History

Our History

The history of the University of Cincinnati Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine starts with Charles Aring, MD, a leader in medical education. Much of his life was spent associated with the UC College of Medicine and University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

Aring survived polio as a toddler and entered the German Protestant Orphanage on Highland Avenue at age 7. He began his career at UC in 1919 when, at age 15, he was sent to live at Cincinnati General Hospital (now UC Medical Center).

He worked as an office clerk and errand boy. After graduation from Walnut Hills High School, he began his studies at UC as an undergraduate. He graduated from the College of Medicine in 1929 and became the first resident to train in neuropsychiatry in Cincinnati.

In 1947, College of Medicine Dean Stanley Dorst, MD, invited Aring to return from the University of California,San Francisco, where Aring had organized an independent department of neurology two years earlier. He founded the UC Department of Neurology and served as chairman for almost three decades, until his retirement in 1974.

Frederick Samaha, MD, assumed leadership of the department in 1977, retiring as chair in 1999. During his leadership, the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute was developed and formally came into existence in 1998. It has grown into a team of more than 85 experts from nine specialties who collaborate across disciplines to provide the most comprehensive diagnoses and treatments possible.

Joseph Broderick, MD, assumed leadership of the department in 2000, and stepped down in 2014. A 1982 graduate of the UC College of Medicine and a member of the Neurology faculty since 1987, Dr. Broderick is one of the nation’s leading researchers in stroke. Dr. Broderick remains an active faculty member and is the director of the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute.

Brett Kissela, MD, MS is the current chair, having assumed leadership of the department in 2014. Dr. Kissela is a 1995 graduate of Washington University School of Medicine and a member of the Neurology faculty since 2000. 

Today, we are a leader in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions involving the brain, spinal cord, nerves and muscles throughout the body.

Historical Timeline

1819: Founding of the Medical College of Ohio, precursor to the UC College of Medicine. School becomes the oldest medical school west of the Alleghenies.

1821: Founding of the Commercial Hospital and Lunatic Asylum, first teaching hospital of the Medical College of Ohio. It later drops “Lunatic Asylum” from its name in 1861.

1852: Miami Medical College founded.

1869: Cincinnati Hospital opens to replace the Commercial Hospital of Cincinnati.

1896: Medical College of Ohio officially becomes a part of UC.

1908: Miami Medical College and the Medical College of Ohio merge to form the Ohio-Miami Medical College.

1914: Christian R. Holmes is named dean of the College of Medicine.

1919: Ohio-Miami Medical College renamed the UC College of Medicine.

1947: Charles Aring, MD, is named UC’s first chair of neurology.

1960: UC given executive control of Cincinnati General Hospital.

1967: UC Medical Center is created and includes the colleges of medicine, nursing and pharmacy, and University Hospital, Christian R. Holmes Hospital and the Health Sciences Library.

1977: Frederick Samaha, MD, named chair of neurology.

1982: Cincinnati General Hospital renamed University of Cincinnati Hospital.

1987: Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Stroke Team (now UC Stroke Team) founded.

1994: Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati assumes management of UC Hospital and later renames it University Hospital.

1998: UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute begins formal existence.

1999: UC creates College of Allied Health Sciences, which joins nursing, pharmacy and medicine in making up the UC Medical Center.

2000: Joseph Broderick, MD, named chair of neurology.

2006: UC Medical Center adopts the name “Academic Health Center” to better reflect its scope of services.

2009: UC Health launches, involving a partnership of the University of Cincinnati, University Hospital and UC Physicians.

2012: University Hospital name is changed to University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

2013: The UC Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation becomes a division under the UC Department of Neurology. The department adopts the new name "UC Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine."

2014: Brett Kissela, MD, MS, named chair of neurology.

2022:  Celebrated Department 75th Anniversary.