Donald Harvey Marks (born June 27, 1949) is an American physician, scientist, author and advocate for social justice He is a husband (Diane Christine Bingham, married  March 19, 1972), the proud father of three children (Brandon Ellis, Travis Dustin and Britni Kalin), and a grandfather. He had a number of major discoveries in his life, principle of which was applying the concept of cognitive engrams for the interpretation of functional MRI data to human thought. (see Patents).

 Video bio of Donald Harvey Marks: 

https://www.youtube.com/live/fwiYM-yZcsQ?si=PP3H83wWwWVKnih8

Family: 

Parents are Dorothy Greenberg Marks and Richard Leo Marks, of Buffalo, NY., who were married in 1947.

Marks has one brother (Stephen, deceased), one sister (Sharon), three children (Brandon Ellis, Travis Dustin and Britni Kalin) and 5 grandchildren: Connor Ellis (31 March 2010)  Lukas Richard (11 May 2012), Madelyn Isaura (11 May 2012), Dylan Richard (October 22, 2015) and Rosalee Rosie Elvy (January 19, 2019) Marks. 

Connor Lukas Madelyn and Dylan all practice martial arts , taekwondo. Madelyn is very skilled with horseback riding.  I am also blessed with two wonderful daughter-in-laws Erika and Kristie, and son-in-law Mark Bentley.

Link to Family Tree https://www.geni.com/share?t=6000000082553671440

Link to video Odyssey presentation on my life https://www.youtube.com/live/fwiYM-yZcsQ?si=W3nrw-VQJSDrfs8_

Early Life

Don Marks was born in Buffalo, New York on 27 June 1949. He grew up in Buffalo, Erie County, New York and in Los Angeles, California. He is a graduate of PS 66 in Buffalo, NY and of Hollywood High School (1967), Hollywood, California. He doesn't remember a lot of the details of his earlier years because he was born when he was very young.

After graduating from (now) California State University San Bernardino with a B.A. in 1972, he attended the (now) Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Human Genetics at UCLA. He received a doctorate in philosophy (Ph.D.) in 1977, on the subject of comparative immunology of graft rejection. Marks attended the David Geffin School of Medicine at the University of California in Los Angeles, and graduated in 1980 with a medical degree (M.D.). Not everyone was totally surprised that I had two doctors degrees, because some members of my family thought I was a child progeny.

He had completed Internal Medicine internship and residency at the USAF Medical Center, Keesler AFB, MS.

Don Marks is licensed to practice medicine in New Jersey. He is a Diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine and an Emeritus Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Military Career

      Marks was in the Air Force ROTC and Civil Air Patrol while in high school, and served 6 years in the California Air National Guard after graduation from HS and while in undergraduate college. He attended basic training at Lack!and AFB and aircraft engine school at Sheppard AFB. He was a flight engineer on C-97 and C-130 aircraft.

     He had a military scholarship to attend medical school, and attended the Officers Candidate School Medical Indoctrination for Medical Service Officers. He also completed the Air Command and Staff College, and the Biological Warfare Courses.

     Marks was honorably discharged and is a proud third generation veteran. His father Richard and his five uncles were all veterans of World War II, and his grandfather Mortimer Marks was a veteran of World War I.

Pharmaceutical Industry Career

     Marks is the former Associate Director of Clinical Research, Antibacterials of Hoffmann-LaRoche Pharmaceuticals, and the former Director of Clinical Research for adult vaccines at Aventis Pasteur Vaccines (formerly Connaught Pasteur Merieux). Research projects centered around application of antibiotics to treat Lyme disease and adult vaccines for Lyme disease and influenza.

Biotech and Neurotech Career

He was the Senior Vice President, Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs at Emerging Technology Partners, which was the biotech division of Economic Development Partnership of Alabama. He participated in the founding and initial scientific direction for vaccine companies Vaxin Inc. (www.Vaxin.com) and Tranzyme, Inc.

He was the founder and CSO of Millennium Magnetic Technologies, MMT Neurotech, LLC http://www.MilMag.net which  commercialized his discovery of interpreting human thoughts with functional MRI.

