WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – David L. Kelly Jr., M.D., professor of neurological surgery at WakeForestUniversityBaptistMedicalCenter, received the 2009 Distinguished Practitioner Award during the annual meeting of the Southern Neurosurgical Society, held March 25-28 in Greensboro, Ga.

Kelly, a native of Elkin, joined the School of Medicine faculty in 1965 and was chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery from 1978 to 2000. He has served as president of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the AmericanAcademy of Neurological Surgery, the Congress of Neurological Surgery, the North Carolina Neurological Society and the Winston-Salem Neurological Society. He also has served on the American Board of Neurological Surgery and the Residents Review Committee for Neurosurgery.

His honors have included the 1999 Cushing Medal from the American Association of Neurological Surgery, the Distinguished Service Award from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from which he received his M.D. in 1959, and the Distinguished Faculty Award from the Wake Forest Medical Alumni Association.