Brain Slices in Basic and Clinical Research

Avital Schurr, Ph.D., is a Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. Dr. Schurr received his B.Sc. degree in Agriculture from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1967, his M.Sc. degree in biochemistry from Tel Aviv University in 1970, and his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Biology, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, in 1977. From 1977 to 1979 and from 1979 to 1981 he was a postdoctoral fellow at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, respectively. Dr. Schurr was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1981, becoming an Associate Professor in 1986 and Professor in 1992. Dr. Schurr is the author of more than 120 publications, many of which describe the use of the rat hippocampal slice preparation in the study of cerebral hypoxia-ischemia and neuroprotection. The present book is the third one he has co-edited along with two special issues of the Journal of Neuroscience Methods, which are also devoted to brain slice preparations. Dr. Schurr has organized three International Conferences on Central Nervous System Slice Preparations since 1986. The last conference took place in Louisville in June of 1994. Benjamin M. Rigor, M.D., is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. Dr. Rigor received his B.Sc. degree from the University of the Philippines in 1957 and his M.D. degree from the University of the East, Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center College of Medicine. From 1963 to 1965 he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Pharmacology, University of Kentucky Medical Center, where from 1965 to 1968 he was a Resident in Anesthesiology. In 1968, Dr. Rigor was appointed Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Kentucky Medical School. In 1970, he was appointed Acting Chairman and Associate Professor at the Department of Anesthesiology, New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry, and in 1971 he was appointed Professor and Chairman of that department. From 1974 to 1980, Dr. Rigor was the Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, and in 1981 he became Professor and Chairman at the Department of Anesthesiology, University of Louisville School of Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1978, Dr. Rigor was named the Most Outstanding Filipino Physician in the United States in the Field of Medicine and Medical Practice. He is the Founder and Coordinator of Operation Philplast, Operation Rainbow, and Operation SMILE. Dr. Rigor is the author of more than 200 publications in the fields of anesthesia, analgesia, and cerebral ischemia.