Dr. L. Murray Thomas Receives MSMS Presidential Citation

Dr. L. Murray Thomas, Professor Emeritus in the WSU Department of Neurosurgery received a Michigan State Medical Society (MSMS) Presidential Citation at the 161st Annual Meeting of the Wayne County Medical Society on May 18, 2011. Dr. Daniel Michael selected Dr. Thomas for this award because of his many years dedicated to education and research in the field of neurosurgery.

Dr. Thomas entered Wayne State University in 1946 as a pre-medical student, served his neurosurgical residency under Dr. Steven Gurdjian, ultimately became a faculty member of the WSU School of Medicine and finally served as Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery, WSU during the years of 1970 through 1989.

Dr. Daniel Michael, President of the MSMS from 2009 to 2011, was a resident of Dr. Thomas from 1984 to 1989 and was eloquent when stating his reasoning for selecting Dr. Thomas as he paraphrased part of the Hippocratic Oath that he will "hold those that taught him the art of medicine and surgery as dear to him as his parents." Dr. Michael also described the research efforts of Dr. Thomas as groundbreaking, and setting a standard for helmet research called the Wayne Tolerance Curve, which is still used to this day.