Address correspondence to Dr. Sid Gilman, Professor and Chair of Neurology, University of Michigan Health System, 1500 East Medical Center Drive/1914 TC, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0316.
Michael S. Aldrich, MD, Professor of Neurology and Directorof the Sleep Disorders Program at the University of Michigan,died on July 18, 2000 at the age of 51 from the effects of arecurrent osteosarcoma. He left behind a wonderful family: LeslieBrown Aldrich, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicineat the University of Michigan and a gastroenterologist; threechildren, Brian, Matthew, and Jennifer; a sister, Carol Barkin;two brothers, Bob and Tom; and parents, Knight and Julie.
I first met Mike when he came to Ann Arbor as an applicant toour neurology residency program. He was then a medical studentat the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville.He made a strong impression upon me. He was clearly a highlyintelligent student with many interesting life experiences,but he presented himself in a quiet, humble, and somewhat shymanner. He had a sterling academic record and an intense interestin academic neurology. Later, I was very pleased when he matchedto this program, and indeed, he proved to be an exceptionallyfine resident. As he progressed here, he developed into an outstandingclinical neurologist—kind and considerate to his patients,and adept in diagnosis, management, and treatment. He was alsoacademically productive, writing a succession of papers on stroke,epilepsy, and cortical blindness from observations he made duringhis residency. Upon completing his residency, he entered a fellowshipin electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology in thisdepartment, but he requested permission to receive special trainingin clinical sleep disorders at Stanford University Medical School.This was granted, and he spent several months there workingwith William Dement and Christian Guilleminault, and receivedadditional training with Thomas Roth at Henry Ford Hospitalin Detroit and Allen Rechtschaffen at the University of Chicago.After this fellowship, he joined the University of Michiganfaculty with plans to specialize in sleep disorders and to developa sleep disorders center ( figure 1).
Mike Aldrich first became interested in sleep as a child, andcontinued this interest through adolescence. He was raised inChicago, where his father, Dr. Knight Aldrich, was Professorand Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the Universityof Chicago. At the age of 9 years, Mike volunteered to be aresearch subject in a study conducted by Ed Wollpert on thephysiologic correlates of dreaming. He may have been the firstchild to undergo polysomnography. As a high school student,he worked during summer vacations as a research assistant withAllen Rechtschaffen at the University of Chicago, and continuedthis work during his college years at Swarthmore. He pursuedthis interest as a medical student by taking an elective rotationin the Psychiatric Sleep Disorders Program of Ian Oswald inEdinburgh, Scotland.
Mike began to develop a sleep disorders program in 1985, a timewhen this field was considered the province of pulmonology andpsychiatry, not neurology. Mike’s efforts received stronginstitutional support, and the program began with only two monitoredbeds in the University of Michigan Hospitals. As the institutionwas about to open a new hospital and bring down the old hospital,the monitored beds had to be moved three times before the permanentSleep Disorders Center was established. The Center now consistsof a nine-bed, state-of-the-art facility in University of MichiganHospitals. The laboratory was dedicated as the Michael S. AldrichSleep Disorders Center in April of 2000, when Mike was ill.We commissioned Kevin Gordon to paint a portrait of Mike, andthe portrait now hangs inside the Michael S. Aldrich Sleep DisordersCenter ( figure 2).
Figure 2. Portrait of Dr. Aldrich in the Michael S. Aldrich Sleep Disorders Center at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Mike made multiple seminal contributions to the evaluation,diagnosis, management, and treatment of the common causes ofpathologic sleepiness. Narcolepsy was his principal interest,but he was also deeply interested in rapid eye movement sleepbehavior disorder (RBD), sleep apnea, and the sleep disordersaccompanying neurologic diseases. He produced 64 articles injournals with peer review, four books, and numerous chapters,abstracts, and presentations. He made important contributionsto our understanding of the sleep disorders accompanying epilepsy,stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases, and of the interactionsof alcohol and sleep. He and I were working on a grant applicationto study the biochemical basis of RBD in multiple system atrophyand PD at the time that he became ill. He also made substantialcontributions to the clinical criteria used for the diagnosisof narcolepsy, and developed a means of differentiating thisdisorder from other causes of daytime sleepiness. He was PrincipalInvestigator or Co-Investigator on research grants from theNational Institute of Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse; the NationalHeart, Blood, and Lung Institute (NHBLI); and the National Instituteof Neurological Disorders and Stroke. He served on several NIHstudy sections and on six editorial boards for academic publications.He was deeply committed to teaching sleep medicine, and helda Sleep Academic Award from the NHLBI for this purpose.
Mike received admiring recognition from his peers. He was Presidentof the American Board of Sleep Medicine from 1994 to 1997, andin 1998, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine honored himwith its highest form of recognition, the William C. DementAcademic Achievement Award. Just a few weeks before his death,he attended a meeting of the Association of Professional SleepSocieties, and received awards from the American Board of SleepMedicine, the Sleep Research Society, and the American Academyof Sleep Medicine for his exceptional accomplishments. At aplenary session of the approximately 4,000 sleep cliniciansand investigators, Christian Guilleminault paid a special tributeto Mike, noting among his many accomplishments the advancesin sleep medicine education that are attributed directly tohis efforts. When Mike told me about this event, in his typicallyhumble way, he commented that he did not believe that his contributionswere worthy of this level of recognition.
In 1982, Fred Plum invited me to join the Editorial Board ofthe Contemporary Neurology Series, which was then publishedby F.A. Davis in Philadelphia. Seeking to expand the range ofthe Series, several years later I asked Mike if he would considerdeveloping a book about sleep disorders. He declined the invitation,stating that he was not sufficiently knowledgeable in the fieldto do justice to this project. Several years later, having observedMike’s growing stature and impact on the field, I askedhim once again whether he would consider writing a book forthe Series, which was then published by Oxford University Press.He accepted the assignment, and with astonishing speed, produceda single authored, comprehensive textbook, Sleep Medicine, publishedin 1999. I expect this book will be a classic. It is beautifullywritten, clear, informative, thoroughly researched, and containsnot only an excellent review of the literature, but also Mike’spersonal observations and experience in the field.
Mike possessed the finest qualities of an academic physician.He had a penetrating intelligence, highly efficient work habits,excellent organizational skills, and absolute integrity. Hewas a pioneer in his field, and had the vision to explore theareas of greatest impact in the field. He also had extraordinarypersonal qualities. He was soft-spoken and very modest, buthad a wonderful sense of humor; he loved jokes. He was an excellentclinician who related well to his patients, and over the yearsin this institution, he accumulated a cadre of people whom hehad treated and who had improved. Despite the many demands onhis time, he had an open-door policy for his associates andtrainees. He was constantly available to them and to his patients,sharing generously both his experience and his wisdom. He wasalso a well-balanced person who greatly valued the time thathe spent with his wife, Leslie, and his children. He was asremarkable a husband and father as he was an academic physician.We all miss him enormously.
