2025 Prayer Breakfast Speaker is Michael Egnor..

Michael Egnor Bio

Michael R. Egnor, MD, is a Professor of Neurosurgery and Pediatrics at State University of New York, Stony Brook, has served as the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery, and is an award-winning brain surgeon. He was named one of New York’s best doctors by the New York Magazine in 2005. His book, The Immortal Mind: A neurosurgeon’s case for the existence of the soul, co-authored by Denyse O’Leary, was published by Worthy on June 3, 2025.

He received his medical education at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed his residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital. His research on hydrocephalus has been published in journals including Journal of Neurosurgery, Pediatrics, and Cerebrospinal Fluid Research. He is on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Hydrocephalus Association in the United States and has lectured extensively throughout the United States and Europe.

Book Summary

Is there scientific proof of the soul?

Many scientists and doctors believe that there is no such thing as the soul. That there is no part of us that persists beyond death. We are not spiritual in any respect. We are made up of cells and tissue, and completely controlled by a material organ in our heads: the brain.

In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Michael Egnor, practicing neurosurgeon, neuroscientist and Professor of Neurosurgery at Stony Brook University, makes the case—based on 40 years of practice and over 7,000 brain surgeries—that science has gotten it all wrong. The human brain is incredible, mysterious, and powerful. But it’s not what makes us who we are. The soul does that.
 
Drawing on the most important research studies in neuroscience, Dr. Egnor presents evidence that the brain alone does not explain the mind. He explores, using modern neuroscience and his vast surgical experience, how inside every damaged brain there is a thinking, feeling person with a spiritual soul that transcends the brain. He argues that scientists can locate the parts of the brain that control the body or sensations or emotions, but they can’t find the seat of reason or free will. He uses fascinating case studies to show how cutting-edge brain surgery on patients who are awake, how research on conjoined twins who share parts of their brains, on patients in deep coma who are still able to communicate with people around them, on near-death experiences, and on artificial intelligence all make a scientific case for the existence of the spiritual human soul.

Engaging, thought-provoking, and groundbreaking, The Immortal Mind shows here that some aspect of who we are is spiritual and immortal, transcending the physical body. Using science, he proves the existence of the human soul.