Cloward Award Recipient
2010: Sean Mullan, MD
Professor Emeritus of Neurosurgery, University of Chicago
Lecture: Some Neurosurgical Fossils
Dr. Mullan was born in County Derry, Northern Ireland, graduated from St. Columbus College, Derry, Ireland and Queen’s University, Belfast, Ireland where he received his M.B., B.Ch. and B.A.O., and was a Londonderry University Scholar. His internship was at Royal Victoria Hospital (Belfast), and his residencies in General Surgery included tours at Claremont St. Hospital (Belfast), Middlesex Hospital (London), Musgrave Park Hospital (Belfast), Belfast City Hospital, and Guys Hospital (London). He completed General Surgery at the Royal Victoria Hospital. Neurosurgical residencies were at Royal Victoria Hospital, and the Montreal Neurological Institute.
Upon completion of his residency in 1955, Dr. Mullan was appointed Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of Chicago, Associate Professor in 1959, Professor in 1963, and Chairman, Section of Neurological Surgery, from 1967 until 1992. Dr. Mullan also was acting Chairman of the Department of Surgery from 1970 to 1972 and Director of the Brain Research Institute at the University of Chicago from 1964 to 1984.
National committee activities have been extensive, both in the United States and abroad. Dr. Mullan served as President of the Society of Neurological Surgeons, Vice President and Program Chairman for the AANS, and Vice President of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery. He has served in leadership in the World Federation of Neurological Surgeons, and the National Institutes of Nervous Disease and Blindness. He was on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Neurosurgery and Archives of Neurology; and he also served as examiner for the American Board of Neurological Surgery.
Author of the book Essentials of Neurosurgery, as well as over 180 papers and book chapters, Dr. Mullan’s clinical interests are many and varied — ranging from head injury, diagnostic procedures, treatment of involuntary movement disorders, and brain tumor care. Cerebral vascular issues are a special interest, including aneurysm thrombosis, carotid cavernous fistula treatment and use of isotopes clinically in pain management procedures. Pain procedures interests also include balloon compression for Trigeminal Neuralgia, and originating the lateral C2 level cordotomy. Dr. Mullan also has a deep interest in the neurophysiology of clinical problems.
Dr. Mullan and his wife, Vivian, live in the Hyde Park area of Chicago. They have two sons and one daughter.
