Get To Know Me... Dr. Michael Grant, MD... Family Physician (Ret.) & Co- Founder Of Brain Health Insider

Dear Insider,

I fell in love with family medicine because it’s the one area a doctor can care for patients through every stage of life... babies, vaccinations, long-term conditions, and the practical work of keeping someone living well at home well into their old age.

I studied biology at the University of Oregon (BS, 1986) and earned my MD at OHSU School of Medicine in 1990, then completed a three-year ACGME-accredited Family Medicine residency in 1993.

I opened a community practice in Portland that later affiliated with the OHSU Health network so my patients could slide easily into specialty care when they needed it.

Most days were check-ups, vaccines, diabetes tune-ups... and then the longer, quieter work of caring for aging parents and the adult children who love them.

As Portland’s health systems evolved, I referred and collaborated widely with Legacy Health and Providence colleagues because local partnerships and continuity mattered to me most when it came to making sure my patients were given the best care possible.

When cognition and brain health entered the room... missed meds, wrong turns, a new irritability... I saw it as my professional responsibility to break down the clinical and often detached wording found in a patient’s specialist-written letters so they could make sense of it all... and so they had a plan... a clear next step their families could take to feel more informed and less afraid.

Then the issue came to my own kitchen table and I realized just how much more I could have and should have been doing.

My father’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis was a wake-up call... it revealed just how big the gap between a doctor’s theoretical understanding of a disease is... compared to the practical and personal experience of living with it.

That’s when I began documenting my own journey, turning it into after-visit letters for my patients... one page, informal, action oriented, easy to understand... written by someone they could actually relate to.

I’d leave them in the waiting room... patients started sharing them with friends... those friends brought them to unfamiliar clinics... and the whole idea grew legs.

In 2019 I met Eleanor at a brain-aging conference in Spain... we instantly hit it off... comparing notes between sessions... and by the second espresso... agreed to build what we wished our patients had had years earlier... a practical, evidence-based website that speaks human, not “doctor.”

Brain Health Insider is that website.

I retired from clinic work in 2024 and now spend my time writing the medical reports I wish someone had written for my dad.

Sincerely,