Who was Dr Oliver Sacks? How NBC's 'Brilliant Minds' connects to groundbreaking neurologist
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: NBC's 'Brilliant Minds' celebrates the life and work of neurologist Dr Oliver Sacks, a rare example of a medical drama drawing inspiration from real life. The creative brainchild of Michael Grassi, 'Brilliant Minds' is all set to fascinate audiences with real-life events that were even included in Dr Sacks's books.
The show will premiere on Monday, September 23, and it is not the first time the extraordinary doctor's life has inspired a fictional work. Prior to 'Brilliant Minds,' his work inspired the 1990 Academy Award-nominated film 'Awakenings', which starred Robin Williams as Dr Malcolm Sayer, who was modeled after Sacks.
Who was Dr Oliver Sacks?
Oliver Sacks was a prominent neurologist, naturalist, and writer, who was born in London and received his medical degree from Queen's College, Oxford. He did his internship at Middlesex Hospital in London in 1959 before working as a house surgeon at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in 1960, as per Britannica.
Dr Sacks then relocated to America, where he worked as an intern at Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco for one year. After that, he finished his neurology residency at UCLA and his career accelerated dramatically. In 1965, he started as a teacher at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, ultimately advancing to clinical professor of neurology in 1966.
In the same year, Dr Sacks started working as a staff neurologist at Beth Abraham Hospital in the Bronx, where he treated patients who had caught encephalitis lethargica, a type of sleeping sickness during an outbreak that lasted from 1917 to 1927. Dr Sacks detailed their temporary recovery with the medicine l-dopa and the resulting adverse effects in his 1973 book 'Awakenings'.
Why Dr Oliver Sacks is so popular?
Dr Sacks gained worldwide recognition for his accounting of complex medical cases which served as the basis of his popular books. Dr Sacks has meticulously documented his medical cases since the start of his career. He wrote his first book, 'Migraine,' in only 10 days and was inspired by his personal migraine experience, as per the Academy of Achievement.
Dr Sacks's 1973 book, 'Awakenings,' first received little notice but eventually gained fame among neurologists and the general public, and was even made into a film. His 1985 book, 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat,' earned international acclaim for its gripping narrative about neurological diseases, establishing Dr Sacks's reputation as a superb writer and therapist. His subsequent works, 'An Anthropologist on Mars and 'The Island of the Colorblind,' continued to chronicle unique neurological experiences.
After having a long and illustrious career, Dr Sacks died from complications from cancer on 30 August 2015, at his home in Manhattan at the age of 82. Even after his passing, Dr Sacks's work continues to shine on and inspire many.
How to stream 'Brilliant Minds'?
To watch 'Brilliant Minds' on NBC, you must be an exclusive member of the same. The yearly cost of the Premium tier is priced at $79.99, from $59.99.
The ad-free Premium Plus plan is priced at $13.99 per month. To have a yearly subscription, you need to buy a package that is priced at $139.99.
'Brilliant Minds' trailer