Intellectual Property

He has been awarded the following patents, in the areas of vaccination and use of functional neural Imaging to understand thought.

     1. Vaccination by topical application of genetic vectors. China 98809932, November 22, 2000. D-C C Tang; D H Marks; D T Curiel; UAB Research Foundation.

     2. Noninvasive genetic immunization, expression products therefrom and uses thereof. US 6348450, February 19, 2002. De-Chu Tang, Donald H. Marks, et al.

     3. Vaccination by Topical Application of Genetic Vectors. US 06706693, March 16, 2004. De-Chu Tang, Donald H. Marks, et al.

     4. Noninvasive genetic immunization, expression products therefrom, and uses thereof. US 06716823, April 6, 2004: Tang, De-chu C.; Marks, Donald H.; Curiel, David T.; Shi, Zhongkai.

     5. Brain Function Decoding Process And System. US 7,627,370, December 1, 2009. Marks, Donald H.

     6. Brain Function Decoding Process And System. Marks, Donald H. Patent application filed March 25, 2010, US Serial No. 12/731,264, claiming priority to the application filed on March 30, 2009, and assigned Serial No. 61/164,724.

Academic Affiliations

     University of Alabama at Birmingham, Clinical Assistant Professor, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, and also Biomedical Engineering.

     Wallace Kettering Neuroscience Institute, Kettering, OH, former visiting Research Associate.

Non-Science PUBLICATIONS

Einstein, Relativity and Relative Ethics. http://bit.ly/2HC5YEN

Jonas Salk, Polio Vaccine and Vaccinating Against Hate. My take. http://bit.ly/2HE5bDl

"What I have not told my family about the meaning of time." http://bit.ly/2HDQDUb  Personal thoughts on longevity v reputation v meaningful accomplishments. 

Transit States. Collected poetry of DH Marks. https://www.amazon.com/Transit-States-D-Marks-ebook/dp/B011LM9NFI

                              Scientific Publications 

1. TenEyck R, Schaerdel AD, Lynett JE, Marks DH, et al: Stroma-free methemoglobin solution as an antidote for cyanide poisoning. A preliminary study. Clinical Toxicology 21(3):343-358, 1984.

2. Marks DH, et al: Pelvic hematoma after intercourse while on chronic anticoagulation. Annals of Emergency Medicine 13:554-556, 1984.

3. Marks DH, Patressi J, Chaudry IH: Effect of pyridoxalated stabilized stroma-free hemoglobin solution on the clearance of intravascular lipid by the reticuloendothelial system. Circulatory Shock 16:165-172, 1985

4. Marks DH, et al: Pyridoxalated polymerized stroma-free hemoglobin solution for hemorrhagic shock in dogs. Military Med. 152(5):265-271, 1987

5. Marks DH, et al: Antibody Response to Transfusion With Pyridoxalated glutaraldehyde-treated Hemoglobin Solution. Mil Med 152(9):473-477, 1987.

6. Marks DH, Hou KC, Medina F, Bolin RB. Removal of bacteria from blood. Mil Med. 1987 Mar;152(3):156-60.

7. Marks DH, et al.: Optimization of synthesis of pyridoxalated polymerized stroma-free hemoglobin solution. Mil Med 153:44-49, 1988.

8. Marks DH, Medina F, Hou KC et al: Efficiency of Antibacterial Membrane and effect on Blood Components. Mil Med 153(7):337-340, 1988.

9. Davidson IJA, Drukkerr S, Hedlund B, Marks DH et al: Deleterious Effects of Stroma-free Hemoglobin Used As Resuscitative Fluid For Rats With Ischemic Intestinal Shock. Crit Care Med 16(6):606-609, 1988.

10. Marks DH, Medina F, Lee S, Blackmon A, Schuschereba ST. Removal of bacteria from blood by charcoal hemoperfusion. Biomater Artif Cells Artif Organs. 1988;16(1-3):135-40.

11. Moore GL, Marks DH, et al: Ascorbate-2-phosphate in Red Cell Preservation: Clinical Trials and Active Components. Transfusion 26(3):221-225, 1988.

