Abe Chutorian, MD

Dr. Abe Chutorian, one of the giants in child neurology, passed away on February 14, 2025, at the age of 96 years. Dr. Chutorian received his M.D. degree from the University of Manitoba in 1957. Following internship at the University’s teaching hospital, he received residency training in pediatrics at the University of Southern California’s Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. Subsequently, Dr. Chutorian was awarded a National Institutes of Health fellowship for three years that enabled him to train in pediatric neurology with Dr. Sidney Carter at Columbia University’s Neurological Institute of New York.

After completing fellowship in 1963, Dr. Carter invited Dr. Chutorian to join the attending staff at Columbia-Presbyterian and the Neurological Institute of New York, which included several other extraordinary clinicians such as Arnold Gold, Niels Low, James Hammill, and M. Richard Koenigsberger.

Dr. Chutorian remained at Columbia for the next 27 years as he established a remarkable career in teaching, patient care, and clinical research. Graduates of that program (too numerous to name) also benefited from the mentoring provided by Dr. Chutorian as they went on to distinguish themselves as world leaders in various aspects of child neurology.

Dr. Chutorian was recognized as a gifted clinician-teacher by his colleagues.  He published over 145 original articles and textbook chapters, in addition to numerous abstracts that he presented at scientific meetings of the Child Neurology Society, the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neurological Association, the Ibero-American Pediatric Neurological Society, and other international forums. Dr. Sidney Carter, at a ceremonial dinner honoring his nearly 30 years of service at the Neurological Institute of New York, commented on Dr. Chutorian’s remarkable clinical skills, the focus and clarity of his presentations and lectures, and his ability to recognize novel clinical disorders. In recognition of these remarkable clinical skills, Dr. Chutorian was invited by the American Academy of Neurology to chair the section of pediatric neurology and assume responsibility for the annual lectures being presented at the scientific meetings of the Academy from the late 1960’s to the early 1970’s.

Dr. Chutorian left Columbia-Presbyterian in 1990 when Dr. Fred Plum, the Chairman of the Department of Neurology at Cornell Medical College and Neurologist in Chief at New York Hospital, recruited him as the Director of Pediatric Neurology at Cornell Medical College and the New York Hospital. He was appointed Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics, a post he held from 1990 to 2005. He joined two other distinguished colleagues, Dr. Gail Solomon and Dr. Hart Peterson, as they recruited additional staff and created an active and productive clinical care, teaching, fellowship, and clinical research program.

In 1997, Dr. Chutorian also was appointed Director of Neurology at the Hospital for Special Surgery, a post he held for the next eight years. At this premier orthopedic hospital, he supervised a neuromuscular clinic, held regular conferences, and taught orthopedic, pediatric, and pediatric neurology trainees the medical and pre- and post-surgical management of children with central and peripheral neuromuscular disorders, including cerebral palsy, skeletal malformations, scoliosis, and neuromuscular disorders. In 1994, Dr. Chutorian authored a pioneering clinical research publication on the treatment of spasticity in children with botulinum toxin. After leaving his leadership position in 2005, Dr. Chutorian maintained his appointment at Cornell and returned to the Neurological Institute of New York as Professor of Clinical Neurology, where he participated in teaching programs and conferences.

Dr. Chutorian’s clinical interests were wide-ranging and included focused areas of interest. His seminal publications ranged anatomically from the central to the peripheral nervous system and clinically from structural disturbances to metabolic disease. He also made notable contributions on optic nerve and retinal disorders, autoimmune disorders, movement disorders, metabolic disease, and intracranial and spinal cord tumors. Some of his reports on novel clinical and pathological entities describe:

