G. Milton Shy, Chair, 1962 — 1967

In 1961, Penn’s School of Medicine Dean, Dr. Samuel Gurin, recognizing a new era, asked Dr. Isadore Ravdin to identify the leader who could once again bring the Department to eminence.  Dr. G. Milton Shy was recruited from NIH to become Chairman of the Department of Neurology in 1962 and did just that.  He had served as Clinical Director, then Director of Intramural Research, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness (NINDB), from 1953 until his move to Penn. 

Dr. Shy was born in Trinidad, Colorado in 1919.  He received both is B.S. and M.D. from the University of Oregon in 1943.  After internship and a year of residency in internal medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, he entered the U.S. Army as a medical officer.  While serving with the Infantry during the Italian Campaign, he was seriously wounded in action, but completed his service in the Army of Occupation in Germany, attaining the rank of major.  In 1947 he began formal training in neurology at the National Hospital at Queen Square in London, moving in 1949 to continue training at the Montreal Neurological Institute.  In 1951, he joined the faculty at the University of Colorado as Chief of the Division of Neurology, and from there was recruited by NIH in 1953. 

While at NIH Dr. Shy advanced his interest in neuro-muscular diseases.  He stimulated many others towards an interest in muscle disease, and while in Bethesda, published an Atlas of Muscle Pathology with J. Godwin Greenfield and others, the cornerstone on which much of his further work was to be based. At Bethesda, he also headed a major project in developing isotope brain scanning, in which he later maintained an interest.  His approach to enlisting government resources for problem-solving is partially illustrated as he pursued imaging: he commissioned the machining of a 24-carat gold collimator for a scanner using gold borrowed from Ft. Knox.  Needless to say, the machinists were carefully supervised…

He described what was termed the Shy-Drager Syndrome (which in later years proved to be multiple system atrophy); he selected Carlton Gajdusek to travel to New Guinae to unravel the newly-discovered disease Kuru.  He brought many talented investigators to NINDB, many of whom remained at NIH while others later developed distinguished careers in academic settings in the US and abroad.  The clinical underpinning of much of the research was a busy clinical service which also functioned as the training ground for many neurologists, launching successful careers in academic neurology.

Dr. Shy’s appointment at Penn represented the first ‘full time’, i.e. fully-salaried faculty position in a clinical department at the University of Pennsylvania. 

In 1962, HUP housed 750 adult and 50 pediatric beds, including the newly opened Ravdin Pavilion.  Dr. Shy persuaded the HUP administration to install air-conditioning for the Neurology 20-bed inpatient unit on Ground Floor Gibson.  In the same area, space was made for offices for Drs. Shy and Eli Goldensohn, (his first faculty recruit), an EEG machine, and a small operating room for performing muscle biopsies.  Electromyography was carried out adjacent to Dr. Shy’s office.  In 1963 a rest room in the inpatient unit was converted to an office for Dr. Donald Silberberg, the 2^nd neurologist recruited to the Department.  Dr. Silberberg supervised the muscle biopsies that were carried out by neurology residents. 

The Neurology OPD on 2 Gates East, which served uninsured and low-income patients, included a separately defined Multiple Sclerosis Clinic, partially funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  The resident’s clinic was supervised by Dr. John Bevilacqua.  ‘Private’ patients, few in number, were seen on Maloney 1.  With Dr. Alan Laties in Ophthalmology, Dr. Silberberg initiated a Neuro-Ophthalmology Clinic in Department of Ophthalmology space on 3 Gates East and directed the MS Clinic.

In the 12 months ending June 30, 1963, Neurology saw 2,530 outpatients, not including 510 in the MS Clinic.  Two years later, the totals were 2,875 and 678 respectively.

Cramped research laboratory space was developed on the 4^th floor of the Piersol Building, for Drs. Shy and Goldensohn.  Dr. Silberberg occupied a 200 sq ft laboratory in the John Morgan Building.  Despite inadequate space, much was accomplished:

• Dr. Goldensohn’s neurophysiology research included elaborating the basis of today’s inpatient epilepsy monitoring.  Additionally, he developed the clinical EEG laboratory and began accepting post-residency fellows in epilepsy. 
• Dr. Nicholas Gonatas joined the Department in 1962 with joint appointments in Neurology and Pathology.  His expertise in electron microscopy complemented Dr. Shy’s exploration of muscle biopsies via light microscopy, yielding original descriptions of mitochondrial myopathies, assigned names by Dr. Gonatas such as ‘Nemaline Myopathy’.  
• Utilizing myelinating organotypic brain tissue cultures, Dr. Silberberg’s research findings included providing the in vitro demonstration of the ability of ultraviolet light to detoxify bilirubin, permitting survival of myelinating brain cultures.  This became the experimental basis of phototherapy to prevent kernicterus in neonates with hyperbilirubinemia.

Once again, Dr. Shy skillfully obtained NIH support via the newly organized Division of Extramural Programs:

• NIH Program Project funding for research in neuromuscular disorders was the 1^st NIH program project grant awarded to a clinical department.  Dr. Shy served as the principal investigator.  This grant was continued by Dr. Rowland in 1967.
• An NIH Training Grant was obtained to support neurology residency training, again the 1^st such grant awarded by NIH.  At that time HUP did not provide training support in any specialty beyond a year of internship.  Dr. Silberberg served as the Project Director, i.e. Director of Residency Training, until Dr. Rowland’s arrival in 1967.

Dr. Shy’s outstanding abilities as a teacher and his insistence on seeking an understanding of the factual basis of neurological disease stimulated colleagues and resulted in the entry of many talented students and physicians into the field of neurology.  His use of the Socratic method was legendary.  He challenged eminent visiting experts as well as trainees.  It was expected that each of the Neurology faculty at Penn would be engaged in research as well as clinical activities and teaching.  This approach represented the beginnings of translational research in academic departments of neurology in the U.S.

In 1967, Dr. Shy accepted the position as Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurology, and Director of Columbia’s Neurological Institute at Columbia.  Tragically, he died of a myocardial infarction 6 weeks after his arrival.

Subsequently, the G. Milton Shy Professorship was established by some of the many individuals who were inspired by his teaching, his originality, and his leadership.

Source

(Pending to be included)