The Papers of James Greenwood Sr. and Jr., MDs
<p>James Greenwood Sr. (1878-1949) and James Greenwood Jr. (1907-1993) were a father and son who practiced neuropsychiatry and neurosurgery, respectively, for many years in Houston, Texas. Both were graduates of the University of Texas Medical Branch of Galveston, professors at the Baylor College of Medicine, and researchers of brain function.</p>
<p>James Greenwood Sr. worked at the San Antonio State Hospital for Mental Diseases before opening his own sanitarium in Houston, Texas in 1912, and operating it until his death in 1949. James Greenwood Jr. pursued surgery and became the first neurosurgeon in Houston and Southwest United States. He invented the bipolar coagulation forceps and developed bipolar electrocoagulation. He was the first neurosurgeon in the world to successfully remove intramedullary spinal cord tumors.</p>
<p>The careers of father and son James Greenwood Sr. and Jr. reflect the historical merging and division of psychiatry and neurology. In the 19th century psychiatry was practiced in sanatoriums and asylums while neurology's domain was the hospital.<sup>1</sup> With the onset of clinical neuroscience in the early 20th century the combined discipline of neuropsychiatry emerged, and this was James Greenwood Sr.'s approach as he operated the Greenwood Sanitarium from 1912 to 1949.</p>
<p>Post-World War II, however, the two fields separated. Neurologists like James Greenwood Jr. focused strictly on neurology, leaving psychiatry to psychiatrists. Today, though, there is a renewed interest in investigating the neural basis of neuropsychiatric diseases.</p>
<p>Find out more at McGovern Historical Center's blogpost, <strong><a href="https://library.tmc.edu/mcgovern/2023/05/16/like-father-like-son/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Like Father, Like Son</a></strong>. </p>
Items from this exhibit are from the McGovern Historical Center at The TMC Library.
<p>[1] Shahar Arzay and Shlomo Danziger, "The Science of Neuropsychiatry: Past, Present, and Future," Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 26, no.4 (Fall 2014):392-295 <A href="https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.neuropsych.13120371" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.neuropsych.13120371</a></p>