About
Arnold Mann has been writing about medicine for 30 years.
His cover stories for Time and USA Weekend magazines, most notably his investigative reporting on the toxic mold threat in homes, schools and the workplace, earned him recognition as one of the nation’s leading environmental journalists, and keynote speaker at the EPA Healthy Indoor Air Conference in Dallas.
Mr. Mann has also written extensively for the publications of the National Institutes of Health, where he served from 2004 to 2005 as personal writer for the Director of the National Cancer Institute and oversaw publication of the Institute’s Annual Progress Report to Congress.
Prior to his NIH work, Mann covered medical conferences for the International Medical News Group, which publishes specialty newspapers for physicians, including Internal Medicine News, Skin & Allergy News, Clinical Psychiatry News, Pediatric News, OB-Gyn News and Family Practice News.
In 2009, Mann’s Time cover story on neurosurgeon Keith Black became a book, Brain Surgeon: A Doctor’s Inspiring Encounters with Mortality and Miracles (Hachette), with Mann serving as Dr. Black’s co-author. The critically acclaimed book was nominated for an NAACP Image Award (Best Nonfiction Book) and Best Biography/Memoir by the African-American Literary Society. Mann has also authored books on environmental illness, autism, and nutritional approaches to the practice of medicine, as well as physician memoirs.
Prior to writing about medicine, Mr. Mann served as the feature interviewer for Emmy, the Magazine of the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences.
Mr. Mann holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in English Literature from the University of Hawaii, where he taught freshman composition and sophomore literature, with postgraduate work completed at Claremont Graduate University in California. In 2017, the Henry James Society published Mr. Mann’s extensive 1981 interview with his mentor, Henry James biographer Leon Edel, known for his pioneering work in literary psychology.
Featured Work
Brain Surgeon, A Doctor's Inspiring Encounters with Mortality and Miracles
Welcome to tiger country: the treacherous territory where a single wrong move can devastate—or end—a patient’s life. This is the terrain world-renowned neurosurgeon Keith Black, MD, enters every day to produce virtual medical miracles. Now, in this riveting book, Dr. Black Invites readers to shadow his breathtaking journeys into the brain as he battles some of the deadliest and most feared tumors know to medical science. Along the way, he shares his unique insights about the inner workings of the brain, his unwavering optimism for the future of medicine, and the extraordinary stories of his patients—from ministers and rock stars to wealthy entrepreneurs and uninsured students—whom he celebrates as the real heroes.
Offering a window into one man’s remarkable mind, BRAIN SURGEON reveals the anatomy of the unflinching confidence of this master surgeon, whose personal journey brought him from life as a young African-American boy growing up in the civil rights-era South to the elite world of neurosurgery.
Through Dr. Black’s white-knuckle descriptions of some of the most astonishing medical procedures performed today, he reveals the beauty and marvel of the human brain. He also celebrates the amazing strength and courage of his patients, who refuse to see themselves as victims. Ultimately, BRAIN SURGEON is an inspiring story of the struggle to overcome odds—whether as a man, a doctor, or a patient.
"BRAIN SURGEON is an inspirational book about true heroes-readers will marvel at Keith Black's achievements both as a doctor and as a man, and will be in awe of his patients' courage and will to survive." --Denzel Washington
“A rare behind-the-curtain look at the life of one of the most preeminent neurosurgeons in the world”— Sanjay Gupta, MD. Chief Medical Correspondent CNN
