Renowned Neuroscientist Dr. Carl Hart is Surprise Guest at Community Health Virtual Class

SALISBURY, MD---Students in Dr. Sherry Maykrantz's Drugs and Public Health class at Salisbury University recently had a special guest at their final virtual class of the semester.    

Dr. Carl Hart, renowned neuroscientist and Columbia University professor, signed on to the virtual meeting to commend students on their recent work and discuss his book High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society, an assigned reading in the course. 

“This book was the most interesting and insightful book I’ve read during my undergraduate study and it was so exciting to have the opportunity to speak to the author,” said senior community health major Sarah Kinnane. “Dr. Hart candidly wrote about his experience with drugs and how society perceives them.”

Maykrantz tasked students with creating a movie trailer of their favorite chapter of the book. 

“The finish projects turned out so well that I shared a few with Dr. Hart and invited him to our last class,” said Maykrantz. “He said he was so impressed with my students’ creativity and ingenuity that he just had to meet them.”

Hart’s books and research focus on drugs, neuroscience and human behavior. He has appeared on multiple podcasts, radio and television shows including Real Time with Bill Maher and The O’Reilly Factor. He also has appeared in several documentary films including the award-winning The House I Live In. His essays have been published in media including The New York Times, Scientific American, The Nation, Ebony, The Root, and O Globo (Brazil’s leading newspaper).

 “The most important takeaway was his lesson in research and not believing everything you hear or read, to use your own resources to find the truth and come to your own conclusions in everything,” said Kinnane.  “Especially when it pertains to the public perception of drugs, law enforcement and media.

“Dr. Hart shows firsthand that no matter how you start off, you can make positive choices and change outcomes for the better.”

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU website.