James G. Golseth, MD
AANEM 1978 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

In 1953, Dr. James G. Golseth decided to start an organization for physicians interested in electromyography. Along with 18 other physicians, Dr. Golseth held a meeting at the Palmer House in Chicago and the American Association of Electromyography and Electrodiagnosis (AAEE) was born. Dr. Golseth was elected the first President and from the beginning believed that the organization would not only survive but would be a valuable benefit to those in the field of electrodiagnostic medicine. He was right. The American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM), as it is now known, grew from those 18 physicians to almost 5000 at the time of his death in 2003. The AANEM has been influential in electrodiagnostic education and policy and is recognized worldwide for its efforts. All of this would not have been possible without Dr. Golseth and the other founding members. Dr. Golseth’s attendance record for the AANEM annual meeting was perfect—he had attended all 49 meetings from 1953 to 2002! Sadly, he missed the AANEM’s 50th Anniversary Celebration which began on what would have been Dr. Golseth’s 91st birthday.

Dr. Golseth was born in 1912 in Jamestown, North Dakota. He received a Bachelors of Science from North Dakota State University in 1935. He then attended medical school at Northwestern University where he obtained his medical doctorate in 1942. In 1944, Dr. Golseth became an Instructor in Neurology at Northwestern University Medical School. He then transferred to the University of Southern California School of Medicine from 1946 to 1979. Dr. Golseth served as Professor Emeritus of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Southern California School of Medicine. For 40 years he had a practice of electromyography and electroencephalography in Pasadena, California. He was also Director of Electroencephalography at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California for 30 years.

Dr. Golseth was also a composer of music. He composed his first song in 1932 for his fraternity (Beta Theta Pi) and it was published for a few years in their national song book. In 1933, he composed “Lilac Days” which was used for several years as the theme song for North Dakota State’s spring Lilac Day Pageant. By 1953 Dr. Golseth had composed several more songs, and one of them, “I'll Build Us a Cottage” was performed by Sheri McKay of the Merry Macs on NBC Radio in Chicago. James graduated from college that same year, got married, and became a high school music director.

In 1941, while a senior at Northwestern University Medical School, Dr. Golseth composed “A Medical Students Prayer” which was performed in May by a chorus of 24 medical students at the Alumni banquet and again in June on the American Medical Association’s “Doctors at Work” program which was broadcast live on NBC Radio in Chicago.

In 1988, Dr. Jack H. Petajan had the male members of the Utah Symphony Chorus make a recording of “A Medical Student’s Prayer” and in 1991, Dr. Randall L. Braddom closed his Presidential Address at the AANEM meeting in Vancouver with the words of the second verse of the song. After retiring in 1991, Dr. Golseth had time to work on his music again and “Mr. Santa Claus” was one of several songs on which he worked. “Mr. Santa Claus” is on the CD soundtrack of Casper’s Haunted Christmas.

Dr. Golseth died March 29, 2003, at the age of 90.