A multi-communal loss: remembering Oliver Sacks

At the start of his career as a scientific researcher, Oliver Sacks was, in every sense of the word, a mess. After losing on two separate occasions both a notebook containing nine months of research, and a biological sample that took him ten months to collect, Dr. Sacks was told by his supervisors that he was a “menace” in the lab, and would do less harm by seeing patients (2). With these comments in mind, Dr. Sacks diligently pursued a career in neurology, eventually working his way to becoming a physician and professor of neurology at New York University School of Medicine.