Michael Palmer was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on October 9, 1942. He graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He trained in internal medicine at Boston City and Massachusetts General Hospitals. Afterwards, he conducted research for the National Air Pollution Control Administration in Cincinnati in order to fulfill his two-year military obligation. He spent 20 years as a full-time practitioner of internal and emergency medicine and is currently an associate director of the Massachusetts Medical Society's physician health program. His has written numerous books including The Last Surgeon, The Second Opinion, The First Patient, The Fifth Vial, The Society, Fatal, The Patient, Miracle Cure, Critical Judgment, Silent Treatment, Natural Causes, Extreme Measures, Flashback, Side Effects, and The Sisterhood. Palmer died at the age of 71 on October 30, 2013 after suffering a heart attack and stroke. His novels Resistant (released May 20, 2014) and Trauma (released May 12, 2015) were released after his death. (Bowker Author Biography)