Vale Professor Mark Ylvisaker

Abstract

Presents an obituary of Professor Mark Ylvisaker who passed away at the end of May 2009. Mark was a Professor at the College of St Rose, Albany, New York, in the discipline of Speech–Language Pathology. Mark soon became interested in the field of traumatic brain injury and focused his extraordinary intellect and clinical aptitude on finding innovative approaches to the assessment and treatment of people, especially children and adolescents, in real-life contexts. Mark is well known to clinicians and researchers working in the field of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Australia and also internationally. He combined his love of clinical work with academic teaching and research and he was extraordinarily prolific with the publication of over 100 professional works including six textbooks. His advice was widely sought after, with requests for workshops and consultations in 50 states across the United States, and from 15 countries around the world, including extensive consultation in Australia and New Zealand. Mark was a gifted, inspirational and generous person who had a significant influence on all those he met. His influence can be seen in many ongoing research projects. There is no doubt that the impact of Mark’s lifetime commitment to TBI will be far-reaching and longlasting, and the main beneficiaries will continue to be people with TBI and their families, as Mark would have wanted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)