Dr. Joseph Foley - Case Western Reserve's Living Legend (P04.005)

Abstract

Background Dr. Joseph Foley, Professor Emeritus and former Chief of Neurology at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, is a living legend. Raised in a strict Irish-Catholic household during the Great Depression, he was influenced early in life by colorful Boston politicians and a classic literary training. After earning scholarships to Holy Cross and Harvard Medical School, he treated the wounded on the beaches of Normandy. In 1948, Foley joined Derek Denny-Brown at Boston City Hospital and in 1951 became the Director of the Mallory Pathological Institute. Over the next decade, Foley described benign fasciculation syndrome (Denny-Brown-Foley Disease), the vascular supply of hypothalamus, and with Raymond Adams, coined the term “asterixis” and triphasic waves of hepatic encephalopathy. In 1961, Foley was recruited to Cleveland. Two years later he recruited his former resident Maurice Victor. In contrast to beurecratic chiefs of his time, Foley was constantly visible in wards and clinics, spreading humor, which earned him the reputation as the “silver tongued Irish doctor from Boston”. He could recite poetry of Homer, Yeats, and Joyce ad lib. He once said, “For an Irishman to be listening when he could be talking is a form of perversity”. Yet he set strict academic standards for his well-attired, well-spoken young doctors. From 1963-1965, he served as president of the AAN and from 1974-1975, president of the ANA, retiring in 1980. Joseph Foley, at age of 95, remains a cheerful personality, present at most conferences, and frequently seen at local coffee shops. During a Cleveland local radio interview, when asked of advice, Dr. Foley simply stated, “Make sure you continue to love people and behave in a way that you can be loved”. Dr. Foley lived by his own advice, and let love of humanity guide his practice in neurology and medicine. Disclosure: Dr. Shams has nothing to disclose. Dr. Ashraf has nothing to disclose. Dr. DeGeorgia has received personal compensation for activities with Osram Medical Incorporated as a consultant.