2008: Dr. Robert Sapolsky
Dr. Robert Sapolsky science and nature writer, biologist and neurologist, and stress expert will deliver the 2008 Beall-Russell Lecture. Dr. Sapolsky is a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, a research associate with the Institute of Primate Research at the National Museum of Kenya, and a MacArthur "Genius" Fellow. For over twenty-five years, Sapolsky has conducted field work among baboon colonies, studying the role of stress in baboons and relating his findings to neurological disorders within the human population. His book A Primate's Memoir, focusing on the results of this research, won the 2001 Bay Area Book Reviewers Award for nonfiction.
His other books include The Trouble with Testosterone, Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, and Monkeyluv and Other Essays on our Lives as Animals, which have been translated into several languages. His articles on scientific topics for the general reading public have appeared in such magazines as Discover and The New Yorker. He deals with these difficult topics with humor and a flair that makes them accessible to a broad readership. Dr. Sapolsky's lecture topics include stress and stress-related diseases, the biology of our individuality, the biology of religious belief, the biology of memory, schizophrenia, depression, aggression, and Alzheimer's disease.