Neil H. Raskin, MD, FAHS

1935 – 2026

The American Headache Society remembers Neil H. Raskin, MD, FAHS with profound gratitude and admiration. Dr. Raskin was one of the towering figures in headache medicine: a master clinician, gifted teacher, thoughtful scholar, and leader whose work helped define and elevate the field for generations of physicians and scientists.

His career at the University of California, San Francisco spanned decades, during which he established the first headache center in western U.S. His weekly popular Headache Case Conference gave trainees at all levels the opportunity to learn diagnostic and management skills from a true master. His thousands of patients revered him. Dr. Raskin joined the UCSF faculty in 1968 after earning his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College, his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, and completing neurology residency training at the Neurological Institute of New York, where he served as chief resident. 

For the American Headache Society, Dr. Raskin’s legacy is both institutional and deeply personal. He served on the Board of Directors of the Society, then known as the American Association for the Study of Headache, from 1985 through 1998 and was President from 1994 to 1996. During that era, he helped guide a field that was becoming more rigorous, more neurologically grounded, and more ambitious in its scientific aims. In a 2018 AHS interview with R. Allan Purdy, MD, FAHS, Dr. Raskin reflected on this transformation, noting how the Society had grown from a small group of interested physicians into a broader and more scientifically grounded professional home for specialists across disciplines. 

Dr. Raskin’s influence on headache medicine is woven into the language and practice of the specialty itself. His contributions were many and varied. His was the first description of hypnic headache in 1988 (1)He published influential early work on ice-cream headache (2), now cold cold-stimulus headache, and icepick-like pain, now called primary stabbing headache (3). He characterized thunderclap headache, a term introduced in a landmark 1986 paper coauthored with John W. Day (4). He resuscitated the use of lumbar puncture as a treatment for primary cough headache (5), which remains today a foundational approach to the problem. When the headache world had “lost its marbles”, as he summarized the vascular theory of migraine, he identified cases where headache could be triggered by brain perturbations (6), in many ways presaging the era of brain imaging in migraine. Perhaps the apogee of his writings was the intravenous dihydroergotamine regimen widely known as the Raskin Protocol (7), which became a foundational treatment approach for intractable migraine. Forty years later, that contribution alone stands tall for its clinical reach and utility. These achievements reflect the qualities that defined his career: clinical precision, intellectual curiosity, and a determination to understand headache disorders on their own biological terms.

His honors were many, but each points back to the same truth: Dr. Raskin changed the field. The American Headache Society recognized him with the Distinguished Clinician Award in 1987, the John R. Graham Senior Clinicians’ Award in 2000, elevation to Regent status in 2002, and the AHS Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. At UCSF, he received the institution’s prestigious Gold-Headed Cane Award in 2001. He was also the author of the textbook Headache, regarded as one of the earliest scientifically grounded monographs on the subject and used widely in medical education. 

Those who knew Dr. Raskin knew that his greatest impact extended beyond awards and publications. He helped shape the thinking of trainees, colleagues, and the broader headache community through his teaching, lectures, and example. He was, at heart, a kind person whose high standards, and no nonsense shook lesser minds. The 2018 symposium held in his honor at the AHS Annual Scientific Meeting captured what so many in the field already understood: that Neil Raskin was not simply present for the evolution of headache medicine—he was one of the people who made that evolution possible. His many trainees stand legacy to Neil Raskin, the teacher, a true Professor.

The American Headache Society honors Dr. Raskin’s extraordinary life and enduring legacy. His work sharpened the science of headache medicine, improved the care of countless patients, and helped build the modern field we inherit today. We remember him with respect, gratitude, and affection.

References

1. Raskin NH. The hypnic headache syndrome. Headache. 1988;28:534-6.
2. Raskin NH, Knittle SC. Ice cream headache and orthostatic symptoms in patients with migraine headache. Headache. 1976;16:222-5.
3. Raskin NH, Schwartz RK. Icepick-like pain. Neurology. 1980;30:203-5.
4. Day JW, Raskin NH. Thunderclap headache: symptom of unruptured cerebral aneurysm. Lancet. 1986;2(8518):1247-8.
5. Raskin NH. The cough headache syndrome: treatment. Neurology. 1995;45:1784.
6. Raskin NH, Hosobuchi Y, Lamb S. Headache may arise from perturbation of brain. Headache. 1987;27:416-20.
7. Raskin NH. Repetitive intravenous dihydroergotamine as therapy for intractable migraine. Neurology. 1986;36:995-7.