Mark A. Gillman

Dr Mark Gillman is an internationally renowned scholar, brain researcher and addiction

specialist and has lectured on conscious sedation with nitrous oxide (N 2 O) over 250 times to

lay and scientific audiences in South Africa (SA), Africa, Europe, Canada , USA and China.

He has over 300 publications including full-length books, and a best-selling CD on the

technique of conscious sedation with nitrous oxide. He is a retired professor and has held

senior academic appointments in SA and elsewhere (e.g. University of Witwatersrand,

Medunsa and Albert Einstein University Medical School [New York]. He has acted as a

governmental advisor on the use of conscious sedation with N 2 O for treating addiction in South Africa, USA and China. As a scientific authority he has been interviewed frequently for local and international print and electronic media including the BBC and stations in Europe and

North America. He has held editorial advisory appointments to leading medical and scientific

journals including Lancet, BMJ, Current Drug Abuse Reviews, International Journal of

Neuroscience, Biological Psychiatry etc).

Mankind have been fascinated by the philosophical possibility that pain and pleasure was

linked since it was first suggested by Aristotle and centuries later the idea reintroduced by

Descartes and Spinoza. The discovery of the first biological link between pain and pleasure

was made by Gillman and his late colleague Fred Lichtigfeld, while using conscious sedation

with N 2 O at the SA Brain Research Institute (SABRI). Also at SABRI, Dr Gillman led

scientists in the discovery of the new principle of biology (Gaseous neurotransmission). They

also uncovered the first evidence of an endorphin link in human sexual response and anorexia

nervosa. Drs Gillman and Lichtigfeld also discovered a new treatment for substance abuse with

N 2 O sedation, first used in SA and then later in Europe, USA and China. He is Emeritus CEO

of the SABRI.