12. Marks DH, Cooper T, Makovec T,et al.: Effect of Polymyxin B on in vivo hepatoxicity of hemoglobin. Mil Med 154(4):180-184, 1989.

13. Keller, D, Koster, FT, Marks, DH et al. Safety and Immunogenicity of a Recombinant Outer Surface Protein A Lyme Vaccine. JAMA, June 8, 1994, p 1764-1768.

14. Sigal LH, Zahradnik JM, Lavin P, Patella SJ, Bryant G, Haselby R, Hilton E, Kunkel M, Adler-Klein D, Doherty T, Evans J, Molloy PJ, Seidner AL, Sabetta JR, Simon HJ, Klempner MS, Mays J, Marks D, Malawista SE A vaccine consisting of recombinant Borrelia burgdorferi outer surface protein A to prevent Lyme disease. Recombinant Outer-Surface Protein A. Lyme Disease Vaccine Study Consortium. N Engl J Med (1998 Jul 23) 339(4):216-22.

15. Kanesa-thasan N, Smucny JJ, Hoke CH, Marks DH, Konishi E, Kurane I, Tang DB  Vaughn DW, Mason PW, Shope RE.   Safety and immunogenicity of NYVAC-JEV and ALVAC-JEV attenuated recombinant Japanese encephalitis virus--poxvirus vaccines in vaccinia-nonimmune and vaccinia-immune humans. Vaccine (2000 Oct 15) 19(4-5):483-91.

16. VanKampen KR, Shi Z, Gao P, Zhang J, Foster KW, Chen DT, Marks D, Elmets CA, and Tang DC. 2004. Safety and immunogenicity of adenovirus-vectored nasal and epicutaneous influenza vaccines in humans. Vaccine. 2005 Jan 11;23(8):1029-36.

17. Marks DH, Adineh M, Gupta S: Determination of Truth from Deception Using Functional MRI and Cognitive Engrams. The Internet Journal of Radiology [peer-reviewed serial on the Internet]. 2006. Volume 5, Number 1.

18. Marks DH, Adineh M, Wang B, Gupta S, Udupa JK. Multidimensional Representation of Concepts as Cognitive Engrams in the Human Brain. The Internet Journal of Neurology [peer-reviewed serial on the Internet]. 2007. Volume 6, Number 1.

19. Marks DH, Adineh M, Wang B, Gupta S. Use of fMRI to Predict Psychiatric Adverse Effects of Interferon Treatment for Hepatitis C. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment. 2007:3(5) 655-667.

20. Marks DH. Cardiomyopathy Due to Ingestion of Adderall. American Journal of Therapeutics. Am J Ther. 2008 May-Jun;15(3):287-9.

21. Marks DH. Depression Leading to Suicide As An Adverse Effect of Metoclopramide. Internet Journal of Gastroenterology [peer-reviewed serial on the Internet]. 2007. Volume 5(2).

22. Marks DH. Dangers of OTC Herbal Supplements: Dilated Cardiomyopathy after Ingestion of TRIAC (triiodothyroacetic acid, Tiratricol). Internet Journal of Endocrinology [peer-reviewed serial on the Internet]. 2007. Volume 3(2).

23. Marks DH and Milby J. Interferon and Risk for Drug-Seeking Behavior. Internet Journal of Pain, Symptom Control and Palliative Care [peer-reviewed serial on the Internet]. 2009, 6(2).

24. Marks DH, Breggin PR, Braslow D. Homicidal Ideation Causally Related To Therapeutic Medications. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 10 (3), 2008.  

            Simultaneously published by agreement in The International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine, Volume 20 (4), 2008, pp 231-240.

    25. Marks DH, Adineh M, Gupta S. MR Imaging of Drug-Induced Suicidal Ideation. Internet J Radiology [peer-reviewed serial on the Internet], 9(1). 2008. http://ispub.com/IJRA/9/1/10393

26. Marks DH. Evaluation of Cognitive Impairment. Internet J Health. [peer-reviewed serial on the Internet]. 8(1), 2008

27. Marks DH, Allison J, Ahmed S, Jeffers LJ, Morgan JR, Morgan PM. The Association of Race/Ethnicity, Sex, and Comorbidity with Hepatitis C Genotype 1 Treatment Response, Internet Journal of Gastroenterology [peer-reviewed serial on the Internet]. 7(2), 2008.

