Michael Gershon life and biography

Michael Gershon is a neurobiologist at New York's Columbia-Presbyterian, and is generally considered the father of modern neurogastroenterology, the study of the enteric nervous system — the gut — as a complex, autonomous system.

The enteric system consists of some 100M neurons embedded along the alimentary canal, which stretches from the esophagus to the anus. Gershon's work has established that serotonin acts as a primary neurotransmitter in this system, which has led to the discovery of other gut neurotransmitters.

He has shown how drugs, encompassing everything from over-the-counter medicines to LSD, interact with the independent nerve mass in the enteric system, which Gershon calls "the second brain". He has also written poetry about the gut.

Gershon is the author of The Second Brain and the chairman of the department of anatomy and cell biology at Columbia University.

Author of books:
-The Second Brain: A Groundbreaking New Understanding of Nervous Disorders of the Stomach and Intestine (1998, science)

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