He is a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, a Professor of Biology and Neurology at Stanford University, and a Research Associate at the Institute of Primate Research of the National Museum of Kenya.

Growing up in New York City, Robert Sapolsky dreamed of living inside the African dioramas of the Museum of Natural History. By the age of twenty-one, he made it to Africa and joined a troop of baboons which he decided to live with after realizing they are perfect for learning about stress and stress-related diseases.

Sapolsky’s unique perspective on the human condition comes from his combination of insights on natural history and neuroscience. For more than 30 years, Sapolsky has split his time between fieldwork with baboons and highly technical neurological research in the laboratory.

Currently, Sapolsy lectures on topics as diverse as stress and stress-related diseases, baboons, the biology of our individuality, the biology of religious belief, the biology of memory, schizophrenia, depression, aggression, and Alzheimer’s disease.