John R. Graham Lecture Award
This award honors the AHS Immediate Past President every other year with a lecture at the Annual Scientific Meeting. When not awarded to the Immediate Past President, the award will be given to a person for their international leadership in research and education in the field of headache medicine.
This award was named in honor of the late Dr. John R. Graham, for his contributions in the field of headache and his great kindness and personal touch in helping patients understand and cope with their headache problems.
Congratulations to the 2025 recipient!
Dawn C. Buse, PhD, FAHS
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Department of Neurology
New York, NY
Your Work Matters. You Matter: Honoring Everyone Advancing Headache Science, Advocating, and Caring for People with Headache Diseases
Past Recipients
2024
Andrew C. Charles, MD, FAHS
Exciting Times for Headache Medicine: Updates from the Lab and the Clinic
2022
Peter J. Goadsby, MD, PhD, FAHS
Veni, Vidi, Ego conatus… In Memory of our Mentors
2021
Deborah I. Friedman, MD, MPH, FAHS
Practicing Headache Medicine in 2021: Realities on the Ground
2020
Kathleen B. Digre, MD, FAHS
Practical Approach to Eye Pain and Photophobia
2019
Vincent Martin, MD, FAHS
Migraine Trigger Factors: Fact vs. Fiction
2018
R. Allan Purdy, MD, FAHS
So, Headache is Not Neurology? Oh Wait, Yes it Is!
2017
Gretchen Tietjen, MD
Understanding Migraine by the Company It Keeps
2016
Lawrence C. Newman, MD, FAHS
Disabling Migraine
2015
Morris Levin, MD, FAHS
Diagnosing Headaches
2014
Elizabeth W. Loder, MD, MPH, FAHS
Headache Medicine: Past, Present and Future
2012
David W. Dodick, MD, FAHS
Changing Paradigms in Headache Medicine
2011
Werner J. Becker, MD, FAHS
The Challenge of Headache Management
2010
Fred D. Sheftell, MD
People I’ve Met, Places I’ve Been, Things I’ve Learned and … Little Known Facts in the History of Headache
2008
Paul Winner, DO
Seven Steps to a Healthy Brain: A Migraine Focus
2007
Stephen D. Silberstein, MD, FAHS
Sex Hormones and Headaches
2006
Alan G. Finkel, MD
Headache Medicine: A History of Subspecialty
2005
Robert B. Daroff, MD
Information, Reflections, and Advice
2004
Bahram Mokri, MD
A Journey in the Wonderland of Spontaneous CSF Leaks: Lessons of the Past Decade
2003
Richard B. Lipton, MD, FAHS
A Self-Administered Screener for Migraine in Primary Care
2002
James R. Couch, Jr., MD, PhD
Migraine-A “Matrix” Disorder
2000
Neil H. Raskin, MD
Conceptual Issues Surrounding Headache
1999
Dewey K. Ziegler, MD
How Did Twin Studies Affect Our Current Understanding of Migraine Genetics?
1998
Michael A. Moskowitz, MD
Migraine Myths & Messages
1997
Seymour Solomon, MD
Post-traumatic Migraine
Dr. John R. Graham
The late John R. Graham was known throughout the world for his contributions in the field of headaches. His interests included basic pathophysiology of headache, clinical research, patient care, and teaching. But, his genuine legacy lies in his great kindness and personal touch in helping patients understand and cope with their headache problems.
Born in Boston, February 13, 1909, to a Canadian mother and a British father, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Roxbury Latin School. He went on to graduate with honors from Harvard Medical School, trained in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and then in 1936, found his life’s work when he started investigating the vascular changes of migraine under the guidance of the late Dr. Harold Wolff, in New York.
He returned to Boston to practice with Nobel Prize-Winner Dr. George Minot, but was soon called upon to serve as a Major in the United States Army Medical Corps in England during WWII. After the war, he returned to private practice in Boston, and founded the first headache clinic at the Mass General Hospital. As a bright young clinician, he was selected as Chief of Medicine at the Faulkner Hospital (1950-1974), while continuing to pursue his interest in the study and treatment of headache. He established a Headache Clinic, which now bears his name, and the Headache Research Foundation at the Faulkner Hospital.
During his lifetime, Dr. Graham published many papers including observations on the mechanisms of ergotamine tartrate in migraine, the use of corticosteroids in headache, the headache which occurs with renal dialysis, and the role of methysergide and its complications in headache. He developed a series of headache profiles which are still used for teaching purposes, and worked on a computer-based headache interview. He also held many administrative positions including: President of the American Headache Society®; Editor of Cephalalgia; Regent for Massachusetts of the American College of Physicians; and Editorial Board of Headache. Several highlights among his many honors include: Distinguished Clinician Award of the American Headache Society®; the National Headache Foundation Lectureship Award; and the Menninger Award of the American College of Physicians.
Concerned with his patients’ well-being and committed to finding the best treatment available, Dr. Graham openly shared his ideas about research. Colleagues from around the world were always welcome in his home and encouraged with his genuine interest in their opinions and research. John R. Graham was a member, a friend, and an inspiration to those who knew him and he was at peace with himself at the time of his death on April 4, 1990.
