A paralyzing accident would derail most people from their life’s work, but not so in the case of Dr. Paul
Spiers. His life has been filled with both extraordinary opportunity and deep tragedy. Despite the obstacles, he lives by his words, “Life is about being in the right place at the right time, and knowing you’re in the right place at the right time.” He’s positioned himself on the leading edge of issues he cares about most: neuropsychology, horses and advocacy.

A SKILLED HORSEMAN
Paul Spiers’ deep affection for horses began innocently enough at a dude ranch near
Montreal, where he rode Western-style as a teenager. He remembers that experience:
“The horse did everything.” Years later, his interest was rekindled on a recreational beach ride in Bermuda. He discovered that the light weight of an English saddle provided an entirely different equestrian experience. He could hardly wait to ride again. Before long, Spiers was hooked on playing arena polo. Committing fully to his new sport, he moved to Topsfield, purchased polo ponies and studied under Lester Crossman, a Myopia Hunt Club member with decades spent promoting the game. Spiers competed at many Sunday matches in Hamilton for nearly five years. The riding was rigorous and occasional injuries were unavoidable. “I fell a lot in polo,” he says, matter-of-factly. Though polo players routinely retire mounts in favor of younger, stronger ponies, Spiers was saddened when one of his favorites, a chestnut named Roland, had to leave the game. Soon afterward, Spiers’ transitioned to what he hoped would be a less expensive sport: fox hunting (drag scent, not live quarry). The accident that changed his life forever happened while hunting in October, 1994. “The horse tripped on a low fence and I fell wrong,” he says simply. Spiers’ coma lasted 10 days – he’d suffered a traumatic brain injury and a paralyzing spinal cord injury. The man who had built his reputation on knowledge of brain functions now had confusion and amnesia that would last for months.
“So many people helped me – and help me still,” he says, crediting his now ex-wife, Gail, and his friends for supporting his recovery. “The horse community is like a large extended family. The north shore is unique in that respect.” One key supporter was Marj Kittredge, the late founder of Windrush FarmTherapeutic Equitation in Boxford, one of the oldest therapeutic riding centers in the country. Marj often said “You can always do more than you think you’re capable of…and if it’s safe, we’re going to try it.” She got Spiers back on a horse in May of 1995, even before he’d returned to work. And riding helped Spiers – who is paraplegic– regain his sense of balance. In an uncanny coincidence, his mount was Roland, the favorite polo pony he’d donated to Windrush three years earlier. “Seeing Roland and having as a goal to again ride my old friend helped me through perhaps the most difficult time in my life,” Spiers wrote later. “You have a relationship with these animals,” he explained.
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A LEADING NEUROPSYCHOLOGIST
Spiers moved to Massachusetts from Canada in the 1970s to attend graduate school at Clark University where ground-breaking neuropsychologist Edith Kaplan was on faculty. “I met Edith and I was sold,” he recalls. Spiers’ studies focused on how changes in brain functions have an impact on memory and behavior.
Following his graduate studies and a decade of work under Norm Geschwind (dubbed the father of modern behavioral neurology), Spiers led clinical research trials at MIT, taught at Harvard, and ran his own forensic neuropsychology practice. He gave opinions on plaintiffs who claimed brain dysfunction as a result of injuries or accidents and evaluated defendants for competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility (insanity defense). With decades of experience in clinical, research and forensic settings, Spiers now is President of Neuropsychology Associates PC, a Clinical Supervisor at Tewksbury Hospital and an Assistant Professor at Boston University School of Medicine, where he teaches graduate students.

“DO NOT LOOK BACK AND ASK WHY,LOOK FORWARD AND ASK WHY NOT?”
-HERBERT L. BECKER