Kenneth Heilman

Kenneth M. Heilman (born 1938) is an American behavioral neurologist He is considered one of the fathers of modern-day behavioral neurology.

Heilman was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.

He attended college at the University of Virginia was accepted into medical school after three years of college and graduated from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in 1963.

He did two years of residency in internal medicine at Cornell University Medical Center at Bellevue Hospital.

During the Vietnam War, he joined the Air Force and served as chief of medicine at the NATO Hospital in İzmir, Turkey from 1965 to 1967.

After leaving the Air Force, Heilman entered a residency in neurology at Harvard Medical School under Derek Denny-Brown and then continued there being a fellowship with Norman Geschwind and D. Pandya.

Upon completion of his fellowship, Heilman was recruited by the Dr. Melvin Greer, the chair of the Department of Neurology, at the University of Florida.

Heilman joined the faculty of the University of Florida Department of Neurology in 1970 as an Assistant Professor.

He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1973 and Professor in 1975.

In addition to teaching medical and psychology students, he is active in resident education and was the director of the University of Florida Behavioral Neurology Fellowship that trained many post doctoral fellows since its inception in 1976.

Several of Heilman's former fellows are now leaders in academic neurology, neuropsychology, speech therapy, and other allied fields.

Heilman is the author and editor for about 22 books and has also authored or co-authored more than 670 articles in peer-reviewed journals, as well as more than 110 chapters.

His research has been funded by federal agencies (e.g., VA Merit Review and/or National Institutes of Health) for more than three decades.

He also was a Visiting Professor at more than 50 times.

In recognition of his research contributions, he was in the first group of individuals to receive the University of Florida Research Foundation Professorships.

Heilman also received the Clinical Research Award from the University of Florida College of Medicine.

The Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Society has recognized him with an Outstanding Achievement Award for his research and educational contributions to Neurology.

He received the Wartenberg Award from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).

He is honorary member of the American Neurological Association and an AAN fellow.

He has been on the editorial boards of nine journals.

One of Heilman's books, on the neurology of creativity, is dedicated to the nearly 100 fellows he has had who have published with him.

He is the author/editor of 22 books, more than 115 chapters and 670 journal publications, with more than 60,000 citations (i-index 115).

He and his coworkers have described several new diseases/disorders and their treatment such as orthostatic tremor.

Along with his co-investigators, he has helped to understand the pathophysiology of many neurobehavioral disorders such as spatial neglect, apraxia, disorders of emotional communication, aphasia and amnestic disorders.

He is a past President and received a Distinguished Career Awards from the International Neuropsychology Society (INS) and the Society for Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology.

He is an Honorary Member of the American Neurological Association.

He is also a Fellow in the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and received the Wartenberg Keynote Lecturer Award from the AAN.

He became the first James E. Rooks, Jr. Professor of Neurology in 1990, a newly endowed chair at the university.

In 1998, he was among the first UF faculty to receive the title of Distinguished Professor.

Heilman was also the program director and was chief of neurology at the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Administration Hospital (Malcom Randall VAMC).

Heilman is an active clinician who was Director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at UF/Shands, one of the 15 Memory Disorder Clinics supported by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs.

This clinic serves those with memory and cognitive disorders, especially those suffering from dementias such as Alzheimer's disease.

His expertise as a clinician has been recognized by being listed in virtually every edition of the Best Doctors in America as well as other publications citing clinical excellence.

Heilman has research interests in attentional, emotional and cognitive disorders.

The AAN had a program (2019) called “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants.” This program highlighted, “The five Neuro Giants who will take us on their personal journey in neurology and how they have contributed to the evolution of neurology.” Dr. Heilman was one of the "Giants."

In 2019, he was awarded the “Distinguished Lifetime Contribution to Neuropsychology” award by the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN).

Research advances reported by Heilman and co-workers demonstrated:

Books written or edited by Kenneth Heilman:

22. Heilman K.M. Brain Laterality: Right, Up and Forward- In Press.

Routledge—Taylor & Francis,.