Speaker Biographies

Lud Gutmann, MD

Lud Gutmann, MD, is Hazel Ruby McQuain professor of neurology at West Virginia University School of Medicine in Morgantown. His life in medicine began after graduating from Princeton University, when he went on to Columbia Medical School, a residency and a fellowship in neurology and neurophysiology at the University of Wisconsin, and the Mayo Clinic.

He helped establish the Department of Neurology at West Virginia University and chaired the department for 28 years. His research has focused on diseases of muscles and nerves and he has published more than 170 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Lud Gutmann has compiled 18 stories in a book titled, The Immobile Man: A Neurologist's Casebook. The stories are about ordinary and extraordinary people-all patients with different neurological problems-but focusing more on their personal struggles and their reaction to the illness than the disease itself. These accounts follow Dr. Gutmann's 40 years in medicine, from his training in New York City through his life-long practice at Ruby Memorial Hospital in West Virginia. Many stories have been previously printed in magazines and journals.

Writing in his office, talking with medical students or his residents and fellows, hurrying down the hall to a clinic, listening quietly to patients recounting their lifetime events-Lud Gutmann has been collecting stories during all of his life.

The stories in this book delve into different issues: from medical-ethical dilemmas; to misunderstandings or secrets or lies; to tracking down the causes of an imaginary illness; however, the overarching theme is the patient and the patient's history. Life stories are the focus of Dr. Gutmann's concern-listening to and understanding is the first order in identifying cause and prescribing care.

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