Researcher Stanley van den Noort. Image courtesy of UCI.
UC Irvine neuroscientist Stanley van den Noort, who built a nationally-renowned clinic for the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) while also serving as dean of the university’s medical school, died at his home in Tustin on Wednesday. He was 79.
Van den Noort’s death was announced by his family, who said in a statement that he died “as a result of complications from
a brain injury he suffered over two years ago.”
Van den Noort had been a member of the UCI faculty for almost 30 years, joining the university in 1970 as chair of neurology after 10 years of service at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland.
“From the standpoint of our medical school and the field of neurology, Stanley was truly a giant,” said Ralph V. Clayman, interim dean of the UCI School of Medicine.
“He was dean for 12 years, he helped open the original (UCI) hospital, a tremendous amount of building went on under his direction, and he created a first class faculty. He also was a super-generous man who focused on researching and treating MS. He was a physician’s physician, not only because many of his patients were doctors but because he exemplified what you want to be as a physician. He gave tremendously of his time and compassion, and practiced until he was in his mid-70s. His patients loved him.”
Van den Noort earned his medical degree from Harvard in 1954 and went to work at Boston City Hospital, the South End medical center that was the basis for the hit television show, “St. Elsewhere.” His family says he later served as a senior resident in neurology, then serving in the US Navy for two years.
After joining UCI, van den Noort emerged as a major researcher and clinician in MS and went on to become chief medical officer and chair of the medical advisory board for the National MS Society, his family says.
In a statement, Dr. John Richert, executive vice president of research and clinical programs. “In his role as chief medical officer of the Society
and chair of the Medical Advisory Board, Stan helped to build awareness, understanding and support for speeding us towards a world free of multiple sclerosis. He will be much missed by all who knew him.”
Van den Noort’s tenure as medical school dean was not without controversy. He was a key figure in an eventually unsuccessful effort to get a hospital built on the main campus. Many people at the university didn’t like the fact that UCI was running an old county hospital (now UCI Medical Center) in Orange.
The battle over the hospital cost van den Noort some political support. But he apparently didn’t care. He told a campus historian, “I never really took the Deanship very seriously. I was popular and they wanted me to do it. I said I know I’m a good neurologist, but I don’t know if I’m a good Dean or not. I told people that neurologists make very good Deans because they deal with chaos and confusion and don’t expect things to get better; they usually tend to get worse. So, I said we are used to that.”
The university says, “Dr. van den Noort is survived by his wife June; his children Susanne, Eric, Peter, Kathy and Betsy; his grandchildren Aren, John, Jennifer, Melissa, Stephanie, Riley, Tory and Will; and his great grandchild Alex.
“His family has asked that donations be made in his honor to the
following : The van den Noort Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Program, Fund
No. 3042; the van den Noort Neurology Chair’s Research Endowment, Fund No. 7152; and to the National MS Society.”
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