On Memorial Day 2009--at the peak of his career as a physician, medical researcher, and medical center CEO--Dr. Brad Berk took a bike ride that would change his life forever. To avoid an oncoming car, he swerved, fell, and broke his neck, sustaining a spinal cord injury that would leave him permanently paralyzed. Hospitalized for 129 days, he was told that the first 12 months would reveal the limits of his recovery, the "this is as good as it's gonna get for you" scenario. But that prediction proved to be untrue. Dr. Berk's recovery continues to this day, and now, he has a new mission: to help others who have experienced an acute neurological injury (stroke, spinal cord injury, or traumatic brain injury). In Back to Life, he shows them, and their families, how to achieve the best possible continuous recovery. He offers hope, compassion, and understanding from a guy who's been there, plus the most up-to-date information on recovery therapies from his work as a pioneering medical researcher. This is the definitive guide to recovery, required reading for the millions of people who suffer from neurological injury every year. Each chapter gives readers accessible information on specific topics in bite-size pieces. They learn cutting-edge ways to prevent and treat the most common medical problems; how to find, get, and pay for today's life-changing rehabilitation therapies; how to harness the power of the mind; how to build a better lifestyle; how to return to work; how to deal with anxiety and depression; how to be sexually intimate; and much more. With examples spanning Eastern and Western Medicine, and the most up-to-date information on drugs and devices for restoring function, Back to Life helps readers play a more active role in their treatment. By sharing what he's learned as a patient and as a physician (along with what the brightest minds in the field have to say)--Dr. Berk helps others get back to life.


Bradford C. Berk, MD, PhD, is a board-certified cardiologist and a Distinguished University Professor in Medicine, Neurology, Pathology, Pharmacology & Physiology, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. He is the founder and Director of the University of Rochester Neurorestoration Institute. He was formerly Chief of the Cardiology Division at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and then Chairman of Medicine, before being named CEO of University of Rochester Medical Center and Senior Vice President of Health Sciences at the University of Rochester. He lives in Pittsford, New York.Martha W. Murphy’s first book was published in 1991, and since then she has written or co-written scores of magazine articles and books. Since 2007, she has served on the faculty for the annual Harvard Medical School-sponsored CME course, Writing, Publishing, and Social Media for Healthcare Professionals. She is a writing instructor at the University of Rhode Island’s Harrington School of Communication and Media and has taught in the continuing education program at Brown University. She is the executive editor for four healthcare newsletters, and an award-winning healthcare communications and marketing professional. She lives in southern New England.Eric Topol, MD, is the director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute and co-founder and vice-chairman of the West Wireless Health Institute in La Jolla, California. He is a practicing cardiologist at the Scripps Clinic and a professor of genomics at The Scripps Research Institute. One of the top 10 most cited researchers in medicine, Topol was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and has led many of the trials that have shaped contemporary treatment for heart disease. He lives in La Jolla, California.