The Headache Godfather ― The Story of Dr. Seymour Diamond and How He Revolutionized the Treatment of Headaches

Learn the story of a man who lived the American dream and improved the quality of life for thousands of headache sufferers.

The Headache Godfather traces the life of Seymour Diamond, MD, who was born in 1925, the son of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine and Slovakia, in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Diamond revolutionized the practice of headache as a medical specialty when he opened the United States’ first private headache practice, the Diamond Headache Clinic, in 1974. It quickly became a headache haven for sufferers from around the world. He also established a nonprofit organization, the National Headache Foundation, to support research for headache relief and to spread the knowledge among doctors and headache sufferers alike.

At eighty-nine years of age, Dr. Diamond looks back on his battles with the Food and Drug Administration over headache treatments, the political skirmishes with those who would block his will to succeed, his globe-trotting adventures to learn and share current headache knowledge, the hundreds of thankful patients who claim that his headache treatment saved their lives, a frightening and painful malpractice lawsuit, and even a relationship with a Chicago Mafia member whose family Dr. Diamond treated early in his medical career, and who was ultimately found in the trunk of a stolen automobile, shot to death.

Seymour Diamond is a living example of an individual who succeeded at living the American dream. Working several jobs while attending college and medical school, applying his intelligence, energy, and imagination to the world of headache medicine, and providing for his wife, Elaine, and their family of three daughters while building an empire of headache health, Seymour Diamond is indeed the Headache Godfather.

Seymour Diamond, MD, has retired from a career of healing headaches, but he continues to serve as executive chairman at the nonprofit organization he founded, the National Headache Foundation. Throughout his professional life, he has been a prolific researcher and writer, having produced dozens of books and hundreds of research papers. His current project is a book called Headache and Migraine: Biology and Management. He lives in Chicago, Illinois, with his wife and duplicate bridge partner, Elaine, where they enjoy beating younger competitors at cards, spending time with family members, and dining at the Windy City’s fine restaurants.

Charlie Morey is a retired journalist who began his career as a freelance motorsports writer/photographer in the early 1970s. He was hired for his first editorial position at Cycle News, a weekly newspaper covering the world of motorcycling, in 1974. Eight years later, he joined Petersen Publishing Company, the largest magazine publisher on the West Coast, to become the founding editor of Dirt Rider Magazine. Morey created several new publications before leaving Petersen in 1996 to pursue the ?dot-com dream” working with several Internet companies, including EarthLink and Idealab, until he retired in 2002. Today he is an avid photographer. He resides in Studio City, California.