Obituary
Donald J. Dalessio, MD
Former National Headache Foundation Board
member, Donald J. Dalessio, MD, passed away
on February 25, 2017 at his home in La Jolla,
California. Doctor Dalessio was a member
of the Board from May, 1971 through June,
1980, and again from February, 1998, through
February, 1999. He served as President of the
NHF from October, 1977 through March,
1980.
A native of New Jersey, Dr. Dalessio attended Wesleyan University, Middletown,
CT, and was a 1956 graduate of Yale Medical College, New Haven, CT. Following
his graduation from Yale, Dr. Dalessio completed an internship at New York City
(Cornell) Medical Center, where he trained in neurology and medicine, and worked
with Dr. Harold G. Wolff, the noted headache researcher. He then became the
Resident in Medicine at the Yale Medical Center. For several years, Dr. Dalessio
served as a Captain in the United States Army.
For many years, he served as Chairman of the Medicine Group and Senior
Consultant in Neurology at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla.
Upon his retirement from active practice, his colleagues at Scripps Medical Center
renamed the headache clinic – The Donald J. Dalessio Headache Center at Scripps
Clinic.
Dr. Dalessio wrote and/or edited multiple editions of Wolff ’s Headache, a
standard text used by health care practitioners in the U.S. and internationally. He
had served as editor of Headache, the journal of the American Association for the
Study of Headache (now the American Headache Society) and the Scripps Clinic
Personal Health Newsletter. He served on the Editorial Board of JAMA (Journal of
the American Medical Association), and was also a Medical Columnist for the San
Diego Tribune. HW
6
HeadW ise ®
|
Volume 7, Issue 1 • 2018