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Abe B. (Bert) Baker

Abe B. Baker earned the degree of doctor of medicine in 1931, from the University of Minnesota. He was a teaching fellow in Pathology from 1931 to 1934, and meantime earned the graduate degrees of Master of Science in pathology in 1932 and doctor of philosophy in pathology in 1934. The following three years he was-engaged as assistant professor and in 1940 he became also assistant professor of pathology. Dr. Baker has done, or had a leading part in, many important research investigations. His studies and contributions to medical literature have been numerous and noteworthy. Best known are his work and publications on encephalitis and cerebrovascular disease. In 1940, he wrote An Outline of Neuropathology, which had wide acceptance and has had several editions. In 1958, Doctor Baker edited An Outline of Clinical Neurology, patterned after McKinley's Outline of Neuropschiatry which it superseded, dealing with neurology only and in more detail. Clinical Neurology, a three volume encyclopedic text edited by Dr. Baker, was published in 1955. The second edition, expanded to four volumes, was published in 1962. He was elected a director of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in 1958 and it's President in 1963. He is a member and past president (1973) of the American Neurological Association. He was a founder of the American Academy of Neurology in 1948 and it's President until 1952. He has been for several years a member of the council and other advisory committees to the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness of the United States Public Health Service. Following World War II, residency training programs in all specialties were began with support by various federal and state agencies. Research grants became increasingly available from governmental sources and private foundations. Dr. Baker's teaching ability and his administrative knowledge made the neurology training program at the University of Minnesota unequalled. Twenty residents were regularly in training under his direction. By 1968, 114 had completed their training, 36 were in full time academic positions, and seven had become directors of neurology departments at medical schools.