I was deeply saddened to learn of the recent passing of Dr. Ronald Brisman, another neurosurgeon lost to Covid-19. Dr. Brisman, like Dr. Jim Goodrich, the pediatric neurosurgeon who recently passed away, was a product of The Neurological Institute training program, which was then part of Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, now NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr.

I began my seven-year neurosurgical training program in 2013, so by March of this year I was just about done – then the pandemic changed everything. NewYork-Presbyterian is the top-rated hospital in the city and one of the best in the country, and the emergency rooms and ICUs started filling up quickly with Covid-19 patients. Every health care provider in the hospital was put on notice that this was an all-hands-on-deck effort. No matter what department we normally worked in, we should be prepared to be called upon to care for these patients.

The human brain is not wired for this. Our twenty-first century lives had already taken us far away from what our brains evolved to do – but now, in the middle of a pandemic, we are in over our heads.

These are unprecedented times, and we are facing unimaginable challenges. The health care heroes who are saving lives every day are enduring unthinkable levels of stress in addition to the physical dangers they face each day. There are so many other people right now whose anxiety levels are through the roof. The virus, and the fear of the unknown, are primal threats that have us all worrying.