James Ramsay Hunt (1872 – July 22, 1937) was an American neurologist.

Early life and education

James Ramsay Hunt was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in 1872. He received his M.D. degree from the

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine The Perelman School of Medicine, commonly known as Penn Med, is the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of Medicine is the oldest medi ...

in 1893. He then studied in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, and returned to practice

neurology Neurology (from el, wikt:νεῦρον, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine), medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of co ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, working at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

Medical School from 1900 to 1910 with Charles Loomis Dana. In 1910, he joined the faculty at the

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) is the graduate medical school of Columbia University, located at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Founded i ...

and what later became their

Neurological Institute of New York The Neurological Institute of New York, is an American hospital research center located at 710 West 168th Street at the corner of Fort Washington Avenue in the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital / Columbia University Medical Center in the Washington ...

. He did major research on the

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

and disorders of the ''

corpus striatum The striatum, or corpus striatum (also called the striate nucleus), is a nucleus (a cluster of neurons) in the subcortical basal ganglia of the forebrain. The striatum is a critical component of the motor and reward systems; receives glutamat ...

'' and the

extrapyramidal system In anatomy, the extrapyramidal system is a part of the motor system network causing involuntary actions. The system is called ''extrapyramidal'' to distinguish it from the tracts of the motor cortex that reach their targets by traveling through t ...

, and described several movement disorders. He was consulting physician at several New York hospitals, including Lenox Hill Hospital, New York Hospital, Babies Hospital, the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, the Psychiatric Institute,

Letchworth Village Letchworth Village was a residential institution located in Rockland County, New York, in the hamlet of Thiells built for the physically and mentally disabled of all ages, from the newborn to the elderly. Opened in 1911, Letchworth Village at its ...

for Mental Defectives, Montefiore Hospital, and the Craig Colony for Epileptics, and was appointed professor of

at Columbia in 1924.

1920–1934

He served as president of the American Neurologic Association in 1920, the New York Neurologic Society in 1929, the American Psychopathological Society in 1932, and the Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Disorders in 1934. He was also a founder of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and a member of the Association of American Physicians, the American Psychiatric Association, the Association for the Study of Internal Secretions, and the American Medical Association.

World War I

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he was a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

and later a

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

in the

Army Medical Corps A medical corps is generally a military branch or officer corps responsible for medical care for serving military personnel. Such officers are typically military physicians. List of medical corps The following organizations are examples of medica ...

, and served in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

as a director of neuropsychiatry.

Syndromes

Hunt described three discrete syndromes, the best known of which is herpes zoster oticus, also known as Ramsay Hunt syndrome type 2.

Personal life

He married

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

an Alice St. John Nolan in 1908, and was survived by two children, James Ramsay Hunt Jr. and Alice St. John Hunt.

Other associated eponyms

* Ramsay Hunt's atrophy: a term for wasting of the small muscles of the hands without sensory loss. * Ramsay Hunt's zone: a delimited skin area supplied by the ''

ganglion geniculi The geniculate ganglion (from Latin language, Latin ''genu'', for "knee") is a collection of pseudounipolar neuron, pseudounipolar sensory neurons of the facial nerve located in the facial canal of the head. It receives fibers from the facial ner ...

'' of the ''

nervus intermedius The intermediate nerve, nervus intermedius, nerve of Wrisberg or Glossopalatine nerve, is the part of the facial nerve (cranial nerve VII) located between the motor component of the facial nerve and the vestibulocochlear nerve (cranial nerve VIII) ...

''. * Ramsay Hunt's paralysis: a disturbance with symptoms resembling those of Parkinsonism, but less intense than in

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, James Ramsay 1872 births 1937 deaths American neurologists United States Army Medical Corps officers United States Army personnel of World War I Physicians from Philadelphia Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni