Hubert Rosomoff, MD, DMedSc: Pioneer in Neurosurgery and Pain Medicine

Abstract

> A man could ask no more of fate > > Than to be simple, modest, manly and true, > > Unknown to the many, honored by the few. > > To count as naught in world, church or state, > > But inwardly in secret, to be great. Hu Rosomoff, one of pain medicine's pioneers and leaders, passed away in June 2008. I thought of these words by James Russell Lowell when considering Hu's greatness because there was something special inside this man such that his eventual worldly greatness must have seemed inevitable. His contributions to the fields of neurosurgery and pain medicine are legendary and he is considered one of the founders of our field. Long last, three of us convene now to memorialize in our journal a true giant of American Medicine. After his death in June 2008, thousands of words were written and spoken about Hu's many accomplishments in neurosurgery and pain medicine (see http://www.MiamiHerald.com/obituaries— The Miami Herald from June 6–7, 2008). Why now, many months after Hu's death in the 2008, do we proceed to our task? Sometimes, in the rush to memorialize the death of a star with an enormous gravitational pull, an equilibrium is not yet reached. The universe has not stabilized in its new configuration—a figurative black hole of perspective remains. Hu's was not a shooting star—it was and remains a fixture in our firmament; his work and the work he inspired and supported in others, a legacy to the field and to humanity. It seems easy to list honors and public and professional achievements. Much harder is a perspective that relies on the more private, personal reflection of close associates on a great man's effect on one's own contributions, in this case specifically our careers in pain medicine. Thus, I and my colleagues and friends, Philipp Lippe and David …