Cushing's Awareness Day!

Today is the official Cushing's Awareness day.  It is celebrated today because today is Harvey Cushing's birthday.  He is considered the father of modern neuroscience, and his observations about pituitary tumors were so groundbreaking that the disease was actually named after him.  In honor of Harvey Cushing I would like to share some information about him.

He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the youngest of ten children.  His father was a doctor, and Harvey Cushing followed in his footsteps when after graduating from Yale in 1891, he enter Harvard medical school.  Harvey Cushing did his residency at the newly formed Johns Hopkins Hospital.  He later traveled to Europe for further training but returned to the US to practice.  He is credited with developing and refining anesthesia and monitoring techniques still in use today during surgery.  He also pioneered many intracranial techniques in neurosurgery and did extensive case studies on the pituitary gland.  It is believed that no one person did as much to contribute to the field of neurosurgery as Harvey Cushing.

Check out a few websites for more in depth bios of his fascinating life:  http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/980.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Williams_Cushing

http://www.medschool.lsuhsc.edu/neurosurgery/nervecenter/cushing.html

I am so thankful for all of Dr. Cushing's study and research to try and shed light on this often confusing disease.  And I am so thankful for the few doctors that have followed in his footsteps.  Their work has greatly impacted my life, and I am thankful for their scientific pursuit and also their compassion for the human side of this disease.

So today, in honor of Dr. Harvey Cushing, I thank all people who work to bring awareness to this horrible disease and everyone who is working towards a TRUE cure!