Muriel Lezak papers, 1943-2019

Dr. Muriel Lezak was born Muriel Elaine Deutsch in Chicago, Illinois in 1927. She grew up in the Ingleside neighborhood and attended the University of Chicago, where she graduated with a Master of Arts in Human Development in 1949. After graduating, she married Sidney Lezak and the two moved west to Portland. Dr. Lezak began working as a clinical psychologist at the Child Guidance Clinic (now Morrison Child & Family Services) and at Portland State College (now Portland State University). She also taught at Portland State College and the University of Portland, where she later received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 1960.

In 1966, Dr. Lezak began working as a psychologist at the Portland Veterans Administration Hospital, where she treated neurology, neurosurgery, and rehabilitation patients. She had been curious about the possible relationship between the brain and behavior in graduate school, and that curiosity only grew as she treated soldiers with brain injuries. She dedicated herself to learning as much as she could about the brain during her rounds.

She was also troubled by the standard practice in neuropsychology at the time, in which patients were only assessed on the basis of a single standard test battery (the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery), which was typically administered by a technician. She felt that the process should be made more individualized, patient-oriented, and humanistic. In the late 1970s, Dr. Lezak formed a support group for the wives of soldiers with traumatic brain injuries, and credited listening to patients' families for her understanding of how various brain injuries can impact behavior.

Through her work with psychology interns, she discovered that there was no text available that could serve as a guide to practitioners as they conducted neuropsychological exams. In 1976, she published Neuropsychological Assessment. The book quicky became a critical text in the field of neuropsychology and changed the way that neuropsychological assessment is conducted. It has been published in multiple languages and updated with five editions, most recently in 2012.

In addition to her clinical and teaching duties, Dr. Lezak served as an expert witness in legal cases, beginning in the early 1960s. She spoke to the influence brain damage can have on a person's behavior in criminal cases. In worker's compensation claims, she attested to the relative ability of injured workers to perform on the job.

In 1985, Dr. Lezak left the VA Hospital and joined the neurology department at Oregon Health & Science University. She also taught courses in neurosurgery and psychiatry, and she retired from OHSU as professor emerita in 2005. Dr. Lezak passed away in October of 2021.