RALPH MARGOLIES-KIERNAN

Dr. Kiernan has worked in the San Francisco Bay Area as a clinical neuropsychologist since 1973. He has held clinical appointments at both Stanford University Medical Center and UC Medical Center in San Francisco. He has given training workshops in neuropsychology for psychologists, and he was the co-founder of the Neurobehavioral Unit at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center for the evaluation of medical causes of acute psychiatric disorders. He was the lead clinician involved in the development of a cognitive screening examination, Cognistat, the most frequently used cognitive screening test in North America. He worked with a software team to develop both online and downloadable versions of this test. He has recently collaborated with his wife, Joan, in completing a book, The Two Tiers of Consciousness: A Physiological Paradigm, available through this website.

Dr. Kiernan relied on his extensive experience in evaluating patients with brain dysfunction in developing new ways of thinking about consciousness, brain functioning and behavior. He has drawn heavily on the work of contemporary philosophers in formulating an original conception of the brain and consciousness.  His collaboration with his wife, the artist Joan Margolies-Kiernan, loosens the boundaries between art and science.  Dr. Kiernan is using his weekly entries to the Of Two Minds blog on this website to develop the ideas in the book and create a complete revision of the text.  You can subscribe at no cost to his weekly blog entries.  All comments and questions from the readers of this blog are welcome.