Dr. Thomas H. Milhorat

Thomas Herrick Milhorat was born on April 5, 1936 in New York City. He was raised in Pelham Manor, N.Y., and attended Cornell University (B.S. 1957, M.D. 1961). After graduation from medical school, he continued as an intern and assistant resident in general surgery at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Here he was mentored and began his training in neurological surgery under Dr. Bronson S. Ray, the last in a prestigious line of neurosurgeons trained by the father of neurosurgery, Dr. Harvey Cushing. Dr. Milhorat's training was supplemented by two years of research at the National Institutes of Health, where he was subsequently appointed Assistant Neurosurgeon in the Branch of Surgical Neurology (1968-1971). In 1969, Dr. Milhorat was appointed Chairman of Neurosurgery at the Children's Hospital National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery and Child Health and Development at George Washington University School of Medicine. He was promoted to the rank of Full Professor in 1974. While in Washington, Dr. Milhorat's investigations on hydrocephalus and the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) led to landmark articles in Science, The New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of Neurosurgery. He also authored four books, including the classical monograph Hydrocephalus and the Cerebrospinal Fluid (1972).

In 1982, Dr. Milhorat assumed the position of Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn. There he developed a highly respected Neurosurgery Residency Training Program and continued both laboratory and clinical studies in CSF physiology and syringomyelia. His study of Chiari malformations and their role in the development of syringomyelia led to many pivotal papers on the subject. His surgical expertise soon attracted patients from around the world and emphasized the need for assembling a team of physicians with an academic interest in the conditions. In 1993, he established a Chiari Center at the Long Island College Hospital. Since 1996, Dr. Milhorat has served as Chairman of the Medical Advisory board of the American Syringomyelia Alliance Project, which has permitted him to champion the cause of patients with these conditions.

In 2001, Dr. Milhorat was appointed Chairman of the Departments of Neurosurgery at North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center, becoming the first Chairman of Neurosurgery at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, which provided him with the opportunity to establish the Chiari Institute and fulfill his dream of a multidisciplinary clinical and research center for patients with Chiari malformations, syringomyelia and related disorders. Dr. Milhorat is a member of numerous scientific and neurosurgical societies, serves on the editorial board of Neurosurgery and is the author of more than 325 scientific publications. He is the recipient of numerous awards, such as the Pudenz Prize for Excellence in CSF Physiology (1994) and the Jefferson Browder Award for Excellence in Neurosurgery (1995) and is listed in Who's Who in America (since 1978), Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, New York magazine's “The Best Doctors in New York” and Castle Connolly's Best Doctors in America.

Dr. Milhorat's Bibliography