Edward H. Lambert, MD, PhD
AANEM 1995 Lifetime Achievement Award

Although Dr. Edward H. Lambert did not attend the 1953 organizational meeting for the American Association of Electromyography and Electrodiagnosis (AAEE), he was contacted soon afterward and told that all of the founding members wanted to immediately extend active membership to him. In the same invitation letter, Dr. Lambert was asked to serve as the chairman of the Instrumenation and Technique Committee. He was elected the fifth President and served on the AAEE Board for 15 years and helped shape an organization that today is seen as the leader in the field of electrodiagnostic medicine. 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 Dr. Lambert’s death in 2003. The AANEM has been influential in electrodiagnostic education and policy and is recognized worldwide for its efforts. Dr. Lambert’s early leadership was part of what made the AANEM the great organization that it is today.

Edward Lambert was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1915. He earned his medical and doctorate degrees from the University of Illinois in Chicago, and performed his internship at Michael Reese Hospital, also in Chicago. He then returned to the University of Illinois for his fellowship in physiology. Dr. Lambert remained in Chicago for several more years as an instructor in biological sciences at Herzl Junior College, and an associate in medicine at the University of Illinois where he worked on the Office of Scientific Research and Development’s (OSRD) project that studied the effects of dietary factors on man’s ability to withstand cold.

In 1943, Dr. Lambert returned to Minnesota to work as a research assistant in the Mayo Aeromedical Laboratory on the OSRD project that tested the effects of acceleration on man in aircraft and human centrifuges. After that assignment was completed in 1945, he continued at the Mayo Clinic as a consultant in physiology and the head of the clinical electromyographic laboratory, a position he held for nearly 30 years. Dr. Lambert taught physiology at the Mayo Clinic until 1985, when he took a professorship in the Department of Neurology at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis. In 1994 he returned to the Mayo Clinic as a special project associate in the Department of Immunology.

He has been a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Physiological Society, the American Neurological Association, the American Academy of Neurology, the American Electroencephalographic Society, the Aerospace Medical Association, the AANEM, and a host of others. In addition to his service to these organizations, Dr. Lambert also has an extensive record in the world of publishing. He has authored and co-authored over 280 papers and abstracts on a broad range of neurological and electrodiagnostic topics, and served on the Advisory Board of Muscle & Nerve for 12 years.

Dr. Lambert resided in Rochester, Minnesota with his wife, Vanda Lennon until his death on Sunday, July 27, 2003 at the age of 88. Dr. Lambert was to be recognized as the Honorary President for the AANEM’s 50th Anniversary Celebration held in September 2003. He will be greatly missed.