Robert W. Baloh

Robert W. Baloh, M.D. is the Guest Editor of this issue of Seminars in Neurology on Neurotology. He really needs no introduction as he is a giant in our field, but I thought our readers would enjoy learning the personal history of this terrific man. Dr. Baloh did his undergraduate work at the University of Pittsburgh earning a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics. He also earned his M.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. As an undergraduate, he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and as a medical student into Alpha Omega Alpha. He trained in neurology at UCLA and they have held onto to him as tightly as they can ever since. He has received many prestigious honors, my favorite of which are the Hallpike Nylen Prize, Honorary Membership in the American Neurological Association, and he was the Guest of Honor at the International Conference on Episodic Ataxia in Santa Monica. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts, and three books: Clinical Neurophysiology of the Vestibular System, Dizziness, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, and Disorders of the Vestibular System. Dr. Baloh is a very popular lecturer at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting.

Patients often first see an otolaryngologist for symptoms of vertigo and hearing loss, and are referred to a neurologist when extensive testing does not reveal a surgically treatable condition. Patients are frustrated by the unpredictability of their symptoms, the inability to image what is wrong with them, and a fear of permanent hearing loss or chronic vertigo. We are indebted to Dr. Baloh and to all of the contributors to this issue of Seminars in Neurology for helping us help our patients.

Dr. Baloh's son is also a neurologist and I had the memorable experience of meeting him during his Neurology Residency at Harvard. For a son to choose the career of his father says so much about the father not only as a physician, but also what he has meant to his son. I tell my colleagues, watch this young man because, like his father, he will make tremendous contributions to neurology.