Mt. Everest explorer and human performance researcher, Dr. John B. West, will speak on “The Physiological Challenge of Climbing Mt. Everest” at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the Medical Heritage Library on the fifth floor of the Prior Health Sciences Library.West led an American expedition in 1981, where physiological measurements at above 8,000 meters were recorded for the first time. West, a professor of medicine and physiology at the University of California, San Diego wrote “High Life: A History of High-Altitude Physiology and Medicine” in 1999 which contains information based on his research and the expedition.His visit is sponsored by the James Warren Medical Humanities Lecture series. The event is free and open to the public.