Natelson, Benjamin H.

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Natelson, Benjamin H.

PERSONAL:

Education: University of Pennsylvania, M.D., 1967; Albert Einstein College of Medicine, training in neurology; New York Hospital, postdoctoral training in behavioral neurosciences; Walter Reed Institute of Research, postdoctoral training in physiological psychology.

ADDRESSES:

Home—NJ. Office—4100 Doctors Office Center, Newark, NJ 07103. E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected].

CAREER:

New Jersey School of Medicine, Newark, department of neurosciences, professor; New Jersey Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Center, East Orange, NJ, director.

WRITINGS:

Tomorrow's Doctors: The Path to Successful Practice in the 1990s, Plenum Press (New York, NY), 1990.

Facing and Fighting Fatigue: A Practical Approach, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 1998.

Contributor of articles to various medical and research journals.

SIDELIGHTS:

Dr. Benjamin H. Natelson is both an educator and a researcher in the neurosciences, serving as a professor in the department of neurosciences at the New Jersey School of Medicine and as the director of the New Jersey Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Center. Natelson earned his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania and went on to study neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and to train at New York Hospital in White Plains, New York, and the Walter Reed Institute of Research, where he worked in the behavioral neurosciences and physiological psychology respectively. Natelson's primary areas of interest relate to stress and disease and include chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and autonomic nervous system function. His first book, Tomorrow's Doctors: The Path to Successful Practice in the 1990s, acknowledges the speed with which the medical profession is changing, particularly in light of new illnesses and the increasingly stressful lives that both patients and physicians lead. The work offers young doctors advice on how to keep up with the world of real medicine, something with which they only become truly acquainted after leaving medical school. Chris McManus, in a review for the Lancet, remarked of the book: "If it was read widely we might see less of the overworked doctor."

Facing and Fighting Fatigue: A Practical Approach, Natelson's follow-up work, addresses the widespread issue of chronic fatigue at both a general and clinical level, discussing the various contributors to the condition, including chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, stress, and depression. Natelson examines ways to avoid fatigue by heading off known risk factors early and methods to treat the condition. Dixie Jones, writing for Library Journal, noted that there have been a number of books on this subject in recent years, but emphasized that "this one is recommended as an addition to any library whose readers are interested in the subject."