28. Marks DH. Case Report: Drug Toxicity Leading to Vanishing Bile Duct Syndrome and Cholestatic Jaundice. Internet Journal of Gastroenterology [peer-reviewed serial on the Internet]. 2009, Vol 8(1).

29. Marks DH, Valsasina P, Rocca M and Filippi M. Case Report: Documentation of Acute Neck Pain in a Patient Using Functional MR Imaging. Internet Journal of Pain, Symptom Control and Palliative Care [peer-reviewed serial on the Internet]. 2010, Vol 8(1).

30. Marks DH. Neurologic Complications of Vaccination with Outer Surface Protein A (OspA). Int J Risk Saf Med. 2011;23(2):89-96. doi: 10.3233/JRS-2011-0527.

31. Marks DH. Drug Utilization, Safety and Clinical Use of Actos and Avandia. Int J Risk Saf Med. 2013 Jan 1;25(1):39-51. Review

32. D H Marks, A Yildiz, S Vural, S Levy. Face Recognition, Reversible Correlation Between fMRI and Biometrics Data. The Internet Journal of Radiology. 2017 Volume 20 Number 1.

Non-Peer Reviewed Articles

1. Marks DH. Evaluation of Medical Causation, in Drug Injury: Liability, Analysis and Prevention, 3rd and 4th Editions, O’Donnell JT editor. L&J Publications, 2012 and 2016. 

2. Marks DH and Middlekoop T. Accutane: Focus on Psychiatric Toxicity and Suicide, in Drug Injury: Liability, Analysis and Prevention, Second Edition, Chapter 20. O’Donnell JT editor. L&J Publications, 2005 

3. Should a Basic Income floor - a Universal Basic Income UBI, become established public policy and should this sustainable income be Universal. My personal take, as a non-economist. 

4. Is Criticism of Henry-Kissinger-form-of historical revisionism?

 Medical Fiction, under the author's name of Dimitri Markov:

     "Vera Mortina" - When the patient is not the sick one! Dangerous medical fiction about violence in hospitals, so real only a doctor could have written it.. https://amzn.to/2F89yng

     Interview with the author http://bit.ly/2JkXtk5

     "The Surrogate" Greedy docs pushing false hopes in infertility business. Contemporary medical fiction by Dimitri Markov https://amzn.to/2FSzyDv

     pb http://a.co/50QyD5Y

     "BloodBird" - When the organ is not the only thing transplanted! Immortality you don't want. Dangerous medical fiction available on Amazon & Kindle https://amzn.to/2Qe2n26

     "Her Charm Was Contagious," by Dimitri Markov, on Amazon & Kindle. A dangerous doctor and a patient who just loved everyone to death. Intense medical fiction only a doctor could write. https://amzn.to/2HJinqi

Personal credo 2021 http://bit.ly/33sJ3J6

I completed the course Build Your Own Theology in 2021.

The ending assignment was for each to create their own credo - a statement of beliefs which guide our individual actions. 

My personal credo: 

• I believe in reason, ethics, social justice,

• in the not-all-knowing power of science, and of facts over truth,

• that we were made in God’s image, however we see God - as a creator, as a universal force of love, or in a more classic sense. To me, Psalm 18 means that we should see ourselves as part of nature in God, and God in ourselves, in the universality of life, and of God as a life force,

• that God reflects ourselves, and we can see our reflection in God,

• that no one can fool God, but we can certainly fool ourselves and those we care about most, at least for some relative amount of time. 

• that God, our universal spirit, knows our hearts, and is revealed to us as required. 

