Henry Woltman (1889–1964): pioneering American neurologist

Abstract

Henry Woltman became the first neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota at a time when there were few practitioners working full-time in this field in North America. The remarkable growth in the neurology section at Mayo mirrored the expansion that occurred in the Mayo Clinic in the early 20th century. His leadership was instrumental in establishing neurology as a viable specialty, distinct from psychiatry and aligned more closely with internal medicine. The distinctive features he instituted included an original scoring and notation system, and a close collaboration with neurosurgery. He is also remembered for Woltman's sign, the finding of slow relaxation of the muscle when the tendon reflex is elicited in hypothyroidism.