Charles Byron Wilson (August 31, 1929 – February 24, 2018) was an American neurosurgeon.

Education

When Wilson's college football career was cut short due to an ankle injury, he studied medicine, finishing first in his class in 1954. He served a rotating internship and a year in pathology at Charity Hospital, where he was drawn to the studies of neuropathology, neurology and neuroanatomy, and decided to become a neurosurgeon.

Career

Wilson joined the faculty of Louisiana State University Medical School, where he was assistant professor of neurosurgery from 1961 to 1963. Moving to Lexington, he founded the Division of Neurosurgery at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

. There he became interested in malignant gliomas and created specialized laboratory and research programs. He was named professor and chairman of the Division of Neurosurgery at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

in 1968. According to Dr. Susan Chang, director of UCSF's neuro-oncology division, “

ilson Ilson Wilians Rodrigues (born 12 March 1979) is a Brazilian former footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, America ...

was a visionary in how he built a multidisciplinary approach to studying brain cancer, linking basic science and clinical research together. He was able to set up an infrastructure to test new therapies on tumors and spare patients the side effects of treatments.” In 1985 Wilson became Tong-Po Kan Professor of Neurosurgery. He was profiled by Malcolm Gladwell for ''The New Yorker'' in 1999, where Gladwell argued that Wilson was an example of “physical genius,” and compared him to such figures as Wayne Gretsky,

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (born October 7, 1955) is a French-born American Cello, cellist. Born to Chinese people, Chinese parents in Paris, he was regarded as a child prodigy there and began to study the cello with his father at age four. At the age of seven, ...

and

Tony Gwynn Anthony Keith Gwynn Sr. (May 9, 1960 – June 16, 2014), nicknamed "Mr. Padre", was an American professional baseball right fielder, who played 20 seasons (1982–2001) in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres. The left-handed hi ...

. Wilson performed over 2,000 transsphenoidal surgeries. After his death, a New York ''Times'' articled described him as “a pioneering and virtuosic San Francisco neurosurgeon who used operating rooms like stages, sometimes performing as many as eight surgeries a day, all while building a leading brain tumor research center.”

Accomplishments and awards

Wilson received the Outstanding Clinical Instructor and Outstanding Clinical Professor awards at Kentucky. He was the Wilder Penfield Lecturer, the Herbert Olivecrona Lecturer, and the R. Eustace Semmes Lecturer, among others. He published over 500 articles and book chapters and served on several editorial boards, including that of ''The Journal of Neurosurgery'', which he chaired from 1981 to 1983.

Miscellany

Wilson was a pianist, and enjoyed running marathons. He co-founded the Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance, which provides healthcare programs in African countries affected by AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. He raised money and determined policy for Clinic by the Bay, which offers free medical services to uninsured people in the

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

area. Wilson is survived by his fifth wife, Frances Petrocelli; his daughter, Rebecca Cohn; his son, Byron; a stepdaughter, Kathryn Petrocelli; four grandchildren, and two step-grandchildren.

References

1929 births 2018 deaths American neurosurgeons American neuroscientists Louisiana State University faculty People from Neosho, Missouri {{med-bio-stub