By Richard L. Stieg, MD, MHS

The world lost one of its pioneers and giants in the field of pain medicine when Dr. Hugh Rosomoff passed away on June 5, 2008. He was 81.

Less than a year ago, Dr. Rosomoff offered his services to the National Pain Foundation as a web site content editor and financial benefactor. Though quite ill, his willingness to serve the needs of people in pain and share his bright mind and great talent with his colleagues was with us until the end.

That was Hu — an indefatigable champion for pain medicine. I was privileged to come to know Hu as a personal friend and professional confidante. His professional accomplishments are too numerous to give justice to in this tribute. Just as important are his personal attributes that make him so sorely missed. A devoted husband, father, son and friend to many, Hu is remembered as that impeccably dressed, serious doctor who seemed to be everywhere at once, supporting every effort by his colleagues, meeting and discussing, teaching and organizing and most of all, advocating on behalf of pain patients and those who care for them.

Always at his side was his lovely and talented wife, Renee Steele-Rosomoff, who remains the program director of the pain center in Miami that bears his name. She is a giant in our field in her own right as a pioneer and leader in pain nursing and multidisciplinary treatment of patients and she will carry on the work that was so near and dear to both of their hearts.

Dr. Rosomoff was born in Philadelphia and later graduated from Hahnemann Medical College in 1948. While a neurological surgery resident in the late 1950s, Dr. Rosomoff began groundbreaking research into hypothermia, which earned him the American Academy of Neurological Surgery Award in 1956. In 1960 he earned the MEDSC Degree in physiology from Columbia University. While earning that degree, he helped introduce hypothermia clinically in the neurosurgery of vascular lesions and the treatment of brain injuries. He was distinguished as a guest lecturer at the Royal Society of Medicine in London and in Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union for his work in hypothermia, which today remains a standard treatment in neurosurgery.

It was in the 1960s that Dr. Rosomoff also began his pioneering work in pain. He developed a technique for the percutaneous radiofrequency cordotomy for intractable pain, as well as investigated the effects of laser on the brain for the treatment of tumors. He performed some of the first brain surgery procedures with laser in 1965. He went on to research low back pain, lumbar disc disease and bladder dysfunction from spinal cord injury. He helped to develop radiological techniques that were a prologue to CAT scanning and, finally, MRI, which led to new operations for the treatment of spinal stenosis.

Dr. Rosomoff served on the boards of directors and as a leader of many professional organizations including the International Association for the Study of Pain, American Pain Society, Eastern Pain Society, American Academy of Pain Medicine and the Southern Pain Society. Dr. Rosomoff was one of the pioneers in the effort to develop the specialty of pain medicine. With his wife Renee, he has helped to develop pain rehabilitation centers in hospitals in other countries including Peru, India, Israel and Egypt and a pain treatment center in Cali, Columbia, which bears his name.

Goodbye dear friend. You remain an inspiration to your family, friends and colleagues and your work will not soon be forgotten. Most of all, I'm certain that there are many thousands of patients whose lives are better for having known you.

Richard L. Stieg, MD, MHS
Editor-in-Chief, National Pain Foundation
Board Certified, Neurology and Pain Medicine
Certified in Addiction Medicine by Examination of the American Society of Addiction Medicine