John E. Sarno

John Ernest Sarno Jr. (June 23, 1923 – June 22, 2017) was Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, and attending physician at the Howard A. Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, New York University Medical Center. He graduated from Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1943, and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1950. In 1965, he was appointed the director of the Outpatient Department at the Rusk Institute.

Sarno originated the term tension myositis syndrome (TMS) to name a psychosomatic condition producing pain, particularly back pain. The theory of TMS and Sarno's treatment of it have been hailed by many lay people as life-changing. A 2017 book on back pain treatments described Sarno as the "rock star of the back world". A documentary on his life and work titled All the Rage (Saved by Sarno) was released in 2016.The tension myositis syndrome diagnosis and treatment protocol are not accepted by the mainstream medical community. Sarno graduated from Newton High School at age 16. He repeated senior year and graduated again from the private Horace Mann

School in the Bronx. In 1943, he joined the army and worked in field hospitals in Europe during World War II.

Dr. Sarno married Penny Patt. They had three children: Lindianne, Lauren and David. They divorced in 1966. He remarried in 1967, this time to Martha Lamarque, a colleague at the Rusk Institute. They had one daughter, Christina.