Page 10 - The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss and Enhance Memory Power

Page ix

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

WHEN I WAS TRAINING in the early 1980s at Yale, Dr. Craig Nelson helped me write and publish a
paper on the interface between memory loss and depression. He was an outstanding mentor and
helped propel me in the direction of studying and treating memory disorders, which I have been
doing for the last sixteen years. While Dr. Nelson remained at Yale, I moved to the medical center at
Columbia University, where I have stayed ever since. At Columbia, many teachers, professional
colleagues, and students, too numerous to name individually, have helped shape my thinking, clinical
expertise, and research ideas and projects in dealing with the problems of memory loss due to the
aging process and related disorders. This thriving clinical-cum-research environment is likely to
continue well into the future, and I owe all the individuals involved a great debt. In particular, I
would like to thank all my patients and their families, from whom I have learned a great deal. I
believe I was able to help them a little in their struggle against memory loss, and I drew on this
experience in formulating the Memory Program that is central to this book.

My literary agent, Lynn Franklin, patiently kept me on track from the inception of the book
proposal to the completion of this book. Her critical comments and advice helped me keep concepts
clear and simple for the reader. Tom Miller at John Wiley provided incisive editorial comments that
helped make this an informative yet practical book for people who wish to learn about memory loss
and how to prevent and treat it.