Mark Houston, M.D.

I grew up in Jackson, Tennessee, the only son of two wonderful and loving parents. My mother was a beautician and my father an engineer on the Illinois Central railroad. I decided that I wanted to become a physician at the age of 6, for reasons that I still do not totally understand-but I am glad that I made that decision and stuck to it. My parents were my greatest mentors along with the giants of medicine-Dr. Grant Liddle, Dr. Tom Brittingham and Dr. Robert Collins at Vanderbilt Medical School. Their medical writings along with those of Winston Churchill and Will and Emily Durant influenced my writing style. I have always attempted to review the complex, distill the most important facts and issues, then relate them as a lecture or as a readable and easily understood article, book chapter or book.