Oliver Sacks: His Own Life Q&A

1hr
Body

The Coolidge is delighted to host a virtual Q&A with renowned surgeon, writer, and public health leader Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, who is featured in the film, and with executive director of the Oliver Sacks Foundation Kate Edgar. The conversation will be moderated by Sean B. Carroll, PhD, Head of HHMI Tangled Bank Studios.

Oliver Sacks: His Own Life explores the life and work of the legendary neurologist and storyteller, as he shares intimate details of his battles with drug addiction, homophobia, and a medical establishment that accepted his work only decades after the fact. Sacks, known for his literary works Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, was a fearless explorer of unknown cognitive worlds who helped redefine our understanding of the brain and mind, the diversity of human experience, and our shared humanity.

The Q&A will take place on Wednesday, September 30 at 8pm EST. Watch here or at the embedded video below:

Order Oliver Sach's On the Move: A Life from our friends at the Brookline Booksmith here.

About Kate Edgar

Kate Edgar is the executive director of the Oliver Sacks Foundation. She began working with Oliver Sacks as editor and researcher in 1983. She contributed to all sixteen of his books, including the recently published Everything in its Place. For over three decades, she travelled the world with Dr. Sacks and knew many of his patients and subjects. 

About Atul Gawande

Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, is a surgeon, writer, and public health leader. He is a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is the founder and chair of Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation, and of Lifebox, a nonprofit organization making surgery safer globally. He is also chairman of Haven, where he was CEO from 2018 to 2020.

Atul has also been staff writer for The New Yorker magazine since 1998 and written four New York Times best selling books: Complications, Better, The Checklist Manifesto, and Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. He is the winner of two National Magazine Awards, AcademyHealth’s Impact Award for highest research impact on healthcare, a MacArthur Fellowship, and the Lewis Thomas Award for writing about science.

Order Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End from our friends at the Brookline Booksmith here.

About Sean B. Carroll

As Head of Studio, Sean B. Carroll directs HHMI Tangled Bank Studios’ mission, strategy, and editorial focus, and oversees both the documentary and dramatic film slates.

An internationally recognized scientist, award-winning author, and Emmy-winning executive producer, Carroll is the architect of HHMI’s filmmaking initiative to bring great stories about science and scientists to broad audiences. He has served as executive producer on a wide variety of feature documentaries, IMAX, and short films. As leader of HHMI’s Department of Science Education, Carroll also oversees the largest portfolio of privately supported science education activities in the United States.

A frequent public speaker and prominent storyteller in print, in film, and on radio, Carroll is the author of several books including “Remarkable Creatures,” which was a finalist for the 2009 National Book Award (non-fiction); “The Making of the Fittest;” “Endless Forms Most Beautiful;” “The Serengeti Rules;” and “Brave Genius.” His first two books were the basis for a two-hour NOVA special in December 2009 on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” and his “The Serengeti Rules” was the basis for the recent, highly honored feature documentary. Carroll also authored a regular feature, “Remarkable Creatures,” for the New York Times' Science Times. He received the 2016 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science.

Carroll is a pioneer in the field of evolutionary developmental biology or “evo-devo,” the study of the genes that control animal body patterns and play major roles in the evolution of animal diversity. In recognition of his scientific contributions, Carroll has received the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Sciences, been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and been named a Fellow of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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Films

1hr 54mins

Explores the life and work of the legendary neurologist and storyteller, as he shares intimate details of his battles with drug addiction, homophobia, and a medical establishment that accepted his work only decades after the fact.