Mohan Nair, MD

11/18/2025

Deathbed changes to a will can raise complex questions, especially concerning the concept of a 'lucid interval.' When might a moment of clarity impact legal decisions, even after long periods of confusion?

11/13/2025

Remembering Dr. Nolan Williams, a pioneering Stanford neurologist and psychiatrist. He developed groundbreaking treatments using psychedelics and TMS for severe depression. The New York Times reported his passing, noting he fought the same battles he helped others overcome. A powerful reminder of the hidden struggles many face.

🔗 Read the article here: https://nyti.ms/43ukurr

10/28/2025

The death by su***de by Nolan Williams is deeply tragic — a brilliant researcher who devoted his life to advancing our understanding of depression, su***de and addictions through psychedelics and transcranial magnetic stimulation.

His passing reminds us of a painful truth: knowing -including
scientific knowledge does not make us immune from the weight of emotion. Feelings — despair, rage, fear — are powerful forces that can sometimes override reason and understanding.

But feelings are not permanent and mostly - to quote Victor Hugo: “Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.”

10/24/2025

I’m often asked about the importance of sleep. In this video, I break down how different types of sleep help heal your body and clear your mind. Discover why a good balance of REM and non-REM sleep is essential for your health, and how sleep powers your brain’s natural “drainage system.”

Watch now to learn how better sleep can transform your well-being!

10/13/2025

I came across this New York Times article on Phillip Adams and the role of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) in his life and actions. It illustrates how differently brain injury can impact individuals, even those with similar athletic experiences.

It brought to mind Wilder Penfield, the Canadian neurosurgeon who also played football in his youth and went on to map the human brain without showing the neurological or behavioral issues we now associate with repeated head trauma.

In contrast, athletes like Aaron Hernandez and Phillip Adams experienced significant cognitive and emotional changes linked to severe CTE after years in professional football. Their stories underscore how brain injury affects everyone differently, influenced by genetics, frequency of impact, and countless other biological and environmental factors.

As our understanding of brain injury continues to grow, one thing is certain: no two brains respond the same way to trauma, and appreciating that complexity is essential to advancing prevention, care, and recovery.

🔗

A family reckons with the devastation left behind after a former N.F.L. player showed up on their property.

10/13/2025

New research from Mass General suggests a possible link between moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and increased risk of cancerous brain tumors. Over a cohort of ~15,000 adults with TBI, a small but significant uptick in tumor incidence was observed compared to non-TBI controls.

🎥 Watch as Dr. Saef Izzy walks through their methodology and findings: https://youtu.be/kkHHdmayRJA

Researchers at Mass General Brigham studied about 15,000 adults who had a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury. They found that a small percentage of th...

10/09/2025

Football has produced both heroes and tragedies. Wilder Penfield excelled on and off the field, becoming a leading brain surgeon. Aaron Hernandez's story, marked by CTE, ended in devastation. Recognizing individual variations in susceptibility to brain injuries is crucial for public health.

10/01/2025

Sharing this compelling video from Dr. Uzma Samadani on the risks and benefits of youth and high school football with a focus on brain injury. As a neurosurgeon and brain injury expert, her perspective is essential for parents, coaches, and clinicians alike.

▶️ Watch here:

Dr. Uzma Samadani, a neurosurgeon and brain injury researcher at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minnesota, reviews the evidence assessing the risks and be...

09/30/2025

The New York Times recently reported that Shane Tamura, the gunman in the tragic New York City shooting at NFL Headquarters, was found to have suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated head injuries.

This raises a critical question: Does playing football, soccer, or other contact sports increase the risk of developing CTE? The answer is complex. Some athletes, like Tom Brady, have played for decades without any apparent signs of CTE. Others, like Aaron Hernandez, developed the disease after only a few years in the NFL.

👉 This contrast highlights a key truth: there is great individual variability in susceptibility. Not everyone with repeated concussions develops CTE, and not everyone exposed to the same risks shows the same outcomes.

What we do know is that CTE is real, devastating, and requires ongoing research to better understand risk factors, prevention, and treatment.

Read more here:

Shane Tamura, a former high school football player, shot himself and left a note that said his motive was anger at the N.F.L.

09/04/2025

NFL owner secretly relapsed, got ketamine from private doctor before death. As a recovery doctor provided ketamine and opioids, Colts owner Jim Irsay spent his final years suffering through a relapse that he and executives hid from the public.

Read in The Washington Post:

As a recovery doctor provided ketamine and opioids, Colts owner Jim Irsay spent his final years suffering through a relapse that he and executives hid from the public.

08/22/2025

Between 1985 and 1992, I conducted several hundred SPECT scans on psychiatric patients, both adults and adolescents. What I found was striking: every single scan was abnormal.

This raises important questions.

Could it be that every child and adult I saw truly had an abnormal brain?

Or might there have been something else at play?

The debate continues: are SPECT scans a legitimate tool in understanding ADHD and mental illness, or are they closer to “snake oil”?

I’ll let you be the judge.

🔗 https://apple.news/ALevRRiBKRs2KBMoYAuo9XQ

07/31/2025

An interesting read.. “Although healthcare expenditure per capita is higher for the United States than any other country, over 37 million Americans are entirely without health insurance and 41 million more have inadequate access to care.”

“The salary for the head of this single-payer system would be capped at the $210,700 salary of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This cap would eliminate the excessive compensation of health insurance company executives, some of whom earn over $20 million annual”

🔗 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8572548/

Galvani AP, Parpia AS, Foster EM, Singer BH, Fitzpatrick MC. Improving the prognosis of health care in the USA. Lancet. 2020 Feb 15;395(10223):524-533. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)33019-3. PMID: 32061298; PMCID: PMC8572548.

Although healthcare expenditure per capita is higher for the United States than any other country, over 37 million Americans are entirely without health insurance and 41 million more have inadequate access to care. Whereas ongoing efforts to repeal ...