Dr. Ali A. Khalili, 61, chairman of the Department of Rehabilitation Services at Grant Hospital and consultant physiatrist at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, was an internationally respected expert in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Many of his 47 scientific papers provided pioneer research in the control and management of spastic muscle reactions.
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A resident of Oak Brook, he died Monday in Royal Oak, Mich., in a doctor-assisted suicide in the presence of right-to-die activist Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Dr. Khalili had been suffering from bone cancer.
He had developed the technique of injecting phenol for the relief of the spasticity that is often associated with spinal injuries and strokes.
“The presence of this spasticity is one of the main factors that can impede independence in persons with these disabilities,” said Dr. Henry Betts, chief executive officer and medical director of the Rehabilitation Institute. “Through his technique, hundreds of people have been able to achieve a fuller life back in the community.”
Dr. Khalili, a native of Iran, graduated from Tehran University Medical School and Hospitals. He did his internship at Columbus Hospital in Chicago and took residencies at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, New York University and the Bellevue Hospital Center and Children’s Division of the Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Since 1968, he has served as an associate professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Northwestern University Medical School.
Other positions he held include director of the residency program at the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Northwestern University Medical Center and director of the Neuromuscular Diagnostic and Research Department at the Rehabilitation Institute. He also was a consultant at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital.
Dr. Khalili was a member of the Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and a former vice president of the Mid-American Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
“He practiced the art of medicine, the art of caring,” said Dr. Louis Johnston, former medical director at Grant Hospital. “Dr. Khalili knew his patients. He also knew the facts and the scientific principles involved in dealing with their cases. He was extremely professional in demeanor and competent in his professional skills, while being very humane in his treatment of people. He was an intensely intellectual and moral person.”
He was the recipient last year of the Louis B. Newman M.D. Award from the Illinois Society of Physical Medicine and Education.
Survivors include his wife, Sandra; a daughter, Lyssa; a son, Alan; and six brothers and sisters.
Services are pending.