Doctor has moved up to top of his specialty

Buckley native son Derald Brackmann is a world leader in otology and neurotology. He specializes in treating tumors in the inner ear and base of the skull.

Brackmann was born in Buckley in 1937, earned his undergraduate degree from University of Illinois and obtained his medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago.

Brackmann is now president and a physician at the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles. He's worked as a professor of otology, or ear medicine, at the University of Southern California and lives in South Pasadena.

Brackmann, listed in "Best Doctors in America," was involved in the development of the cochlear implant and in diagnostic techniques of acoustic tumors. He is currently investigating the auditory brain-stem implant, which would produce auditory sensation in deaf patients.

He has lectured on every continent and helped physicians in Jordan develop a cochlear implant program. He also examined and operated on the late King Hussein of Jordan.

Brackmann plans to return to Buckley for the sesquicentennial celebration.

"It's a great place to grow up, a warm, friendly com-munity," he said. "It's like a little Bavarian village transformed from Germany to Illinois.

"There's a lot of support and camaraderie."