Casey Bush collection on Robert S. Dow

Collection

Identifier: 2008-022

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains a variety of publications, presentations, correspondence, photographs, and biographical information relating to Oregon’s first board-certified neurologist, Robert Stone Dow. The collection was assembled by Casey Bush, Dr. Dow’s biographer, during the course of his research, and includes Bush’s notes and related correspondence. Highlights include Dow’s notes and writings on the history of medical education and neurological research in the Pacific Northwest, as well as his presentation on the rare neurodegenerative disorder, kuru, and his experimental research on the relationship between cobalt, epilepsy, and the cerebellum.

Dates

Creation: 1933-1993

Creator

Dow, Robert Stone, 1908- (Creator, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on access. This collection is open to the public.

Conditions Governing Use

OHSU Historical Collections & Archives (HC&A) is the owner of the original materials and digitized images in our collections, however, the collection may contain materials for which copyright is not held. Patrons are responsible for determining the appropriate use or reuse of materials. Consult with HC&A to determine if we can provide permission for use.

Biographical note

Dr. Robert Stone Dow was born in 1908 in Wray, Colorado and was raised in Newberg and McMinnville, OR. After graduating from Linfield College, Dow went on to earn his M.D., Masters, and Ph.D. in anatomy from the University of Oregon Medical School. It was here on the recommendation of Dr. James McNab that he met his mentor, Dr. Olof Larsell who instilled in him a passion for the innermost workings of the cerebellum. In 1939, after his post-graduate work at Yale, in Belgium with Frederic Brenner, at the London Queen’s Hospital, and at the Rockefeller Institute in Manhattan, Dow returned to Portland to teach anatomy and clinical neurology. He established the first EEG laboratory in the Pacific Northwest in 1943 and, in 1946, he established the first neurology practice in Oregon.

In 1953, Dow travelled to Italy to work with Dr. Giuseppe Moruzzi on the book, The Physiology and Pathology of the Cerebellum. Returning to Oregon after its publication in 1958, he convinced Good Samaritan Hospital to establish a laboratory of neurophysiology, which was renamed to the “R. S. Dow Neurological Sciences Institute” in 1988. It was here, as the Head of the Department of Neurology, that Dow developed a treatment for epilepsy through electrical stimulation to the cerebellum. While not fully realized during his lifetime, a similar therapy was instituted after his death. Dow continued his work on the cerebellum for the next 30 years, conducting research into epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and strokes, among other related conditions before passing away at the age of 87 in 1995.

Biographical note

Casey Bush is a poet, senior editor of The Bear Deluxe Magazine, and the author of Robert Stone Dow’s unpublished biography, Inside the Black Box: A Biography of Oregon Neuroscientist Robert Stone Dow. He writes on myriad subjects including literature, computers, medicine, and music. He is an avid chess enthusiast and was the chess correspondent for the Oregonian from 1987 to 1992, as well as having written the biography of Oregon chess grandmaster Arthur Drake.

Extent

1.05 Linear Feet (3 document boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Dr. Robert S. Dow established the first EEG laboratory in the Pacific Northwest and the first neurology practice in Oregon. He served as the Head of the Department of Neurology at Good Samaritan Hospital where he developed a treatment for epilepsy through electrical stimulation to the cerebellum. This collection was assembled by Casey Bush during the course of his research into writing Dow’s biography. Highlights include Dow’s notes and writings on the history of medical education and neurological research, as well as his presentation on the rare neurodegenerative disorder, kuru, and his experimental research on the relationship between cobalt, epilepsy, and the cerebellum.