Sid Gilman ’54, M.D. ’57

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When Sid Gilman’s colleagues describe him as a pioneer, they use a term in the broadest possible sense. A graduate of one of the UCLA School of Medicine’s earliest classes, he has spent his career exploring the diverse frontiers of one of the most complex structures in the human body – the brain.

Working first at the National Institutes of Health and later with Derek Denny-Brown, a leading neurologist of his day, Sid quickly began to carve out an outstanding reputation based on his authoritative research into brain control of motor functions and muscle tone. In 1968 he moved to Columbia University, where in 1976 he became the first holder of the H. Houston Merritt chair in research neurology.

Other opportunities beckoned in Ann Arbor, however, and a year later Sid left Columba to become professor, chair and chief of service of neurology at the University of Michigan, where he is widely credited for creating one of the preeminent departments of neurology in the United States. The interdisciplinary research groups he heads there have shed new light on the structure and function of the human brain, and he has pioneered the use of positron emission tomography (PET) in the study of living brain metabolism in neurological disorders. Sid also continues to investigate neurological aspects of brain and spinal cord injury, biochemical aspects of hereditary and degenerative diseases of the nervous system and the effects of alcohol on the brain.

In 1988, in recognition of his many contributions, Sid’s colleagues elected him president of the prestigious American Neurological Association – an ideal honor for a superb scientist, dedicated teacher and farsighted pioneer.