• that great peace can come from harmonizing our lives and our ethics with the rhythm and flow of the universal spirit,

• that in addition to the 4 classic forces in nature (strong, weak, gravity, electromagnetic), that love, forgiveness, pride and the spirit of life are also very strong and very important forces,

• I believe that there are absolute moral rights and wrongs, without which society will simply collapse, 

• I object to and reject moral relativism and its consequence uncertainty, because they undermine my confidence in how I see morality, norms and values.  

• I am suspect of following dispassionate logic and adopting absolutist principles in my life, 

• that as a moral citizen, I see that truth (ethical, moral, theological) can be relative and situational, not always absolute. Truth, not being fact, by it

• s very subjective nature is quite relative, and I see a range of truths and an open set of beliefs. 

• I tend to see life, morality and truth as finely nuanced, complex and relative things that generally do not respond well to absolute laws, rules that don’t change or inflexible statements, 

• I believe that truth is relative in the human and moral realms that I live in, simple answers often don’t exist, absolute statements don’t always work, and eternal truths are hard to come by, 

• I can not know and control everything, and I fight to accept this and just be at peace. I accept that most moral and human issues defy absolute answers.

I have had a number of major discoveries in my life. Principle among these are:

1. Discovering and applying the concept of cognitive engrams for interpretation of functional MRI neuroimaging data to human thought.

Cognitive engrams are 3-D brain activation patterns seen with functional neuroimaging.

 See above pubs and Patents. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1my3jkTLblCD2e-TKG0iX9ADv8wyxwdJYXxL2FwRqIKY/edit?usp=drivesdk

This concept was first conceived by me in 2003-4.  I presented my concepts at the neuroimaging unit of NIH on May 26, 2004. 

May 30, 2005 was my first actual functional neuroimaging of persons viewing specific faces.  

I imaged for pain, face identification and also for determining response for truth vs deception. My findings verified my hypothnesis that specific thoughts / concepts resulted in specific brain activation patterns, as viewed by functional MRI.

I published my breakthrough concepts and enabling research in the following articles:  (Multidimensional Representation of Concepts as Cognitive Engrams in the Human Brain. The Internet Journal of Neurology [peer-reviewed serial on the Internet]. 2007. Volume 6, Number 1). 

Other work published subsequent to Marks 2007, which also validate Marks’ concept of a library of Cognitive Engrams, include Kay, Naselaris, Prenger & Galant 2007, and also Kriegeskorte et al 2007. 

The conceptual work envisions a veritable Rosetta Stone, allowing two-way movement between actual imaging data and a database of activation maps created from neuroimaging studies. A wide range of faces, objects, places and concepts have unique activation map correlates, which are termed Cognitive Engrams. The presence of specific Cognitive Engrams within neuroimaging data allows for the identification of the actual thought which led to a specific brain activation – a form of applied mind reading. Applications under development include background and security checks, lie detection, and non-invasive interrogation (Marks DH et al: Determination of Truth from Deception Using Functional MRI and Cognitive Engrams. The Internet Journal of Radiology [peer-reviewed serial on the Internet]. 2006. Volume 5, Number 1).

My second breakthrough concept concerns the origin of gravity, in 2016.

2. Gravity may be a property of a non-homogenous nature of spacetime, as explained http://dhmarks.blogspot.com/2019/04/gravity-and-spacetime-irregularity.html

Following are some of my thoughts on the matter of gravity and space-time. According to current theory, small pieces of randomly moving matter in space attract each other with their individual minuscule gravitational fields and thereby eventually form increasing larger amounts of matter, eventually leading to stars and planets. The high concentrations of matter warp nearby space-time and create a gravity effect.

The Einstein field equations EFE describe the fundamental interaction of gravitation as a result of spacetime being curved by matter and energy. A re-interpretation of the EFE could lead to the following alternative explanation of how matter collects to form planets and stars, and how spacetime is warped by matter. Rather than matter  first collecting, and then distorting space-time and thereby creating gravity effect, I hypothesized in 2016 (Physics Stack)  that discontinuous areas of SpaceTime could result in concentrated areas of gravity which then attract collections of matter. In a way, this is a reversal of the classic chicken (matter) or the egg (gravity) argument.

I first noted my concept online  in 2016  DHM gravity physics 2016.pdf.PDF