Francis Grant

1957, Washington, DC

Francis C. Grant, the distinguished guest of honor in 1957, was born in Philadelphia, November 9, 1891. He received an A.B. degree from Harvard University in 1914 and his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1919. He was an intern at the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania and went on to become a resident in general surgery under Dr. Charles H. Frazier. It was at this time that he received his initial stimulus into neurosurgery. Dr. Frazier was beginning to establish a large neurosurgical service, and Dr. Grant remained in training at the University Hospital and concentrated in this field. He next spent a year with Dr. Cushing in Boston to increase his knowledge of neurosurgical problems. Upon his return to Philadelphia he became chief of neurosurgery at the Graduate Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania where he remained until 1936. On the death of Dr. Frazier, Dr. Grant became professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Grant was a skilled operator combining technical ability and great emphasis on postoperative care. He special fields of interest centered around the surgery of brain tumors and of intractable pain. One of his publications on the subject of brain tumors is a review of over 2400 cases which he studied carefully and evaluated from the point of view of morbidity and mortality and their relationship to pathological type.

Dr. Grant always enjoyed teaching undergraduates and residents. In the prior field he placed great emphasis on the development of a seminar-type class in which he did the teaching himself, establishing great rapport with the students. The author of over 200 papers in his specialty, Dr. Grant was considered an outstanding neurosurgeon by his colleagues both here and on the Continent as is well attested by his membership in many honorary neurosurgical societies. Dr. Francis Grant died in November 1967.