$1M gift targets neuroscience innovation at IU med school
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An Indiana University School of Medicine alumnus and neurosurgeon widely recognized in his field has donated $1 million to help the university recruit a leader in neuroscience innovation.
Joseph Maroon, who earned a football scholarship and medical degree at IU and is now a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said innovation is one of his driving traits. The $1 million gift establishes the Joseph C. Maroon, MD, Professorship in Neuroscience Innovation within the school’s Department of Neurological Surgery.
“As a medical student and resident in neurosurgery at Indiana University, I learned never to be satisfied with the status quo, to always seek constant improvement in the art and science of medicine — and in my life,” Marroon said in a university news release. “The goal of the Professorship in Innovation is to stimulate in perpetuity curiosity, inquisitiveness, creativity, and to provide the means through technology to prevent or alleviate patient pain and suffering — without, at the same time, hardening the human heart by which we live.”
Through the professorship, the university aims to attract a leader in neuroscience research to find new ways in how to prevent, treat and rehabilitate brain-related disabilities, IU said. The university’s department of neurological surgery also views the professorship as a key step toward creating a neuroscience innovation center.
“No one I know is more loyal about his beloved alma mater, Indiana University, or more passionate about being innovative in the neuroscience space than Joseph Maroon,” department Chairman Mitesh Shah said in the release. “The establishment of the Joseph Maroon Professorship in Neuroscience Innovation will be the catalyst for developing a world-class Neuroscience Core for Innovation inside the Neuroscience Institute.”
Maroon is the author of more than 330 scientific papers, 60 book chapters and six books and has delivered more than 200 presentations at national and international conferences.
The vice chairman of the department of neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Maroon served more than 40 years as the team neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers and helped develop the first computerized system to assess concussion severity and the timing for an athlete’s return to the field.