Headache Doctor Receives Third Lifetime Achievement Award

Dr. Ninan T. Mathew (left), with Dr. Lawrence C. Newman, President of the American Headache Society (center), and Sushila Mathew at the American Headache Society’s annual scientific meeting in Los Angeles on June 27.

Dr. Ninan T. Mathew (left), with Dr. Lawrence C. Newman, President of the American Headache Society (center), and Sushila Mathew at the American Headache Society’s annual scientific meeting in Los Angeles on June 27.

HOUSTON: Houston Neurologist, Dr. Ninan T. Mathew, received the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Headache Society on June 27, at its 56th Annual Scientific Meeting in Los Angeles, California.

The American Headache Society (AHS) is a professional society of health care providers dedicated to the study and treatment of headache and face pain.  Founded in 1959 during the annual meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA), AHS brings together physicians from various fields and specialties throughout the United States to share concepts and developments about headache and related conditions.  Dr. Mathew is the fifth recipient of the AHS Lifetime Achievement Award in the organization’s 56-year history.

Dr. Ninan T. Mathew is a familiar name in the field of headache worldwide.  In the early 1970s, Dr. Mathew got in on the ground floor to discover the reasons and treatments for people’s continuous headaches.  He began his research at Baylor College of Medicine at a time when there were few studies on headache causes.  In 1976, he established the Houston Headache Clinic, which was the first comprehensive headache specialty center in Texas and one of the few in the U.S.

For over 40 years, Dr. Mathew has significantly contributed to scientific research with more than 200 publications and several books to his credit.  His vast medical research and expertise has earned him a stellar reputation with his colleagues.  In 2012, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Neurological Society and in 2013, he was the recipient of the Headache Cooperative of New England’s Lifetime Achievement Award.  Early in his career, Dr. Mathew received several American Headache Society Awards, including the 1976 Harold G. Wolff Lecture Award and the 1994 John R. Graham Distinguished Clinician Award.

Dr. Mathew has served in various national and international neurological organizations and is a past president of the International Headache Society and the American Headache Society.  He is a former chairman of the Headache Section for the American Academy of Neurology, which he helped to form.  He has also served as the chairman of the American Council for Headache Education.

Dr. Mathew is one of the founding members of the international research group on cluster headache and was chairman of the Fifth International Headache Congress held in Washington, D.C., in 1991.  In 1999, he chaired the Ninth International Headache Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Dr. Mathew’s current medical practice is located at the Houston Headache and Neurological Institute near City Centre and Memorial City. He and his wife, Sushila Mathew, have resided in Bunker Hill Village in Memorial for 36 years.