Selhorst Picked for Endowed Chair in Neurology

This is the department of neurology's first endowed chair and the eleventh in the School of Medicine.

Selhorst joined the faculty of Saint Louis University's School of Medicine in 1985 as professor and chairman of the department of neurology. Since then, the department has grown in faculty and resident positions, basic and clinical research and clinical services. Emphasis has been given to the development of neurologic subspecialties, primarily cerebrovascular disease and epilepsy, but also child neurology and neuromuscular disorders.

A 1967 graduate of Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Selhorst completed two years of training in internal medicine at Saint Louis University Hospital before beginning his residency in neurology at Case Western Reserve University Hospital in Cleveland in 1969. Upon completion of his training there, he served with the U.S. Navy as a staff physician at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda from 1972 to 1974. The following year, he pursued a neuro-ophthalmology fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. From 1975 to 1985, Selhorst was a faculty member at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond in the departments of neurology and ophthalmology and division of neurosurgery. He rose to the academic rank of a full professor in 1984 and was named acting chairman of neurology.

Selhorst has lectured and published extensively throughout his academic career on topics in neurology and neuro-ophthalmology.

His chief interests have been in the field of vascular disorders of the eye and brain, eye movement disorders and the etiology of pseudotumor cerebri. His more than 100 publications include articles, book chapters, abstracts, letters and book reviews. Teaching awards have been received over the years from medical students as well as residents in neurology and ophthalmology.

Because of his training in neuro-ophthalmology, Selhorst has long held an appointment in ophthalmology. From 1995 to 1998, he served as the professor and interim chairman of the department of ophthalmology, a position he also held in 1986-87. Selhorst has been recognized in Best Doctors in U.S. and Best Doctors in America since 1984.

A dinner celebrating the new chair and honoring the memory of Sylvia N. Souers was held on June 22.

In 1973, Sylvia Souers' husband, Rear Admiral Sidney W. Souers, died at the age of 80 following a debilitating stroke. Admiral Souers had led an active life as a leader in public service and business, serving as an adviser to President Harry S Truman, playing a leading role in the formation of the Central Intelligence Agency and serving as executive secretary of the newly established National Security Council. In 1954 Souers returned to St. Louis and became board chairman of General American Life Insurance Co. of America.

It was perhaps the contrast between this life of service and accomplishment and the tragic impact of his stroke that moved Sylvia Souers to support, in dramatic fashion, research and treatment for other stroke victims.

In 1987, Sylvia Souers first contacted the School of Medicine concerning the department of neurology's stroke program. Following further communication and Souers' subsequent visit, Selhorst proposed a design for the management of cerebrovascular disease that included prevention, intervention and rehabilitation. Souers soon began a generous commitment to the program that culminated, following her death in 1991, with a bequest that named the stroke unit in the department of neurology as the primary recipient of a major endowment from the Admiral Sydney W. Souers and Sylvia N. Souers Charitable Trust. Her gift established the Souers Stroke Institute, which supports an ambitious basic and clinical science research agenda. Now a portion of her bequest has been designated to create the department of neurology's first endowed chair.

The department of neurology at Saint Louis University consists of 17 full-time faculty members and 13 contributing clinical faculty. In 1999, U.S. News and World Report ranked the department of neurology and the division of neurosurgery 24th among 6,400 hospitals in the nation.

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