• A new syndrome of benign familial chorea with intention tremor (1966).
• A new X-linked disorder manifested by progressive optico-acoustic degeneration and polyneuropathy (1967). The molecular genetics and spectrum of the disorder were subsequently established.
• A syndrome of opsoclonus-myoclonus associated with
• neuroblastoma as a distinct clinical pathologic entity, and attribution of the disorder to autoimmunity (1968).
• The earliest indication that transcarbamylase deficiency is
• X-linked, largely lethal in males and manageable in
• females (1970).
• A clinical syndrome in children that consists of benign paroxysmal torticollis, tortipelvis, and retrocollis (1974).
• Quantitative demonstration of an inverse relationship between cerebrospinal fluid pressure and corticosteroid dosage in children with refractory pseudotumor cerebri (1975).
• The occurrence of isolated pallanesthesia and ataxia in chronic infantile polyneuropathy (1975).
• A novel post-infectious generalized chorea with Parkinsonism due to influenza-A, documented by sequential viral titers, and demonstration that the hyperkinesia was caused by hypersensitivity to circulating L-Dopa, documented by sequential changes in the quantity of this metabolite in the cerebrospinal fluid (1976).
• A report on the association of Bell’s Palsy with benign intracranial hypertension in several children (1977).
• A juvenile variant hexosaminidase deficiency and a separate hexosaminidase compound with a juvenile gangliosidosis phenotype (1977 and 1980)
• The demonstration that megalencephaly in cerebral gigantism (Sotos syndrome) is due to impaired cerebrospinal fluid reabsorption at the arachnoid villi, demonstrated by delayed clearance of isotope at that level (1988).
• Demonstration that recurrent brainstem compression masquerades as electro-decremental seizures (1991).
• An extensive study of a novel neurotoxic movement disorder, juvenile Parkinsonism due to cytosine arabinoside, with demonstration of cerebrospinal fluid metabolites, PET, and MRI clinically correlated alterations, and clinical responsiveness to L-Dopa replacement (2003).
• A clinical pathologic syndrome mimicking polymyoclonia, with unique microscopic changes in the brain, and characterized clinically by juvenile global tremors (2007).

Dr. Chutorian received the Child Neurology Society’s Roger and Mary Brumback Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. The award honored his lifelong commitment to children and seminal contributions to academic scholarship, education, and leadership. When nominating him for the award, colleagues and former trainees described Dr. Chutorian as a quintessential child neurologist and a remarkable role model. He enjoyed a distinguished academic career as a clinician and educator, always demanding evidence-based clinical decisions when caring for his patients. This critical thinking fostered similar behavior in his students, residents, and colleagues. As a critical thinker, he had an uncanny ability to spot novel clinical syndromes and determine precisely what was relevant. Although some might have been intimidated initially by his intellect and demeanor, almost all eventually found him to be a warm, compassionate physician and valued friend with a great sense of humor. He contributed immeasurably to the modern beginnings of child neurology in the United States, and these contributions remain relevant today.

With a gift from the Chutorian-Semler Family Foundation, Dr. Sally Permar, the Chair of Pediatrics, and Dr. Matt Fink, the Chair of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medical College, established an endowed professorship for the Chief of the Division of Pediatric Neurology. The holder will now and in perpetuity be known as the Abe M. Chutorian, MD, Professor of Pediatric Neurology and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Neurology.

Dr. Chutorian is survived by Helen, his loving wife for 73 years, their daughters and spouses, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Abe M. Chutorian, MD

• University of Manitoba (1957) M.D.
• University of Manitoba (1957-1958) Internship
• University of Southern California, Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles (1958-1961) Pediatrics Residency
• Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and the Neurological Institute of New York (1961-1963) Child Neurology Fellowship
• Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons (1963-1990) Attending Child Neurologist/Professor of Neurology
• New York Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College (1990-2005) Chief of Child Neurology/Professor of Neurology
• Child Neurology Society, Roger and Mary Brumback Lifetime Achievement Award (2017)

Pediatric Neurology

Nigel S. Bamford¹ & Darryl C. De Vivo²

¹Departments of Pediatrics, Neurology, and Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06510

²Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics, Neurological Institute of New York, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032

References

• https://www.childneurologysociety.org/wp-content/uploads/_pda/2025/02/2-21-25_eConnection_In-Memory-of-Dr.-Abe-M.-Chutorian.pdf
• Adapted from a profile written by Leonardo Garcia, MD https://www.childneurologysociety.org/awards/abe-chutorian-md/ 
• https://give.weill.cornell.edu/milestones/endowed-professorship-honors-legendary-clinician-scientist