H. Smith, MD

Douglas H. Smith, MD, is the Robert A. Groff Professor of Teaching and Research in Neurosurgery and Director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at the University of Pennsylvania.  In addition, Dr. Smith is the Scientific Director of the Big 10/ Ivy league Collaboration on Concussion and serves as a member on the Concussion Scientific Advisory Boards for the NFL and the NCAA.  Dr. Smith has also worked with the U.S. Department of State to identify a new neurological disorder, “Havana Syndrome.”

Dr. Smith’s group has established that damage and dysfunction of brain axons underly concussion symptoms and that this injury can trigger progressive neurodegeneration, such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy. His research efforts are represented in over 250 publications. Recent awards include the Dorothy Russell medal, from the British Neuropathological Society, the William Osler Patient Oriented Research Award from the University of Pennsylvania, and the Anthony B. Marmarou Neurotrauma Award from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.