Alumni

As a 15-year-old New York City public school student born in Queens, Guterman enrolled in an National Science Foundation summer medical illustration course at the Hahnemann medical college. He remained for two semesters doing research in calcium binding proteins in brains. He later attended Binghamton University where he met his wife Lisa Benson. He worked summers at Woods Hole Marine Biological Lab dissecting squid axons and studying nerve impulse transmission. 

Guterman received a PhD in chemistry from Clarkson University, where he was a Kodak Fellow. He attended UB JSBMS with his wife Lisa. There he was “adopted” by Harold Brody and taught neuroanatomy, which led to a love for everything neuro. He completed his neurosurgery residency and endovascular fellowship at UB. While in residency he and Lisa welcomed three children, Eve, Beryl and Sidney. They are all grown and married and contributing in their chosen fields. 

Guterman was a founder and co-director of the Toshiba Stroke Research center at UB. He has numerous patents and publications and has worked with medical device startup companies for decades. In 2006 he left academic medicine and has worked on stroke, neurocritical care and neurology in the Catholic Health System of Buffalo. 

Guterman and his wife have traveled worldwide to view wildlife. They owned a lodge in Rwanda in the Virunga National Park, home to the Mountain Gorilla. The family brought neurosurgery equipment to Rwanda and developed valuable friendships in Africa, India and South America.