Kenneth M. Heilman (June 2, 1938 – July 15, 2024) was an American behavioral neurologist.
[2] He did two years of residency in internal medicine at Cornell University Medical Center at Bellevue Hospital.
During the Vietnam War, he joined the Air Force and served as chief of medicine at the NATO Hospital in İzmir, Turkey from 1965 to 1967.
After leaving the Air Force, Heilman entered a residency in neurology at Harvard Medical School under Derek Denny-Brown and then continued there being a fellowship with Norman Geschwind and D.
[2] Upon completion of his fellowship, Heilman was recruited by the Dr. Melvin Greer, the chair of the Department of Neurology, at the University of Florida.
Heilman joined the faculty of the University of Florida Department of Neurology in 1970 as an Assistant Professor.
Professor of Neurology in 1990, a newly endowed chair at the university.
In 1998, he was among the first UF faculty to receive the title of Distinguished Professor.
Heilman was also the program director and was chief of neurology at the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Administration Hospital (Malcom Randall VAMC).
This clinic serves those with memory and cognitive disorders, especially those suffering from dementias such as Alzheimer's disease.
Heilman's research was interested in attentional, emotional and cognitive disorders.
Several of Heilman's former fellows are now leaders in academic neurology, neuropsychology, speech therapy, and other allied fields.
His research has been funded by federal agencies (e.g., VA Merit Review and/or National Institutes of Health) for more than three decades.
Heilman also received the Clinical Research Award from the University of Florida College of Medicine.
He received the Wartenberg Award from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).
He was honorary member of the American Neurological Association and an AAN fellow.
The AAN had a program (2019) called “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants.” This program highlighted, “The five Neuro Giants who will take us on their personal journey in neurology and how they have contributed to the evolution of neurology.” Dr. Heilman was one of the "Giants."
and Donda R. The Believer’s Brain: Home to the Spiritual and Religious Mind Psychology Press, 2014.
and Valenstein E. (Editors) Clinical Neuropsychology, 5TH Edition, New York, Oxford University Press, 2012.
Noseworthy JH (Editor-in Chief); Biller J, Cairncross J G, Dyck P, Edmeads J, Engel A., Fahn S, Ford B, Hartung HP, Heilman KM, Roos KL, Morell M, Samuels MA, Sharpe J, Snyder R, Wijdicks E, (Section Editors); Neurological Therapeutics : Principles and Practice (Second Edition) Matin Dunitz, Taylor and Francis Books, New York, 2006.
and Valenstein E. (Eds): Clinical Neuropsychology, Fourth Edition, Oxford University Press, New York, 2003.
(Editor-in Chief); Biller J, Cairncross J G, Dyck P, Edmeads J, Engel A., Fahn S, Ford B, Hartung HP, Heilman KM, Roos KL, Morell M, Samuels MA, Sharpe J, Snyder R, Wijdicks E, (Section Editors); Neurological Therapeutics: Principles and Practice, Matin Dunitz, Taylor and Francis Books, New York, 2003.
Heilman, K.M., The Matter of Mind: A Neurologist’s View of Brain Behavior Relationships.
Heilman, K.M., Watson, R.T., and Greer, M.: The Differential Diagnosis of Neurological Diseases.