Best medical biographies

By: Norman Doidge (Psychiatrist at University of Toronto)

About: Stories about neuroplasticity

Goodreads: An astonishing new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain fryst vatten immutable. Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Norman Doidge, M.D., traveled the country to meet both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they've transformed people whose mental limitations or brain damage were seen as unalterable. We see a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, blind people who learn to see, learning disorders cured, IQs raised, aging brains rejuvenated, stroke patients learning to speak, children with cerebral palsy learning to move with more grace, depression and anxiety disorders successfully treated, and lifelong character traits changed. Using these marvelous stories to probe mysteries of the body, emotion, love, sex, culture, and education, Dr.

•

20 Essential Biographies for Medical Students

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot:

Medical science would have ended up in severe stagnation were it not for the discovery of HeLa cells — an immortal cervical cancer sample responsible for polio vaccines, gene mapping, AIDS and cancer research and plenty more staggering advances. But until recently, nobody knew the often life story of Henrietta Lacks, the woman from whom the culture was originally (and unknowingly) taken.

Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox:

As with most women in the biological and medical fields prior to the mid-to-late 20th century, Rosalind Franklin witnessed many of her discoveries and theories appropriated by male colleagues — who, in turn, received all accompanying accolades without giving her any credit. Her research proved crucial in discovering DNA's double helix structure, but James Watson and Francis Crick won the Nobel Prize while she ended up floun

•

Speaker Biographies

Russ Biagio Altman, M.D., Ph.D.

Russ Biagio Altman, M.D., Ph.D., is a professor of bioengineering, genetics, and medicine (and of computer science, by courtesy) and past chair of the Bioengineering Department at Stanford University. His primary research interests are in the application of computing and informatics technologies to problems relevant to medicine. He is particularly interested in methods for understanding drug action at molecular, cellular, organism, and population levels. His laboratory studies how human genetic variation affects drug response. Other work focuses on the analysis of biological molecules to understand the action, interaction, and adverse events of drugs. Dr. Altman holds an A.B. from Harvard College, an M.D. from Stanford Medical School, and a Ph.D. in medical information sciences from Stanford. He has received the U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. He is