Neurosurgeon

Just when a legal settlement with three doctors seemed to calm tensions at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, the chief neurosurgeon yesterday filed a $6 million lawsuit, alleging that he is being wrongly forced out of his job.Dr. Clark Watts said his contract has been violated and his reputation damaged by Dr. Kimball Maull, the hospital's new director, who told him on July 6 to look for another job because of differences over the treatment of patients with head and spinal injuries.Dr. Maull insisted that he had not forbidden the 53-year-old surgeon to teach or perform surgery.

Almost 500 Emory University faculty and students have expressed their dismay that their commencement speaker on Monday does not toe the ideological line when it comes to evolutionary biology. Yes - gasp - the renowned Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Ben Carson does not believe in evolutionary theory. Not only that, but biology professors at Emory and their supporters also accuse Dr. Carson of committing a thought crime because he allegedly "equates acceptance of evolution with a lack of ethics and morality.

Dr. William H. Mosberg Jr., who earned national and international prestige as president of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and as editor of a major neurosurgery journal, died Monday at Good Samaritan Hospital after a long illness. He was 73.Dr. Mosberg's medical education and work took him to three continents outside North America and to several island countries.The Baltimore native graduated from City College in 1936 at age 15. He also graduated from a business school that he attended for one year and, after working for a year in an iron foundry, enrolled the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Joseph B. Kelly, a retired University of Maryland School of Medicine researcher who enjoyed fine dining and listening to vintage jazz, died June 5 of renal failure at Northwest Hospital Center. He was 81. The son of a chauffeur and a homemaker, Mr. Kelly was born in Baltimore and raised on West Waesche Street, near University Hospital. After graduating in 1948 from Carver Vocational-Technical High School, he worked as a dental assistant for Dr. Isaac Young before being drafted into the Army in 1950.

Dr. Richard J. Otenasek Jr., a Baltimore neurosurgeon and volunteer who was ill with cancer, had stood humbly on the stage at Loyola High School's commencement to hear his life praised as a model for others.Dr. Otenasek, 63, who was presented the Rev. Joseph M. Kelley, S.J., Medal by the school's alumni association last month, died Monday at his Homeland residence surrounded by his family.In a letter to the alumni association, a son wrote: "My father has spent a lifetime embracing the spirit of St. Ignatius and being a man for others.

Amid all the hoopla of baseball playoffs and a new football team in town, Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, renowned Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon, wants to divert attention to more cerebral pursuits."

WASHINGTON - Baltimore neurosurgeon Benjamin S. Carson said he was "humbled" when President Bush draped the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, around his neck yesterday. But such accolades are routine for the doctor who persevered through a childhood of poverty and urban violence to become the youngest department head at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a benefactor distributing thousands of scholarship dollars each year.

How much research and single-minded effort did it take for Dan Rodricks to find one illegal alien who has now (against enormous odds) become a Hopkins neurosurgeon ( "'Illegal' immigrants and the next economy?" May 15)? Has Mr. Rodricks conveniently forgotten about Adan Canela and Policarpio Perez (both illegal aliens) who were charged with the 2006 brutal murders of three Mexican children? Has he dismissed the multiple arrests of Juan Gonzales (an illegal alien)

William H.M. Finney, a retired neurosurgeon who was known not only for his technical expertise, but for his commitment to public health, died Thursday after an apparent heart attack while driving near his home in Towson. He was 79. Dr. Finney was an expert on back injuries and performed hundreds of disc operations during his career. He also helped start Shepherd's Clinic, a low-cost treatment center for Baltimore's working poor. "He was one of the last of the old breed of doctors, who gave their lives completely to the field," said his longtime friend and colleague, Union Memorial Hospital surgeon Dr. William Howard.

Paintings of birds decorated Center Stage's Head Theater for the 1999 Nightingala party. But the entertainment came in human form, as Marthanne Verbit presented an evening of piano theater to benefit the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing Community Health Nursing Program. Among the 320 guests enjoying the high-flying night: Anne Pinkard, honorary event chair; Renee Waldron and Terry Ulmer, event co-chairs; Townsend Kent, Lindy Lord, Chessie Donnelly and Mary-Ann Pinkard, event committee members; Sue Donaldson, dean of the Hopkins School of Nursing; Dr. Bill Brody, Johns Hopkins University president; former Baltimore Colts quarterback Marty Domres, now with DB Alex.

