By Chanceller Clift
Award winning neurologist and world-renowned author Oliver Sacks will speak today in a campus forum in the Marriott Center.
Dr. Sacks has written nine books, including 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat,' and 'Awakenings,' which inspired the 1990 film of the same name starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro.
Dr. Sacks'' writings deal with various neurological topics, including Tourette''s Syndrome and Alzheimer''s Disease.
In 1966, Dr. Sacks studied survivors of the 'sleeping sickness' epidemic, which killed millions in the 1920''s. Seeing these patients awake from their condition by administering an experimental medication led him to write the book, 'Awakenings.'
The New York Times called Dr. Sacks 'the poet laureate of medicine'.
Born in London, Dr. Sacks earned a medical degree from Oxford University in 1958. He moved to the United States in the 1960''s, where he earned his residency in neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and later practiced neurology in New York City.
Dr. Sacks is currently a practicing physician, as well as a frequent contributor to such publications as 'The New Yorker' and 'The New York Review of Books.'
Dr. Sacks'' writings deal with the ways patients survived and adapted to different neurological diseases. His books have helped readers around the world gain a better understanding of the human mind and consciousness.
Dr. Sacks will speak about his experience as a medical writer to students and faculty at 11:05 a.m.
The forum address will be broadcast live on KBYU-TV and KBYU-FM, as well as the Joseph Smith Building Auditorium and the Varsity Theater.