Chair of the AUA Board of Trustees Dr. Lawrence H. Pitts Receives 2019 Byron Cone Pevehouse Distinguished Service Award

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The American University of Armenia (AUA) is proud to share the announcement by the California Association of Neurological Surgeons (CANS) of the 2019 Byron Cone Pevehouse Distinguished Service Award conferred upon Dr. Lawrence H. Pitts, Chair of the AUA Board of Trustees since 2012. The CANS award is in recognition of his extensive work in trauma and lasting influence on a generation of residents and practicing neurosurgeons.

Dr. Pitts has contributed immensely to the field of trauma neurosurgery. He has led the creation of the first Neurotrauma Guidelines published in 1995. Dr. Pitts was a leading pioneer in trauma systems and worked closely with the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Committee on Trauma (COT), as well as the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (AANS/CNS) Joint Committee on Neurotrauma and Critical Care to develop the trauma system guidelines used today. He has authored the first chapter of the AANS/CNS Guidelines on Neurotrauma, which was the first neurosurgery Guidelines published on trauma system design and its usefulness.

“Larry has been a highly engaged Chair of our Board of Trustees, extremely generous with his time and resources. Once I asked Mary Pitts, and she explained that once Larry commits to a cause, he is fully focused and devoted. So I am not surprised that Larry has been so influential in his own field of trauma neurosurgery and that he is the creator of the first Neurotrauma Guidelines, a highly influential document that is now in its 4th edition. We are proud of this well deserving recognition of his work by the California Association of Neurological Surgeons. As the President of AUA, it has been a special privilege for me to work closely with him during the past five years,” proudly noted AUA President Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian.

Dr. Pitts is the former Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of California (UC) and Professor Emeritus of Neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He received a double BS in Electrical Engineering and Industrial Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1963. He then served as a naval officer for two years before attending the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine where he earned his MD degree. Completing his neurosurgical training at UCSF in 1975, he served on the faculty of his alma mater for the next decades, first as an intern in neurosurgical training, followed by a long tenure as a professor of neurosurgery and on to executive positions in the UC system.

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, and affiliated with the University of California. AUA provides a global education in Armenia and the region, offering high-quality graduate and undergraduate studies, encouraging civic engagement, and promoting public service and democratic values.