July 16, 2009

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, Neuroanatomist and Author Dr.Taylor is a Harvard-trained and published neuroanatomist who experienced a severe hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain in 1996. On the afternoon of this rare form of stroke (AVM), she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life. It took eight years for Dr. Taylor to completely recover all of her functions and thinking ability. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey (published in 2008 by Viking Penguin) and was chosen as one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2008. In addition, Dr. Taylor was the premiere guest on Oprah's Soul Series webcast and her interview with Oprah and Dr. Oz on the Oprah Winfrey Show was aired on Tuesday, October 21, 2008. Dr. Taylor is the National Spokesperson for the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center (Harvard Brain Bank) and travels the country as the Singin' Scientist (listen to the Brain Bank Jingle). In addition, she is the Consulting Neuroanatomist for the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute (MPRI), which uses protons (rather than photons) to battle cancer. Since 1993, she has been an active member of NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness) and is currently the president of the NAMI Greater Bloomington Area affiliate in Bloomington, Indiana.