How much research and single-minded effort did it take for Dan Rodricks to find one illegal alien who has now (against enormous odds) become a Hopkins neurosurgeon ( "'Illegal' immigrants and the next economy?" May 15)? Has Mr. Rodricks conveniently forgotten about Adan Canela and Policarpio Perez (both illegal aliens) who were charged with the 2006 brutal murders of three Mexican children? Has he dismissed the multiple arrests of Juan Gonzales (an illegal alien)

Dr. George B. Udvarhelyi, an internationally known Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon who established the Office of Cultural Affairs at the East Baltimore medical school, died Tuesday evening at Roland Park Place of complications from a neck fracture. He was 90. "George Udvarhelyi was a colorful character who during his years there made remarkable contributions to the medical school at Hopkins," said Dr. Richard S. Ross, former dean of the Johns Hopkins medical school. "He was a cosmopolitan Middle European gentleman who was always impeccably dressed and drenched in fine cologne."

The NFL needs a "culture change" -- and perhaps major modifications to helmets, injury-reporting procedures and practice rules -- to better protect players from head injuries, two prominent neurosurgeons said Wednesday. "We're at that tipping point where there is probably going to have to be an enormous culture change that occurs that will happen over years," Richard G. Ellenbogen, co-chairman of the NFL's Medical Committee on Head, Neck and Spine, told reporters after a one-day, league-financed educational conference.

Israel H. "Sonny" Weiner, a retired Lutherville neurosurgeon who had been president of the Maryland Board of Physician Quality Assurance, died of cancer Sept. 11 at Seasons Hospice at Northwest Hospital Center. The longtime Stevenson resident was 82. Born in Baltimore, the son of a hardware store owner and a homemaker, Dr. Weiner was raised in the city's Park Circle neighborhood. He was a 1945 graduate of City College and served in the Navy from 1945 to 1946. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1949 from the Johns Hopkins University.

WASHINGTON - Baltimore neurosurgeon Benjamin S. Carson said he was "humbled" when President Bush draped the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, around his neck yesterday. But such accolades are routine for the doctor who persevered through a childhood of poverty and urban violence to become the youngest department head at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a benefactor distributing thousands of scholarship dollars each year.

Dr. John O. Sharrett, a retired neurosurgeon who later worked for the Social Security Administration, died of complications from a stroke Nov. 5 at a nursing and rehabilitation center in Shrewsbury, Pa. He was 82. Dr. Sharrett was born and raised in Cumberland and attended the University of Virginia. In 1942, he enlisted in the Army Air Forces, where he was trained as a fighter pilot. He attained the rank of lieutenant and spent the war years stateside as a P-51 Mustang fighter and gunnery instructor.

PeopleDr. Mary P. Hogan, a Columbia obstetrician and gynecologist in practice with Drs. Esposito, Mayer, Hogan & Associates P.A., has been elected president of the professional staff at Howard County General Hospital. She will oversee the hospital's nearly 600-member medical and dental staff, preside at executive committee meetings, serve as ex-officio member of clinical departments and medical staff committees and be a member of the hospital's board of trustees. She succeeds Catonsville neurosurgeon Dr. Charles J. Lancelotta, who served a one-year term.

Move over Michaels Jackson and Jordan. Make way for Elijah Cummings and Dr. Benjamin Carson.That's the message of "Another Kind of Hero," a locally produced cable series that begins at 6 tonight on Essex Community College's Channel 17 in Baltimore County."

"Think big," Dr. Benjamin S. Carson Sr. told graduates at the 106th commencement of the College of Notre Dame of Maryland yesterday. "Persevere," said Carla D. Hayden, executive director of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Their words fell on unusually receptive ears. Two of the college's new graduates have won grants to pursue projects abroad as Fulbright Scholars. Others have balanced school, work and family obligations to earn their degrees through Weekend College, a part-time program for those in the work force, and through Accelerated College, which helps nursing and business students earn their bachelor's degree in as little as 2 1/2 years.