Clifton Gooch, MD, professor and chair of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine’s Department of Neurology, has been selected president-elect of the Association of University Professors of Neurology (AUPN). His two-year term begins May 1, 2018, and he will assume the role of president of the association for two years in May 2020, followed by a two-year position as immediate past president.
“I am greatly honored to have been elected by my fellow neurology chairs to help lead the AUPN over the next six years,” Dr. Gooch said.
The AUPN is the leadership organization for academic neurology, with membership consisting of all the chairs of neurology departments in accredited U.S. and Canadian medical schools. Neurology residency and clerkship program directors are also among the members. Founded in 1967 to foster the development of academic educational, research and patient care programs, the AUPN today also advises and influences policy affecting academic neurology at the national, state and local levels.
Dr. Clifton Gooch
In 2016, Dr. Gooch spearheaded a national AUPN survey to assess the state of academic neurology in the United States during an era of unprecedented health care system reform. The survey results were published July 2017 in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). A second study led by Dr. Gooch detailing the enormous national cost of neurological diseases and a strategic plan for improving the neurological health of the nation was the second most highly accessed journal article published in the Annals of Neurology in 2017. It also was featured as a story in the Huffington Post.
Chair of the University of South Florida’s Department of Neurology since 2008, Dr. Gooch joined USF from Columbia University, where led the Neuropathy Research Center and the Neuromuscular Physiology Division. During his tenure, the Neurology department has more than tripled in size and has greatly expanded its research portfolio, and now is conducting more than 100 clinical trials per year. Dr. Gooch has held numerous leadership positions at USF, including establishing and directing the USF Neuroscience Collaborative for interdisciplinary research and founding the USF ALS Center.
In addition to his national leadership positions with AUPN, Dr. Gooch also serves on the Board of Directors for the American Neurological Association (ANA), has been a member of the FDA’s Nervous System Drug Approval Advisory Panel, and has provided expert testimony to Congress on improving the federal drug approval process. A fellow of both the AAN and the ANA, he is highly sought as a speaker by many organizations across the country and internationally.
